The largemouth bass spawn kicked off early this month, followed by the white perch spawn. For the next month or so, some bass will still be spawning, while others will be in post-spawn. The post-spawn fish are the fish to target for an easy limit.

The big, spawned-out female bass will be lean and hungry.

Surface lures will catch these fish, and there is nothing more exciting than catching bass on top water lures.

This week, water temperatures increased several degrees. That’s a good thing for surface action.

Try the spawning flats with big surface lures like soft, plastic jerk worms fished weightless or anyone of the many floating swim baits. Swim baits are real popular in the larger reservoirs like Toledo Bend, and the big lures are just now trickling down to the average fishermen.

Experienced swim bait fishermen could come into this area and catch some big bass simply because the fish have not seen many swim baits.

Swim baits come in various sizes, shapes, colors and weights. The fish in our area would readily take the medium floaters or slow sinkers.

The bottom lures — jigs, creature-style lures and gliding lures — will continue to fool some big bass over the next month or so, but keep a surface lure rig on the deck.

If you see a lot of shad activity on the surface, you can bet the bass are looking up for a meal.

The white perch are still holding in extremely shallow water.

On Lake St. John, the pier owners are loading up on big slabs using yo-yos baited with live shiners. Some are trying to catch these fish on a jig pole, without much success.

Try going to a real light jig head rigged with a small tube lure. If you’re using a 1/32- ounce head, drop down to a 1/64-ounce head and go to 4-pound test line for more strikes from picky white perch.

Toward the end of April, the bass and white perch spawn will wind down, and the bream spawn will kick off.

Our lakes are loaded with bluegill and chinquapin. There are many ways to catch these hard-pulling, easy to locate fish.

The old-fashioned way — a cricket and a jig pole — is the most productive.

But some fishermen like to cast small spinners on an ultra light rig. Just target the shallow spawning flats on our area lakes, and you will find the bream.