Fish the Sunny Side for Early Season Bass
A good-sized early season largemouth caught at Bedminster Pond. Notice the sunlight on the bass, on me, and on the trees.
Sunny and Shadowy Sides
Early spring largemouth fishing is underway as I post, the sunny side of a pond or lake tending to be productive. I still haven’t managed to get out and fish, but I’m getting stories out for you. This one is also originally published in New Jersey Federated Sportsmen’s News, published by The New Jersey State Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.
The eastern side absorbs sunlight through most of the day, especially through the warmer part.
The early season produces a stark contrast between the sunny and shadowy sides of a pond or lake you’ll never see when the trees green. As the sun gets low during March afternoons, a wooded eastern side appears golden, the light on the brown trunks and branches a reflection of the sun’s deepened color as it nears the horizon. Conversely, the western side in shadow appears deep gray, suggesting a feeling of cold, dank lifelessness.
During the summer, the sensation is different. The western bank in shadow feels inviting because the shadow suggests a cool respite from hot sun rays pummeling the eastern side. The omnipresent greenery seems to absorb those rays, rather than reflect them, and while the relative darkness of shadow on the other side is easy to see and compare to the sunlit side, the color of the greenery tends to dominate that shadow. It’s not a stark contrast.
Water Temperature
In addition to how light and shadow function as appearances relative to the season, the relative likelihood of making a catch on one or the other side reverses during summer. When June comes, you will feel how inviting shadows are for finding bass, but you might remember that back in March and April, the bottom of sunlit shallows absorbed sun rays, resulting in a slightly higher water temperature and better catches there. Does that mean you caught all of your bass in the sunlight?
Not necessarily. For one example of a bass caught in colder water than available, I once fished 30-acre Round Valley Pond early in May after weeks of cool temperatures. The trees remained brown for the most part, but a warm front had punched afternoon highs into the 70’s, which meant the shallows of the pond had warmed considerably. That’s where I enjoyed action in about two feet of water. Regardless, shortly after sunset, I cast a Senko far out from the steep shoreline and I caught my best bass of nearly three pounds from 10 feet of relatively cold water at bottom, where residual weeds panned out.
I often break the rules, as I did on that evening when most anglers might have limited their presentations to the shallows. Generally, I do expect better fishing in the shallows during early spring warm spells, and often when sunlight warms the water slightly, but I might try a deep weed edge or a shadowy corner anyway. I like to be surprised, and that’s not a matter of random casting where expectations feel least. Why waste time?
Gut Feeling and Reason
To the contrary of casting with half-hearted uncertainty, sometimes a distinct feeling of possibility points my lure at the target. That feeling might seem to go against reason, but never really does. Conscious reason is limited to assumptions it forms based on apparent facts, but not all of the facts are apparent, and sometimes an unconscious perception—a feeling in the gut—knows better. I recall that I never thought of that edge of residual weeds at Round Valley until my Senko had splashed down. I already knew about it from my former fishing experience, but I didn’t have to think about it before I felt the need to cast there. Listen to your gut. It has evolved for many millions of years to clue you into sources of food.
Sadie the black Labrador basks in the early morning sunlight at Spruce Run Reservoir where Jorge Hildago caught a couple of nice-sized early season largemouths on a Senko. I got skunked.
That said, the contrast between light and shadow is a real element of a pond or lake environment on a sunny afternoon. It’s a division you can’t ignore, and reason naturally suggests that it affects the behavior of bass. Facts support the idea that bass will be in the sunlit water and moved to feed: the water is slightly warmer, forage is more present and active there than under shadow, and aquatic vegetation is just beginning to grow better than it is growing on the shadowy side, because although the western side is sunlit in the morning, it never quite warms to the degree of the eastern side under higher afternoon temperatures. Also, sunlight repeatedly warms the eastern side over the course of days and weeks. As springtime begins to arrive and deepen, that side awakens before the western side comes to life.
Given those considerations, the division of light clearly seems to make a significant difference, and you should fish the sunlit side carefully. Wood and rocks are two prominent structural features I look for, as well as shallow flats with relatively deep water nearby. A flat may be all the more productive for being no more than a foot deep. If it has a rock or gravelly bottom, it will absorb, hold, and radiate heat well. Mud bottom will warm, too, but since mud is not as dense as rock, it loses heat faster. A combination of wood in the water combined with rocks and/or gravel can be especially productive, especially if weeds grow along edges or in gaps, but often I simply fan cast an open flat, perhaps picking up a bass or two.
In-Line Spinners
Even though sometimes it doesn’t happen when conditions seem perfect, action in March can be especially fast when water warms quickly. I recall numerous occasions when bass were actively feeding; action while using spinnerbaits or inline spinners would not stop. Even on chilly afternoons, but with a lot of sun, I’ve caught a few bass from shallow, gravelly flats.
Before this coming March, I’m planning on driving to Fairfield Bait & Tackle, where I’ll buy various components to make inline spinners. It’s been more than several years since I went over to Bedminster Pond, just up the highway from where I live, with a homemade spinner I built during my teens. I noticed right away that I had constructed it so it would ride high near the surface on a slow retrieve, just the ticket to quick action I enjoyed. Such a spinner is perfect for foot-deep flats you want to fish slowly and not get snagged up on. By using little weight to construct a spinner’s body relative to the size of the blade, a spinner rides higher. The spinners you might buy premade are standardized with heavier bodies and run deep. To the best of my knowledge, you simply cannot buy a premade spinner that will run high and slow.
Spinners, spinnerbaits, and Senkos aren’t the only early season choices. The Rebel Minnow is excellent for those foot-deep flats I keep mentioning. When the water has warmed slightly and is calm, you can use a two-and-a-half-inch version successfully. The slightest twitch does no more than raise the jerkbait’s rear, which otherwise sits at a diagonal angle to the surface, submerged. That’s all the action you need to impart, and especially when the water is cold, you should wait as long as a minute between twitches. I once caught bass this way in water that registered 47 degrees F on my thermometer. Other jerkbaits don’t replicate the action.