During March I want to be fishing Table Rock Lake where I grew up for pre-spawn bass. These fish just got out of winter, they're thinking about spawning and they're ready to feed. I never leave the dock with these three lures.
Jerkbait:
I'll twitch a Smithwick Rogue to 12 feet below the surface beside a tree, targeting cedar-tree-lined bluff ends. Above it, I'll fish a pro-blue-colored Megabass Vision 110. Your jerkbait must suspend perfectly horizontal. In colder water, I'll pause it up to 15 seconds in between the "pop-pause-pop-pop" retrieve I'm working.
Spro Mike McClelland RkCrawler 55 Crankbait:
This crankbait dives to 8 feet, casts better, and is cheaper than the legendary original Wiggle Warts that aren't available anymore (unless you pay big money for them on eBay). I'll make long casts on round points and gnarly chunk-rock banks. Phantom green's a great color for largemouth and spotted bass. Mudbug has pink on the belly that dives smallmouth crazy!
Shaky Head:
I'll fish it real slow, no shaking on a 3/16oz ball head jig with a screw-lock bait keeper and a round bend hook. Nothing beats a watermelon/blue colored Zoom Trick Worm or Gambler Sweebo Worm on Logan Martin Lake or Neely Henry.
Clouse, Gary. "What's On My Line Gary Clouse." BASS Times, March 2019, pp. 5.
Location:
In most areas of the country, March bass are going to be the staging in the prespawn areas. Warm weather is coming - they know it - but they're typically not ready to commit to sweeping a bed and settling in for the long haul in a spawning area. Instead, Lester says they will be lingering somewhere between the deep-water holds of winter and the shallow spawning flats of spring. "These bass are in places where they can sit and wait until they are ready to do their deal. You want to fish places that are typical staging areas: points at the mouth of a spawning pocket, bluff ends that transition to pea gravel, and most especially floating docks." It's these docks that Lester keys in on the most. They provide shade and a sense of cover for bass waiting to spawn. They're typically near a shallow area but sometimes float over 40 or 50 feet of water. This is your target zone. "Those fish get positioned there, and they'll be in the shade. Those black, plastic floats add a little warmth to the water. That's why they are there." Your mission is to put a jerkbait in front of their faces, tempting them with a lingering meal. Make sure you've got a least 2 or 3 feet of water clarity.
Lure Presentation:
Before targeting these bass, Lester fishes points and bluff ends until about mid-day. Once the sun begins to head toward high noon, he sets his plan in place, making a beeline to the nearest floating dock and heading in for the figurative kill. There, he positions his boat as close as he can to the structure, being careful to avoid cables and other debris that often surround his hunting grounds. Then he begins to cast.
"I want to make a cast right down the outside edge of the dock," he explains. "Be careful. You'll be crying if you snag a $20 lure on the dock. But get your bait as close to the dock as you can." Lester says your retrieve should resemble walking the dog with a topwater bait. To do it right, you need a cadence. Twitch, twitch, pause. Twitch, twitch, pause. Some anglers allow the bait to pause for up to 30 seconds. Lester doesn't criticize the technique but says he is too impatient for that. "If I let it sit for five seconds, it feels like an eternity. Usually, I only pause it for two or three seconds before starting to twitch again."
"One more thing," Lester adds. "It's very important to make a cast past the dock, so your lure comes back beside the dock at depth. You don't want to cast directly on top of your target because the jerkbait will be 10 feet away from the dock when it finally hits the right depth.
Lure Selection:
Lester has depth management down to a science. He starts with a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait. He disposes of the factory hooks, replacing them with a single No. 4 Mustad KVD Elite treble on the nose of the lure and two No. 6 hooks of the same make on the back. "That usually makes it sit perfectly level or sink very slightly," he notes. But weight management doesn't end there. Lester says he also customizes his line to help refine the bait's ride height. "You'd be surprised how much you can vary the depth of a jerkbait just by changing you line size. The Megabass 110 will diver to 6 or 7 feet on 10-pound fluorocarbon. With 8-pound line, that goes to 7 or 8 feet. With 15-pound line, it's closer to 3 or 4 feet. Either way, I tie it right on to the lure with a standard Palomar knot.
