Tough Spring Days

There are times in the spring when the weather outside is picture perfect. Although it may seem like an ideal day for fishing, it can be one of the worst. I would much rather fish in spring on a warm cloudy day with a front moving in. The days after a front moves through and there isn’t a cloud in the sky, are about the worst days to fish.

I recently spent a gorgeous afternoon on the water with bright blue skies and little wind. I tried many of my favorite spring time lures with no success.

I fished for almost an hour with no bites. Once I picked up a small suspending jerkbait I started catching some. The exact bait was a Lucky Craft Pointer suspending jerkbait. I did not catch any big ones, but I started getting some bites. I ended up catching over a dozen small bass on this lure.

On this day, the suspending jerkbait was the ticket for me. Tomorrow it might be something completely different. Even though I was able to catch a few, I would’ve had more success on a less picturesque day. But a day on the lake is still better than one doing yard work.

Light Jigs In Algae

Fishing a lake or pond that is full of algae can be very frustrating. Especially when it’s slimy algae. This kind of algae sticks to everything. There are very few baits that can be used in this stuff. This crankbait is covered in it.  

Here’s a bait I think you will want to give a try. It has worked for me many times in this situations. I like to use a 1/16 ounce Strike King Bitsy Bug Jig. For the trailer I use a Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver 3.50 and cut it in half. This gives the bait a small compact profile with enough bulk to keep the bait on top of the algae. If you try to use a heavy jig, it will immediately get covered in algae and be ineffective

Light jigs do require a lot of patience because it takes time to fall to the bottom. Often the bass grab the lure as it is falling. You must be a line watcher; if you see the line pop, or swim off to the side before it hits the bottom, set the hook because a fish has it!

Next time you encounter this slimy situation, try this technique out. I know it will catch some good ones.

 

Hand Painted Crankbaits

One of the latest crazes in bass fishing is homemade and custom painted lures. I recently picked up a couple from KMW Lures. KMW offers many different options; from topwater, jerkbaits, and crankbaits in specialized and novelty colors. I was amazed at the detail on these lures.

Crankbaits are known for not running true out of the package. Some cheap lures will run to one side and must be tuned in order to run straight. There was no reason to tune these baits, they ran true out of the package. They also come with 2x Eagle Claw hooks

I got two different lure types and color schemes to try. One was the KMW Green Pumpkin Craw squarebill. The other was a KMW Natural Shad jerkbait. The first place I tried the KMW Green Pumpkin Craw squarebill was in my pond. The bass sure seem to like this color as well as I do. They were absolutely swallowing the bait. I can’t wait to hit the lake and try them.

If you want to upgrade some of your tackle and fish with a lure that the bass have not seen before, I think it is worth your investment to try a couple of hand painted lures. I know I was not disappointed with these KMW Lures.