The Best Spring Bass Fishing Lures

Bass fishing starts off with a bang. Bass breed in spring, building beds, laying eggs and protecting their young. This is a famous time to find bass with a growing appetite as the water temperature rises. Once the mating call sounds, bass go into a frenzy, aggressively attacking anything that threatens their nest. The key to spring success is using a large fishing lure to pique the attention of hungry bass and sight fishing to bass spawning in the shallows.

The best spring bass lures According to experts

Glidebaits

Why they work

Using a big glidebait is super effective this time of year because fish are looking for a quick, easy and big meal to bulk up for spawning. During practice at a Bassmasters Kayak event on Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas, I caught several bass over six pounds by targeting rock walls and stump fields with a big glidebait.

The best time to use this tactic is on a falling barometric pressure cycle. Ideal weather would be a cloudy day with a light ripple on the surface. Work a swimbait around rock piles, seawalls, docks and laydowns.

Work a glidebait two ways: slow and fast. I start with a seven- to 10-inch glidebait and make slow, wide natural glides. If this approach doesn’t get a bite, then I change to a sharp chopping retrieve making the bait dart side to side in short bursts.

The secret is to stick with the glidebait. The large lure doesn’t elicit a lot of bites, but the big lure appeals to large bass. However, I catch plenty of two-pound bass on a nine-inch swimbait, so smaller fish will also respond.

Another tip: have a pitch bait ready for bass that follow the swimbait to the kayak without biting. I throw a Senko worm at hesitant bass. —Derek Brundle

Frogs And Stickbaits

Why they work

In spring, shallow water heats up early, so I use my kayak to access skinny water where bass are more likely to attack a topwater. When a bass refuses to commit on the frog, I follow-up by flipping a stickbait or a weightless fluke into the swirl and let it sink.

The ideal scenario for a topwater frog is shallow water, heavy structure, thick grass and bedded fish. Frogs and stickbaits continue to work when the bass turn from bedding to protecting their fry.

I walk the frog across shallow areas as a search bait. When a bass swirls on the frog, I follow-up with a Texas-rigged fluke or soft stickbait. This one-two punch is deadly when bass are aggressively defending their beds.

If the fish are more aggressive or do not appear locked on their beds, I swap the stickbait for a fluke style lure. I flip and pitch the fluke, drag it over lily pads and rip it off the bottom.

My go-to frog is the Berkley Swamp Lord, a medium-size frog with a very soft body to improve hook set. The frog is semi-transparent to entice weary bedding bass to bite. If I see extra small bluegills or find finicky bass, I downsize to the Jackall Kaera. If the mats are too thick for smaller frogs to penetrate, I switch to an extra-large frog, like the River2Sea Phat Mat Daddy. —Sam Strech

Best Bass Fishing Rigs

Swimming Worms

Why they work

At the Florida Bass Nation Championship on Orange Lake, I was using the swimming worm first thing in the morning to catch an early limit. As I’m working my way around a pocket, I cast the worm towards the bank and dragged it back along the bottom. I felt the lure get stuck in the grass so I popped the rod tip to free the lure. As soon as the lure popped free from the grass, a 10 pound bass inhaled it. The fish was my personal best largemouth bass and helped me win the championship.

The versatile swimming worm enables the angler to fish in a wide variety of weather conditions, fish behavior and fishing patterns.

Texas rigging with a 6th Sense Stout 4/0 EWG worm hook, 3/16 ounce tungsten weight gives the angler freedom to work the lure in a variety of tactics at various depths. I believe the 3/16th oz tungsten has a lot to do with how perfect the fall rate is. Not too fast and heavy enough not to drift with the wind and current.

Dark water, dark colors. Clearer water, natural colors. Junebug is the staple color in Florida, however black and blue glitter work as well. In clear water, I use green-pumpkin-red.

In spring, I focus on lily pads, laydowns and reeds in two to six feet. I burn the worm across the surface, slow roll the worm on the surface, use a mid-fast retrieve for the middle of the water column or slow drag on the bottom.

Ninety percent of the time, I slow drag the Speed Worm along the bottom. I let the worm sink and wait a few seconds. Then I lift the rod tip about a foot, reel in slack and repeat. After three or four pulls, I reel in the lure and make another cast about five feet to the left or right of the previous cast. —Chris Mitchell

Meet our experts

Derek Brundle | Cape Cod, Massachusetts

• KBF Rookie of the Year 2019
• KBF Northeast Angler of the Year 2019
• KBF Challenge Series Angler of the Year
• KBF The Ten Qualifier

Sponsors:

• Nucanoe
• Amped Outdoors
• Yakrods
• Lowrance Fishing
• DaBomb Anchor
• Devaney Energy
• Thrasher Sports Apparel

Chris Mitchell | Brevard, Florida

• 2024 Florida BASS Nation Kayak State Championship Winner
• 2025 Bassmaster Kayak Series Kissimmee Chain Of Lakes 3rd Place
• 2025 Florida Kayak Bass Trail Championship Winner

Sponsors:

• Kayaks by Bo
• Bonafide Kayaks
• 6th Sense Fishing
• Waterland Optics
• Yakrods
• Founder of Elite Sticks rods and lures

Sam Strech | Southern California

• Life-long, hard-core angler specializing in lakes and big baits