Lester's Perfect Prespawn Jerkbait Classic Preview 2019 Bassmaster Magazine (Joe Sills pg. 68 - 69)
Transparent Body:
Clausen's color preference for late winter is actually an absence of color: a pattern like Ghost Pro Blue or Shad. He'll frequently throw jerkbaits with transparent bodies in March and early April to offset the seasonal cold, clear water. "We throw jerkbaits a lot in clearer water just in general, but especially this time of year," Clausen confirms. "A transparent body is definitely the way to go on those sunny spring days when you're fishing a highland reservoir in an area like the Ozarks." The Duel Flat 110SP also has some flash because of the triple mirror finish inside the body, something Clausen swears makes a difference in the bait's visibility in the water. "The body has a uniqueness to it that allows it to have a subtle flash when you move the bait," he says. "But, sitting motionless it looks transparent, and that's usually what we're looking for in clear water. It makes it more attractive to the fish."
Durability When You Need It:
Clausen says that the Duel Flat 110SP is extremely durable, which becomes a bigger factor as waters begin to gradually warm. "We start to fish around more targets as waters warm," Clausen said. "Whereas in the winter when the water is really cold and we're throwing jerkbaits in more open water, we'll start fishing more around docks, pilings and laydowns in the spring. No matter how good any of us are at casting, we all hit stuff with our baits still, it just happens." "I am not fearful of being without a bill or a bait. Other jerkbaits I've dealt with, bills breaking off, taking on water or sinking have always been an issue. With this bait, you don't have to worry about that, and about having to tie a new bait on all the time."
Ready To Go Out of The Box:
As soon as you take the 110SP jerkbait out of its packaging, Clausen says it is ready to go, with no need for changing the hooks or split rings. This saves him crucial time when he's out on the water, knowing he doesn't have to put a new hook on a brand new bait. "It comes with a black nickel hook and a split ring that are both tournament quality," Claussen said. "It's nice to have those on there knowing I don't have to change them going into a tournament, and I can just get out there and fish with them right away."
It Finds The Right Balance in Cooler Water:
The Duel Flat 110SP has an internationally patented magnetic weight-transfer system, which allows it to cast like a dart and have a more erratic action than any other jerkbait Clausen has thrown. That weight-transfer system is also especially functional in colder water. "It flies tail first, which allows you to cast a lot further into the wind and it flies accurately," Clausen highlights. "The balance system makes it shimmy when it pauses, so even if you stop moving, it still has a wobble to it because of the balancer balls, and the way they rest in the bait. "The way we're working jerkbaits when the water is in the low 50s, we're just pulling them, not necessarily jerking them. Fish react slower, and they have more time to look at a bait, so that little bit of action makes a difference. We see a lot of jerkbaits that have a dead action when you stop moving, and this one doesn't do that. This bait sits head down in the water, too, so it looks even more like a dying shad. "
The Same Bait Regardless of Size:
The jerkbait comes in two sizes: 95SP and 110SP. However, just because there are two different sizes, that doesn't mean that they are two completely different baits. Clausen prefers the 110SP in most situations, but has confidence that the action isn't compromised when he goes down in size, which he will frequently do this time of year. "I like to go with a little bit smaller bait in clear-water situations as it gets brighter in the afternoon, and fish can see everything better," he says. "The fact that the 95SP has the same action and attributes as the 110SP makes it easy to downsize to a smaller version of the same bait that was working for me. I see so many other baits that may look the same when you go down in size, but it doesn't act the same in the water. For me, it gives me a lot of confidence when I use it knowing that it's going to act the same."
1 for 5: Luke Clausen's Flat-Sided Jerkbait for Early Spring - Major League Fishing 3/15/19 (Mason Prince)