The book said the big female bass would be close to shallow water and aggressive as they prepared to spawn, but FLW pro Matt Herren quickly learned that these bass didn't read books.
Herren tried a couple of lures in varying water depths and didn't get a bite. Instead of tossing in the towel and declaring the fish just weren't biting on this day, Herren began a process of elimination.
A few minutes later Herren was surprised to find the big female bass already on the beds this early in March. Herren flipped a tube jig on a bed and it was inhaled by an irritated female. Seconds later he had the 4-pounder flopping in the boat. Mystery solved.
Herren, of Trussville, makes a living locating fish. Often those fish can't be found where common wisdom says they should be. The 2006 angler of the year runner-up says learning to locate fish, not finding good fishing spots, is what separates the pros from the Joes.
"The worst mistake that the average weekend fisherman makes is that he gets hung up on fishing the past," Herren said. "He gets it in his mind that this is the place that he caught fish on the same weeks in the spring last year and that's where he needs to be. That's rarely the case.
"The water level, the water temperature, the color of the water, the amount of rainfall, the temperature of rainfall and the moon phase all dictate where the fish will be. In the spring everything changes almost day-to-day, so it only makes sense that it's going to change from year to year."
Herren admitted he was surprised to find bedding bass in water that some experts would claim isn't warm enough for spawning. Even more surprising as he inspected beds around the lake with his polarized glasses was that many were teeming with fry, meaning that several females had laid their eggs and they had hatched.
"I believe we're seeing the earliest spawn that I have ever seen in Alabama," he said.
In spring when Herren goes to a lake that he has never visited before, as he is often called upon to do, he starts the location process with a topographical map. He looks for pockets of shallow water that are protected from the north wind and current. They also must get the optimum amount of afternoon sun.
"Those are the areas that warm up the quickest and stay the warmest," he said. "A cold front doesn't affect them as much as other areas because they don't get a cold north wind blowing on them. They also get the least shade and the longest period of sunlight. The fish will be in those areas somewhere."
Once on the water, Herren personally surveys those areas in practice, looking for a sandy or rocky bottom.
"Fish don't like mud," he said. "Skip the pockets that have mud bottoms."
While at that point in the process Herren still hasn't always located exactly where the bass are, he says he has made a major step because he has usually eliminated three-fourths of a lake from fishing consideration.
"One thing you've got to teach yourself if you fish professionally is there's no such thing as fish not biting," he said. "The fish are always biting. People go one day and catch fish and go back the next day and don't catch them and they say the fish just weren't biting that day.
"That's not true. The fish might have moved or they want another lure, but they are still biting if you put a lure in front of their face. Saying fish aren't biting isn't a luxury we (pro fishermen) have. That's why locating fish from day to day is so important. You have to find them and make them bite."
Both male and female bass stage in spring, going from deep water to shallow water in increments and back out to deeper water following the spawn.
If looking for fish in the spring, Herren says he typically starts with a topwater lure such as a Pop-R or buzzbait, hoping to find reaction strikes in shallow water. Those lures cover a lot of water and tell him quickly whether the bass are in that zone. He'll also periodically check the shallow areas for bedding bass during this time.
If he doesn't find the bass there, he'll back off in water a little deeper, trying small crankbaits, jigs or worms.
If he finds bass on the beds, he'll flip a tube jig, lizard or wacky worm on the bed in hopes of enticing a strike. He says good polarized glasses are the key to bed fishing so he can see when the bass pick up the lure.
"Sometimes you'll flip into a bed over and over and over and a bass won't take it," he said. "You just keep throwing it in there until they get mad enough to grab it.
"Other times they'll grab whatever you throw in there the first time. You just have to have your boat into position so the glare is right and have good glasses on so you can see them when they take it so you can set the hook."
