If you are searching for a trophy largemouth bass, now is the best time to catch one.

During the pre-spawn in February the big females are loaded with eggs and they’ll be cruising the shallows looking for a place to spawn and something to eat. Just three or four straight days of sunshine is all it will take to trigger the migration to the spawning areas.

The books will tell you water temperature need to be above 60 degrees before the bass will spawn. This may be true on some lakes but not ours. The bass in our area will move to the spawning areas in 54 to 58 degree water.

If the water is 52 degrees this week and climbs to 57 by the end of next week, the bass will move up. Those first fish, the first wave of female bass are the usually the largest in the lake. There’ll be far less fishing pressure over the next few weeks as compared to the month of March.

That’s why this is the very best time of year to catch a trophy bass. There’s less pressure on the fish, the fish are just beginning to move and you can narrow your search down to shallow water.

Of all the area lakes, Lake Concordia’s bass will usually be the first to move shallow. Look for big bass in the north flats, the shallow areas between the piers and later on the south flats will produce some nice size fish. Try fishing jigs with a pork or plastic trailer, creature style lures and jerk worms.

When the females first move up they will be cruising the shallows. In most cases they won’t be holding tight to cover. To catch the fish when they are moving takes a lot of patience. It’s easier to anchor or tie off and let the fish come to you than trying to find them by moving around with a trolling motor.

When the fish are cruising they will be very skittish and afraid of their on shadow. The least bit of noise and/or any movement from above and the fish will spook.

Try anchoring or tying off near spawning areas and make repeated cast with a weigh-less jerk work rigged on light line. Scale your line and lure size down. A 4-inch jerk worm like the Slide-N-Shad is deadly during the pre spawn phase. Once the water temps reach 60 degrees and above, switch to a larger 6-inch Slide-N-Shad or any soft plastic jerk worm you have confidence in.

At the same time there will be another pattern going on that will all so produce big bass. Try pitching and flipping jigs, tubes and creature style lures like brush hawgs and lizards. Use just enough weight to keep in contact with the bottom. The slower the lure falls the better your chances of catching a trophy bass.

The females are loaded with eggs so please practice catch and release. Our lakes are slowly recovering from the Largemouth Bass Virus and low water levels of 2000 and 2001 and you can do your part by releasing the big females back.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at

fishingwitheddie@highstream.net

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