For many outdoors enthusiasts across Texomaland, the last few days have brought a serious case of cabin fever.
A week of subfreezing cold, sleet, freezing rain, snow flurries, Winter Storm Warnings, and Ice Storm Warnings tends to do that. To quote Capt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in Top Gun: Maverick, where this week is concerned in terms of Texomaland weather, “It’s been a minute, huh Mav?”
As the firewood pile has dwindled with this week’s Arctic siege, I’ll readily admit to harboring a few thoughts about how far off the good bass fishing action of the springtime spawn must actually be. Icicles on the roof tend to produce such musings.
But it’s closer than you might think, especially when you realize that the month of February means pre-spawn action and one of the year’s best opportunities to catch a double digit lunker in North Texas.
As long as you’re looking in the right spot, that is, as big bass start thinking about warmer weather and moving into position for the coming spawn.
And since I prefer to fish with an eight-weight fly rod in my hand, that’s especially true and why I often turn to my friend Rob Woodruff for advice. Other than my dad and a few professional bass anglers I’ve covered in my career, the former Orvis endorsed fly guide on Lake Fork has schooled me on most of what I know in the art of targeting big bass.
But even though Rob and his wife Jenny are now a good drive away near the good trout streams of northern Arkansas, his bass mentoring influence continues as I gear up for another year of chasing that elusive 10-pounder on the fly rod.
This week, that’s in the form of some old notes that I’ve gone through as I get ready to start a few weeks of serious pursuit targeting the year’s best fishing action for big bass.
When Woodruff guided on Fork and other East Texas bass waters, Rob would often go out by himself as February rolled by and turned into March, beefing up his Orvis Helios fly rods to the 10-weight variety as he threw big streamer patterns in likely pre-spawn areas while hunting for a bucketmouth bass.
“Not everyone wants a full day of that, throwing big flies on big fly rods with the weather often being less than ideal,” said Woodruff in one of our conversations. “But this is the time of the year that even if an angler only get one or two bites all day long, it could be the fish of a lifetime.”
While running fly fishing lodges for trout and tarpon has occupied a portion of his career over the past decade, Woodruff has never strayed far from his bass fishing roots. And when it comes to double-digit largemouths, he knows a little something about catching those too, having successfully landed several fly rod bass over 10-pounds, including one that went 11.75 pounds. And with several other bruisers that either got away or just missed the 10-pound mark — like a 9.75-pounder I saw him catch a few years ago in March — his fishing advice is golden at this time of the year.
No matter what kind of angling equipment you prefer to use.
Because whether by fly or by conventional tackle, now is the time to get out and target the biggest bass of the year as they position themselves in prespawn staging areas in preparation for the coming spawn. Even as Old Man Winter is trying to wear his welcome out.
Woodruff notes that for late winter and early springtime anglers, productive pre-spawn areas can be divided into two categories. The first are gradient areas and the second are staging locations, both important considerations for anglers to look for as they seek big bass glory.
“For gradient areas, that’s defined as structure or cover that spans a variance in water depth,” writes Woodruff in his notes. “This is important during the fluctuating water temperatures of early spring because it allows the bass to move shallower or deeper as the water temperature changes.”
And according to the longtime fly rod bass guide, water temperature is one of the most crucial factors for bass anglers to consider as late winter turns into spring.
“That’s what starts everything in motion,” said Woodruff. “The full moon is the final trigger that pulls the big fish up.”
According to Woodruff, one of the most important gradient areas to search for during the pre-spawn are points, especially “…the points that occur where creeks join the main lake body.”
I also found in my years fishing on Fork with Woodruff that he liked to target old fence lines, including one that I’m sworn to secrecy about even though my guide friend now lives in the Ozarks.
“On manmade impoundments, it can be assumed that an old fence line running to the edge of the lake doesn’t stop at the water’s edge,” notes Woodruff. “Prior to the lake being built, that fence line likely extended to the creek the lake was built on.”
Such spots are really pure springtime gold when timber is involved.
“Look for an onshore fence line with mature trees and brush growing along it and then investigate to see if that line of trees extends out into the lake,” Woodruff said.
In similar fashion, water gaps — which Woodruff defines as extensions at the end of a fence that project into the lake to prevent livestock from going around the fences in low water times — can be important staging spots for anglers to search for during their quest to catch a big pre-spawn bass.
Another favored spot can be old roads lying on the lakebed and boat launch sites that have some rocks and/or concrete ready to soak up the sun’s late winter and early spring warmth.
“The areas where inundated roads connect with the shore offer a depth gradient and often warm quicker than surrounding areas,” said Woodruff. “And boat ramps, especially private, individually owned boat ramps that often see little use, offer the same temperature advantages as roadbeds (do).”
As winter wanes and spring deepens and the wave of bass heading to the bank increases during the next month, staging areas will also factor in.
“For staging areas, that’s defined as cover or structure occurring at one depth that serves as a stopping point for bass that are moving toward spawning areas,” said Woodruff.
Likely spots can include a single piece of timber.
“A single tree located near a spawning cove or creeks acts like a bus stop,” said Woodruff. “Different bass will stop and stage on it day after day, year after year.”
Again, I can recall such a spot on Fork, a location that Woodruff would always stop and throw a fly at. But that tree wasn’t just simply a piece of old wood sitting on a flat in a few feet of water, mind you.
“Trees with many lateral branches, like cedars or bois d’arcs, are usually better than a single bare trunk,” he notes.
Another spot to consider in the search for pre-spawn staging areas are submerged bridges and culverts.
“They offer overhead cover and are located across the creek channels that bass use as highways to move to spawning areas,” said Woodruff.
And then there are humps or old pond dams, like the spot that my buddy Doug Rodgers and I found to be highly productive a number of years ago on a visit to Lake Ray Roberts to the southwest of the Sherman-Denison area.
If memory serves correct, myself, Rodgers, and then-guide Randy Henderson boated nearly 25 bass on that late February day, a good number situated on a pond dam in several feet of water.
But like the difference in isolated trees, not every hump or pond dam is created equal as the spawn approaches.
“Those located near major spawning areas are best,” said Woodruff. “Use a good map and (electronics) to locate them. Once located, throw out a marker buoy and circle back to tie up or anchor within casting distance.”
The bottom line here is this, that if you can find the right staging location for a big pre-spawn bass as wintertime turns into spring, the results can be highly memorable.
And that’s true no matter what kind of fishing rod you happen to be using at the time. Because chilly weather or not, now is go-time for big bass in North Texas, even as this week’s icicles melt away.
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