Northwest Fishing Reports

Gentlemen, I've been a trout and salmon guy my whole life. In that order. I like trout fishing the most because it's pretty inexpensive, but I've never been the bass guy. I've caught a few here and there, mostly while fishing for trout, but my goal for the year is to target and catch some hawgs. I've never caught bass while trying to catch bass! I know there a hundred threads like this but I want to hear from some of you pros how you do it. I know some basic methods, but one thing that keeps popping up in reports are guys saying they spotted some beds.

How do you spot beds? is it on your finder, or are you in like 4 ft of water and can see the bottom? I'd like to know.

And for all of you that said bass fishing at Lk. Wilderness sucks......you just messed me up. Now I have to prove you wrong.....it can be done...oh yeah, it will be done!

I would start with spinner baits white, blue and black silver blades just to start maybe some top water baits I think the best for LMB plastics large ones. T riged SMB crank baits "Divers".

I have been finding beds the last 2 days and they all are in 1-2 feet of water around cover you can tell by the ring of lighter colored bottom.I am fishing CLEAR water and it is impossible to sneak close enough so I have been anchoring 20 feet from the bed and waiting very until she or he comes back. Then I pitch in a white 1/4 dart jig putting it right in front of them it has taken many many tries at one fish until I piss her off enough. There are threads for other bedding baits so pick what suits you but be ready to be there for a WHILE#-o In colored water the bass shouldn't be so skittish so you can use a bigger bait but in this clear water the smaller the better!

If you're after big bass you'd probably have better luck going after the females. After laying eggs they go to deeper water just outside of the beds. The males guarding the beds don't eat much while they are on duty. They will attack something if they feel it is a threat, but they won't be actively feeding.

Are you fishing from shore or are you on a boat/tube?

I mostly fish stained water from a tube, so I'm throwing 6" black/chartreuse lizards, Texas style, around the heaviest shore cover I can find. Very slow retrieve - short bounces and barely jigging the rod tip to make the tail wiggle - annoys them to no end. Almost any dark plastic with a lighter tail fished on bottom will work this time of year as long as you have a slow retrieve.

Spinner baits are good as well but I'm not fishing them so much since bass are holding low for the spawn right now. Once the water warms up more spinners fished around logs and lily pads will slay them early and late in the day.

Weedless jigs with a pork/plastic trailer are working well right now, fished around heavy cover. I'm sticking to the same color scheme as the lizards - dark jig with a lighter trailer.

There's 3 tips. Hope those help

Hey Rob,
Read the "what does a bass bed look like?" thread. There is a lot of good stuff in it with pictures too.
Better hurry though I think that the spawn is on in most of our lakes.