Whats your go to bait?

[Lunker]

Whats your go to bait in the pre-spawn? What colors and sizes will you start with?

[Striper]

hhhmmmm after reading Teddy's post on jerk baits I think I might be trying something new.

[bigjim]

Teddy's info on hard jerkbaits was very interesting!

Most of my fishing is done in tidal rivers. In the spring I seldom limit my fishing to just bass, as there's other species in the same waters, so I don't have a specific go to bait that I use. I also don't fish tournaments, so incidental catches don't bother me at all!

I've also had real good success with jerkbaits, both hard & soft, and I like to use tubes too. I usually start with something in a baitfish color, white, pearl, silver, unless the water is stained or dirty, then I'll go with chartreuse, or black.

I like the Smithwick Rogues, Rapalas, Bomber Long A and Megabait jerkbaits, all of which work great for bass or Stripers. For soft jerkbaits I like Zoom Super Flukes, or BKD's.

Since there are Pickeral, perch, crappies & shad in the rivers too, I use sthingys, inline spinners & beetle spins a lot in the spring. Again, not targeting just bass, but I've caught several nice bass with the smaller baits at that time of year. I like a bait in the 4 to 6 inch size, or larger if I feel there's a good chance for Stripers, but sometimes smaller just works better.

[rodman]

I have tried a bunch of different baits like lizard and yamamoto style spider jigs - my theory during the spawn is that if I can find the beds or areas likely to be bedding then I have shot of imitating something go after the eggs.

[OHbassaholic]

One of my favorite pre-spawn lures is a Smithwick Super Rogue custom painted by TClarkCustomLures in the belly-up pattern (Rapala Silver). This is one of those lures you can hit an area right after someone else and pick up keeper bass.