Spring = BIG fish

I can only assume this nice weather is going to stay around awhile, and I am happy for that.  I have had a few chances to get out in boats and enjoy some early season bass fishing.  Each trip has been a great one.  Not only did the fish bite, but I have been out with three different fishing buddies already this year, and it is not even April.  Mother Nature has been very kind as of late, and it appears that she will continue to bless us with an early spring. 

Each spring most of the biggest bass in the state will be caught the first two months of the fishing year.  No one really knows why this is, but there are a couple hypotheses’ out there that could cause these big bass to bite each spring.

 

A friend of mine took his son out last weekend and
Owen caught the biggest bass of his life, over 5 pounds!



One reason big bass are caught in the spring is that 99% of bass in Iowa over three pounds are females.  That is a biological fact, so with that said, these big females are producing eggs during this time, and just like any mother, they have to eat more food to keep their bodies functioning.  The more food their bodies need, the more food they must eat to survive.  Another idea is that these big female bass are stocking up for their annual egg laying routine.  This is a very stressful time on the fish, although it only lasts a few hours.  These female fish know that their bodies are going to go through the hardest thing they will do all year, so they are planning ahead.  Another idea, one that I firmly believe in, is that the bigger game fish have less of a food source this time of year.  There are no small minnows, or small bluegills or small crappies to eat.  Another big food source bass have are crawdads and frogs/toads.  These creatures are still hibernating at this time of year.  So these bigger bass have to eat whenever they can in the spring, because their “meals” don’t come around much.  One last idea why these big bass are easy to catch this time of year (they don’t disappear in June/July/August/September) is that they have lost their memory or are not conditioned to the baits that we throw at them.  Not only with big female bass, but any bass after the long winter have not seen any lures in the water.  They have basically been left alone for four or five months.  Anything they have learned about baits or people causing commotion has been forgotten over the winter time.  I know one of these is not the only true reason, as I stated before, no one really knows except the bass, but one thing is certain, big bass bite in the spring time.