Early Bass

3-4 days of warming weather and today I started crushing bass! As I mentioned earlier, went out Sunday and caught nada. Went out arounf 3:45 this afternoon to fish my local spots. Shallows near a spring spawn hotspot. Hoping that several days of warming might get 'em a bit hungry. Started with stick baits and crankbaits with only 1 tap. After seeing one big bass come up and several wakes from schools of smaller fish, switched over to a Storm Minnow and boom, second cast had a fish on. Just over 12". Missed a much bigger fish as I went a bit too much terrible fishing club with too many rules on it for a short strike. Small schools of juveniles were up really shallow and some larger fish were lurking. Caught 4-5 more fish right around 12" and several shorties. They were definately starting to turn on to feeding mode. Had a 5:00 appointment that I was late for as I hated leaving biting fish. No lunkers, biggest coming close to 14", but it was good to see an abundance of healthy fish starting to feed.

Went again today. Targeting fish in 1-2 ft. of water. Caught 2 on a Heddon Zara Puppy surface lure, 2 on spinners, and another 7-8 on an assortment of Panther Martin Vivif swimbaits, Matzuo Prism Grubs, and Storm Wild Eye Curl Tail Minnows. Again, only a couple over 12". Had a 4-5 lb. short strike. Think it was the same fish as yestrday. Big and pretty fat. I'm going to get her in the next week or so. I was fishing a really light trout setup since the bass have been small and had another on that stripped a bunch of line before breaking off in a tree. Over the 2 hrs. several fish broke on the surface, which is why a started throwing the topwater and spinner, but the soft plastic minnows were by far the go-to. As soon as I get my boat back, I'm going to hit a few of the other shallow water lakes. Next week is supposed to warm again after the rain. Two old guys approached and I could hear them laughing that it was too early for fish, until I pulled one out for them. If you've got s small pond or lake nearby, time to start dropping a line. I plan to hit Weathersfield Cove net weekend if the weather cooperates.

if you got extra cash, it would be cool to tag those bass