Spring brings bass shallow—both largemouths and smallmouths. Where they exist in the same body of water, largemouths are usually more bay- or channel-oriented, relating to shallow cover like fallen trees, logs, stumps lily pad roots and flooded terrestrial grasses—basically anything the ice didn’t take out or smash to the bottom during winter. Smallmouths tend to be more main-lake-oriented, relating to areas of broken rock and sand, perhaps with some sandgrass carpet nearby.

The two species are usually separated, but both are shallow enough that many of the same lures apply to each species.

Search lures: Spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits, rattllebaits, swimming grubs, ChatterBaits. Lures retrieved at mostly a gentle, steady pace for aggressive bass.

Search/trigger lures: X-Rap (neutrally buoyant suspending lures), unweighted jerk shads, weedless frogs, topwaters. Lures retrieved with pauses to trigger curious or following bass.

Trigger lures: Tubes (jigs or rigged), wacky worms, jigs/plastic trailers. Lures mostly cast, allowed to sink and then paused in key spots, particularly effective when fished in key bedding spots during late pre-spawn.

Carry a selection and experiment with them throughout the spring season to see what works best on any particular day.

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