March — oh, beautiful, blessed March. It’s the pinnacle month for bass fishing across the South. This is the time of year when the frigid misery of winter fades and out-of-practice arm muscles get a good stretch with each big, beautiful bass that bites.
Granted, those north of the Mason-Dixon may only daydream of plump pre-spawn bass a bit longer still. But your day is coming. We’ll share some thoughts for ya’ll in the meantime, and break down what we’re throwing in other parts of the country in March, too.
In the South
March is the transition month here in Alabama. The latter half of February saw a roller coaster of air temps, with highs near 80 for a week and then lows the following week back in the 20s. This drastic swing caused the water temps to sky rocket from the upper 40s to the lower 60s in a matter of days, just to plummet again to the low 50s. But that’s where things have leveled off now, and barring a random March or April freeze, the cold temperatures are gone and water temps will stabilize in that magical mid-50s range.
From southern California through Texas and Alabama all the way to Georgia, things are about to get right. Bass will be staging right outside spawning areas and jump on bed later in the month, with some even moving to the early post-spawn phase where they guard fry later in March. This month is going to see a little of it all. And it’s going to be a blast. Here’s what we’ll be using to catch them.
Spinnerbaits
I really love to fish a spinnerbait year round, but March in particular is THE month to fish a spinnerbait, if you had to pick just one. In the final stage of the pre-spawn, bass hunker down close to shallow isolated cover like brush piles, stumps, laydowns and dock posts.
They also set up in submerged vegetation and peruse rocky banks and riprap. All of this cover makes for prime spinnerbait water. Spinnerbaits are fairly weedless (if you keep them upright) and they have large profiles, making them great for fishing cover in search of hungry pre-spawn bass.
Glidebaits
A glidebait is great for the late pre-spawn bite for the same reasons, especially right at the spawn. Pre-spawn bass will spend their last few days before they spawn simply cruising the shallows, looking for a mate and the perfect place to make their beds.
As they hone in on prime real estate near shallow trees, brush, and docks — they are susceptible to the drawing power of a glidebait, which again, presents the presumed opportunity of a large meal to hold them over awhile. A glidebait does outshine a spinnerbait in clear water on calm days when cover is sparse.
Swim Jigs
Like spinnerbaits, swim jigs work year round to some degree. But, also like spinnerbaits, there’s no better month for a swim jig than March.
March means emerging vegetation across many fisheries in the south, and that means plenty of great places to look for bass that are feeding up for the pre-spawn (as well as bass that are just coming off the bed later in the month). The weedless characteristic of a swim jig makes it the perfect bait for fishing through and over top of aquatic vegetation, while also giving the bass a nice-size bait to look at with a big bulky hook.
Topwaters
Now is the time we have all been waiting for: the topwater bite is back. While it won’t be wide open like it will be in late April and May, you will certainly be able to catch fish on a topwater in March in the South, and they’re liable to be great big ones.
Believe it or not, during that recent warm snap in February, dad and I actually caught a few fish on a buzzbait here in Alabama. None of them were big, but the potential was there for a kicker and it’s certainly going to become more of a reality with each warm night this month. Keep a hollow body frog, buzzbait, wake bait or Spook handy, and as soon as you get a few consecutive warm days and that water temp jumps up to 58 to 60 degrees, start chunking it.
Bed Fishing Baits
The spawn will be on us before the month is out down South. It’s really hard to imagine that here at the start of the month, but we’re just a few warm days from the bass jumping on the bed. And, the biggest ones usually bed first.
So, you’re going to want to keep your eyes peeled and a shallow and a bedding bait or two at the ready. Soft plastic stick baits, like Senkos and the Strike King Rage Tail Craw work well when sight fishing bedding fish. Larger soft plastic swimbaits do a great job of annoying a fish into biting when they’re too stubborn to bite anything else.
You can also “blind fish” for bedders in muddy water too by pitching a light Texas rig to isolated cover where you suppose a bass is bedding, even though you can’t see it.
Alton Jones Jr. – Texas
Number one for me is going to be a bladed jig this time of year. It doesn’t matter where you are in the country, but especially in Texas, if you’re around wood, rock, grass, it’s just a great way to cover water and find those fish in transition. If they’re feeding on bluegill you can throw black and blue or green pumpkin. If they’re feeding on shad you can throw a white one.
