Find Prespawn Bass on Rivers which are often in and around marinas, industrial areas, and around cover on flats. They move from their wintering areas to spawning areas in early spring.
The bass will winter in the deepest and steepest portion of the river and move to the shallower flat areas to spawn. All you need to do is follow the break line from the deeper areas to the shallow flats and fish your way there. If you can find a stick, rubble or rock along the way, it can be a tournament winning spot.
There hasn’t been nearly as much discussed on how to effectively locate and catch prespawn bass on rivers. I’m sure there have been some, but it seems that our river-rat brethren have been grievously under-served in the prespawn technique education department.
Let me fill you in about the techniques, patterns, and locations that are most effective to catch pre-spawners in rivers, both tidal and traditional.
Prespawn rivers key
As we all know, rivers are great places to catch bass. Their current brings with it an abundance of food, and seasonal fluctuations create endless and constantly changing amounts of cover for bass to hide.
I spent over 40 years learning the CT river and elite tournament fishing other tidal rivers across the country. All that time spent on rivers has given me a good understanding of where river bass spawn, which is the key to determining how to catch them before they go to the bed.
Because river systems change so much, river bass are really adaptable in where they can spawn. They’re really looking for something hard that’s out of the current. Places like marinas, backwater ponds, pieces of wood, whatever they can find. Heck, I’ve seen a bass fan out a nest right in the main channel behind a laydown before.
Where to Find Prespawn Bass on Rivers
Prespawn bass will be moving toward their bedding areas once the temperature starts moving up into the 50s, and I have two favorite places to intercept them as they move. The first is at the mouths of marinas and the second is along inside bends of feeder creeks.
“On rivers, lots of bass spawn in marinas because they are protected from current and have deeper water.” I’ve had a ton of success fishing the rip rap around the mouths and edges of marinas once the water starts to warm.
Conclusion
You need to fish a river often to know exactly how and where to fish. You have to practice at it. River bass are more aggressive because they’ve had to battle currents all their life. But they’re more finicky, too, more likely to move around and change their behavior patterns. That makes river fishing tough.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it, though. There have been times, especially during the spawn, when I’ve caught a dozen nice bass in just an hour. Unless the water is extremely high, river bass tend to congregate in small areas, and if you get on a pattern with the right lure using the right presentation in just the right spot you can tear them up.
Lake fishing is fun in its own right. But if you want to experience the most exciting and most challenging form of bass fishing, rivers are where it’s at. Give it a try this season.
