Bass move shallow in the spring to spawn which makes for some really fun fishing. These bass are hungry and becoming more active by the day with the rising water temperatures. The females are also full of eggs, which means they are as big as they’ll be all year. What a great time to catch a monster bass and maybe even a new PB! 

There’s only one catch, the bass don’t always move up everywhere all at once. Waves of pre-spawn bass will move into certain areas, creating great concentrations of fish in small pockets and bays. But there’s often a lot of unproductive water in between these sweet spots. This is where search baits really shine. 

What is a search bait? - 

The term search bait refers a lure that can be used to cover water. Examples are spinnerbaits, ChatterBaits, buzzbaits and lipless crankbaits. Other presentations like Texas rigs, dropshots and flipping take time to fish effectively, so you can’t really cover a lot of water doing these. 

Take a swim jig and a flipping jig for examples. Though these two baits look a lot alike, the swim jig can be fished effectively much quicker than the flipping jig. This makes the swim jig more of a search bait, allowing you to cover water while looking for a concentration of fish. 

*It is import to note that these slower presentations still work really well around the spawn, even better than search baits really when you get into an area with a large concentration of fish. So, use a search bait like a buzzbait to cover water and once you start getting bit you may want to slow down and pick the area apart with a wack rig, for example. 

Search baits for the pre-spawn - 

During the pre-spawn, the bass may still be a little sluggish and are almost certainly unwilling to eat a topwater. This makes squarebills, spinnerbaits, vibrating jigs and swim jigs great search baits as bass move into staging areas but aren’t quite on the bed yet. Harnessed swimbaits like the Berkley Cull Shad are great during the immediate pre-spawn as well. 

Search baits for the spawn - 

When bass are actually spawning, you’ll want to use baits that are a little more subtle to cover water. A hollow body frog is a great search bait when bass are spawning. The fish are more willing to break the surface now, as the water has warmed into the 60s. And even if they won’t commit to eating a frog entirely, they’ll often still show themselves and then you can cast to them with a follow-up bait like a Senko. 

Search baits for the post-spawn - 

A hollow body frog is a great search bait for the post-spawn as well, as are Spooks and poppers. The bass are hungry and more than willing to eat topwaters at this point. Glide baits are also great search baits during the post-spawn, as they a offer up a slow moving big meal—the perfect combination for tempting a bass weary from the bedding process into exerting a little energy for a big meal.

Search baits are critical components of any angler’s arsenal during all three stages of the spawn. Using these baits to cover water will help rule out unproductive areas and shorten the time it takes to find concentrations of fish. This will all equate to you catching more fish in the amount of time you have to spend on the water. 

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