Be sure you have these lures tied on if you hit the lake this month to your finest likelihood at really huge bass

Throughout the Carolinas, March is the very best month, in my view, to catch a trophy largemouth bass. I do know you’ll be able to catch one in January, February or April, however all the things factors to having your finest likelihood this month.

Our March days might be very, very totally different, relying on the climate and water temperature. The times are getting longer, however that doesn’t matter as a lot as water temperature, and it may be from one excessive to the opposite. By the final a part of the month, it’s normally beginning to heat up fairly good.

That mentioned, after I head out on Lake Murray, my residence lake, or on another lake within the Carolinas this month, I’m completely going to have a handful of rods on the entrance deck of my Phoenix bass boat, with the very best March baits I can presumably tie on. Right here they’re:

Jerkbaits

Jerkbaits actually work higher when the water is colder, so that they’re nice in early March, once we’re topic to have water temperatures within the excessive 40s and low 50s. Fish might be torpid, and a jerkbait will droop in entrance of them.

I’m fishing a Rapala Rip Cease, which might get right down to about 6 or 7 toes. I’ll fish it on a 6-foot-7, Lew’s Velocity Stick jerkbait rod and a Lew’s Tremendous Responsibility baitcasting reel spooled with 10-pound fluorocarbon. I prefer to fish shad and herring colours.

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I’m searching for conditions after I can see bait and bass suspended on my depth finder. An ideal state of affairs is once we’ve had just a few heat days in late February, possibly per week, after which we get a chilly entrance and the water temperature drops again down. That’s after I love a jerkbait. The fish have moved up, and so they’re thus far alongside towards the spring that they gained’t return down, however they’ll transfer off cowl and construction and droop. That’s if you catch ‘em on a jerkbait.

The cadence you fish a jerkbait is essential. When the water temperature is within the excessive 40s, I’ll decelerate, however I’ll combine it up. I’ll begin with a jerk-jerk-pause-jerk-jerk-pause cadence, at totally different speeds. If I see bait and fish on my Humminbird and I’m not catching something after quarter-hour, I’m going to alter one thing up.

Crankbaits

I like fishing jerkbaits, but when I had to decide on my Nos. 1 and a pair of baits for March, they’re going to be crankbaits. I like to fish a No. 7 Shad Rap, and a Rapala DT-6 or DT-10, relying on how deep the fish are.

Crankbaits come into play after I see fish regarding the underside or to some sort of cowl or construction on the underside — versus fishing a jerkbait when fish are suspended. I like that I can cowl lots of water with a crankbait and use it as a search bait.

Each bass fisherman within the nation has a minimum of one Shad Rap of their sort out bins. It’s the very best cold-water crankbait ever. If the water temperature is within the mid-40s, the excessive 40s or the low 50s, that’s what I’m going to be throwing. If the water temperature is within the mid-50s or increased 50s, I’m going to be throwing a DT-6 or DT-10.

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I wish to use crawfish colours: reds, browns, oranges. I wish to search for wooden, rock and even grass. This time of 12 months, you might have some hydrilla, however you’re extra prone to have some sort of stubble left from vegetation that’s gone dormant within the winter.

I wish to fish these crankbaits on a 7-foot, Lew’s David Fritts Good Crankbait Rod and a Lew’s BB1 baitcasting reel spooled with 10- to 12-pound fluorocarbon. If I used to be fishing a stiffer rod, or a rod with a quicker motion, I’d use monofilament.

Mop jig

I’ll fish a Buckeye mop jig anytime throughout March, relying on the duvet and what bass are doing.

I don’t wish to sound like a damaged file, however I’m adamant about this: a mop jig is a superb, big-fish bait. Anyplace I’m fishing, I’ve received to throw it two or thrice simply to maintain the large fish sincere.

What I’m is fishing it round targets that I’d see: possibly a dock put up with brush, blowdowns, stumps. Clearly, I’m going to throw it wherever I catch just a few fish on a jerkbait or a crankbait.

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One essential factor is, search for crawfish. In late fall and winter, you’ll see extra crawfish across the banks of most of our lakes, as a result of the water is normally down and really clear. I’ve heard extra individuals inform me in regards to the huge crawfish they’ve seen on Lake Murray this winter. What you’re searching for is the colour of the crawfish. They are often totally different colours at totally different occasions of the 12 months — and on totally different our bodies of water.

I wish to match the colour of the crawfish I see, whether or not they’re brown or black with purple spots — that’s a giant one — or another colour. I’m going to fish a mop jig with a crawfish trailer, a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hawg.

I’ll fish a mop jig on a 7-foot, Lew’s Magnum Pitching Rod, the Tremendous Responsibility reel and 14- to 17-pound fluorocarbon.

So if you hit the lake this month, ensure that these baits are tied on, so you will get essentially the most out of your March journeys.

We received the beat:

Cadence is extraordinarily essential if you’re fishing a jerkbait like a Rapala Rip Cease (above) for late-winter largemouth bass which are suspended round suspended bait. Select one cadence to start out with — jerk-jerk-pause — is a favourite, however experiment, particularly in case you’re not getting bit if you see fish in your depthfinder. Decelerate, pace up, go to a unique cadence, by strive one thing else.