Spring is here for the southern half of the United States, bringing with it a variety of opportunities to catch hungry, healthy bass. You should notice this time of the year that most of the fish you catch will have huge protruding bellies. The reason is that the water is warming and the bass are aggressively feeding to get ready for the spawn that will soon follow. This aggressive feeding, along with eggs in their bellies, makes the winter to spring transition an anglers best opportunity to catch a true trophy. Many of the fish are easily accessible, staging in shallow water on small gravel and clay points near spawning pockets. While there is a variety of different ways to catch these aggressive fish, one of the most effective is on a rattling bait, also called a lipless crankbait.

The originator of this style of bait is the Bill Lewis Original Rat-L-Trap. Many other companies have now created their own version of the lipless crankbait, such as Bass Pro Shops very own Bass Pro Shops® XPS® Rattle Shad. All brands of the lipless crankbaits will catch fish, and often large numbers of them. This creates a tremendous opportunity to catch fish that are bunched up together on back to back casts. Many tournaments are won this time of year on one area in a very short period of time. Read the rest of this entry →