Well that time of the year is here, we have had a "Big" warming trend and the bass have just one thing on their mind and that's to preserve their spieces and "'Spawn"". When the first big spawning wave happens, the artificial bite turns tough. The bite these past four days has been very slow with artificials and even the live bait bite slowed way down. This is a typical happening every year but the good thing is the bite will get better and better. If you just wanted to sight fish these past couple of days, you could easily have put ten to twenty fish in the boat but if you wanted to ""fish" for the fish with artificials it was a slow bite. With the low water we have this year, the shallow bass are really exposed and that's not really good for the success of the spawn. I would encourage everyone that is "sight" fishing to put those bass back on their beds after you have caught them. If released right away and at the area where you caught them, the male bass will go right back and guard the nest. If the bass are caught and taken away from the bed, that bed is doomed and any eggs there will be eaten by blue gill or crawdads.
The latest hot spells we have had have brought the afternoon water temps up to around 70 degrees in some areas. I have seen lot's and lot's of bass up shallow and many on beds. With the great weather we had this weekend and with the many tournaments hitting the lake, it was very busy on the water yesterday and the boat ramp parking lot was full when I pulled out. Targeting your fishing trip to Clear lake on a weekday is a good idea if you can schedule it. Although the artificials were slow to just downright tough this past week, now that the spawn has started the bite will slowly get better and better. Senko's, drop shot, shakey head jig's, jig's should all start to put fish in the boat. My favorite color for the senko's is the number 912, it's a combination color of watermelon with black flake and Green pumpkin. I also like to use a watermelon candy baby brush hog and a watermelon candy color worm for my drop shot. I use the zoom trick worms in watermelon candy and watermelon red on my shakey head jigs. For my jig's I like a 3/8th's to a 1/2 tipped with either a Sweet Beaver trailer in the smallie size or the mid size. I like the "Big Texan" color for the sweet beaver trailer. The Yamamoto twin tail trailers in watermelon red are also a good choice for your jig trailer. There are a whole other variety of baits that will work this time of the year if you stay with them long enough. Swim Jigs, swim baits, topwater frog's, Alabama rigs, spinnerbaits, can all catch fish at this time of the year, so pick your confidence bait and get on the lake and have some fun. The FLW Stren series starts this Thurs, Fri, & Sat, expect the lake to be very busy with at least a 115 boats in that tournament. ""Good Luck"" and Happy Fishing, God Bless, Bob