I like to pair it with a Geecrack Bellows Vibe, it’s a new bait that just came out. Just throw it out and wind around relatively slow. If I’m around grass I want to tick the grass and yo-yo it. If I’m around hard cover I want to really bump the rock, stump or whatever I’m around. Fish this time of year like to hold pretty tight to structure. With that in mind, I like to fish it as slow as possible and can keep that blade going.
If you’re in some stain, throwing a big Colorado blade spinnerbait is probably one of my favorite ways, if not my absolute favorite way to catch them this time of year. It doesn’t get a ton of bites but it gets big bites.
I like transition banks. As these fish start to move in they’re moving for one reason and that’s to find shallow warm water. If I’ve got docks, and it’s a deep dock, I’m definitely fishing the inside posts. If it’s a shallow dock where the outside is 2 feet, I’ll fish the whole dock. But a lot of the time I like to find those steeper main lake pockets where there’s a lot less to fish, because most of the dock is too deep for what I’m trying to do, and I can just fish the back few poles and the walkway and be more efficient that way.
Then, last but not least, toward the end of the month these fish are going to start spawning here. I’m going to be pitching a Geecrack Bellows Shad for spawners around shallow cover. No matter what, I’m going to fish the warmest water I can find. — Alton Jones Jr.
Casey Ashley – South Carolina
March is really the best month of the year to fish around here. All the fish are pre-spawn and making the push into the pockets. Pre-spawn has a lot of different stages in it. A lot of times, pre-spawn fish will move in first, and then suspend. Once the water temperature gets up around the low- to mid-50s, that’s when they start making that push to the bank and start relating to hard cover.
You get three or four warm days of weather, and it’ll heat the water temperature up a little bit. You can catch them on shallow points, blowdowns, pockets, that type of stuff. Some of the best baits to catch them on are chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, and shallow running crankbaits.
Obviously the nights are still going to be cool, then you’ll get those cool fronts, and that makes fish relate more to hardcover a bit.
During March, they’re looking to be shallow. So you could run to a pocket and catch 25 pounds, but you may go back the next day and not catch one out of there. It’s just because they’re in different stages. The last days of the pre-spawn, right before they are thinking about going on bed, that’s when it gets really tough. — Casey Ashley
Bobby Lane – Florida
March is a very interesting time of the year down here. You still have some fish spawning. You have some big females that spawned in January that like to move out this time of the year. I don’t like far-outside grass lines or stuff like that. I like to still stay within 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 feet of water.
I do mix my baits up a little bit. You get some fry guarders in March. The Berkley Swamp Lord comes into play. This time of the year, if there’s nothing matted up, then I really like the Popping Frog. I keep my colors really simple: MF Bluegill and black (Maverick). The bluegill spawn is fixing to start happening at the end of March and in April. You get a shad spawn at the same time. That’s why I like the MF Bluegill — it kind of has a whitish belly, which looks like a shad. But then, if you’re around fry guarders — and some of those plain ol’ mean females — that black just really triggers the bite.
Of course, one thing I love about March is you can power fish your way into everything. You’re trying to catch big ones and big ones will be biting. So, I use a flipping stick to work the frogs with. This, of course, also gives you a good platform to flip with. Everything is 50-pound DuraBraid for me.
If the water temp gets above 70 to 75 degrees, then I like something with a little action. So I’ll flip the 10-inch Berkley Powerbait Power Worm in black and blue or June bug. The Power Worm has a little more action in that tail. That time of the year, the fish aren’t into something kicking really hard, they just like something with a little bit more action, and that ribbon tail does the trick. It has a bit bigger of a profile for those big females that have already spawned.
I like that on a straight shank 5/0 Fusion19 Hook. I’ll put it on an Epic Tungsten weight. Depending on the cover. If it’s really really sparse, a 1/4 ounce — if it’s a little thicker, then I’ll go up to 5/16. Of course if I get some wind or I’m in a little bit thicker cover, I’ll go up from 3/8 all the way to 1/2 ounce.
But if the water temp is still down a little bit and we’re still getting some cold fronts, then I’ll go with the 5-inch or 6-inch Berkeley PowerBait Maxscent General. I keep my colors simple: black and blue. Man that’s just what they eat. And it’s really about finding the fish. Just remember, when you’re in Florida in March and you catch one big one, somewhere in the next 50 or 100 yards, there will be another one the same size, if not bigger. So, either come back to that area, or really pick it apart. — Bobby Lane
