How to Catch More Fish in the Spring

For anglers, spring is an incredibly special time as every fish, from trout to bass to panfish and even fish like carp and gar, is becoming more active and looking to feed. However, spring fishing can be a challenge as fluctuating water levels, sporadic temperatures, and the availability of food sources can all affect the fish and your fishing.

There are certain fishing methods, different baits, and other factors that you have to keep in mind and prioritize if you want to have any spring fishing luck. While rivers, lakes, and streams are free of ice and snow, the residual effects of the long, cold winter still remain.

So, whether you’re a fly angler or a spin angler, whether you prefer to fish with bait or lures, or if you like to fish still or flowing water, there are some general guidelines you need to follow in order to have spring fishing success.

Perhaps the two biggest things you have to consider when fishing in the spring are the time of day and water temperature. With the water being cold and the lack of light penetration causing water temps to rise slowly and underwater vegetation to only just start sprouting, you’ve got to be particular about both where and when you fish during the spring. These areas and times can vary depending on where in the country you live and what type of water body you’re fishing.

In rivers and streams, you’re going to want to focus your efforts on the shallowest, slowest-moving water you can find. While this may seem slightly counterproductive, as most anglers believe that the deeper holes and runs in rivers are going to hold the most fish, the fact is that shallow water is going to warm up and attract fish first. This goes double for any backwaters, overflows, or sloughs that connect to the river and have little to no current flow. Shallow spots like these will warm up the quickest and are usually the areas where underwater vegetation first begins to grow. This early growth will attract microorganisms, which in turn will attract baitfish, which will draw in larger gamefish, and so on right up the food chain.

In lakes and ponds, fishing in shallow water is also important, but there are certain types of shallows that you should pay extra attention to. Many anglers looking for panfish, bass, and other warm water species will concentrate their efforts on shallows with darker bottoms, which absorb and retain heat.

However, if you’re fishing a lake for cold or cool-water species like trout, pike, or muskie, it’s often a good idea to fish along lighter-colored bottoms such as sand and gravel bars, which provide reflective heat. While these areas won’t stay warm for long, they heat up quickly, and often, fish that prefer deeper, cooler waters will push into these spots to sun themselves before moving back into the depths.

Another area to concentrate on in lakes and ponds is the western banks. These areas receive the morning sun first, warming the water and attracting fish earlier in the day. However, this doesn’t mean that these spots will produce bites early in the morning, as it often takes a bit of time for the water to warm up and for fish to get active.

Generally, getting out on the water at first light in the spring is going to lead to a lot of long, boring hours of casting with little to no return. This is due to cold water and a lack of light penetration, causing fish to be sluggish and slow for the first few hours of the morning.

So whenever you’re fishing in the spring, feel free to sleep in a bit and then start fishing in the late morning. For the most part, spring fish have a bite window that occurs when the water has warmed up, making the hours between noon and dusk prime time.

A lot of spring anglers believe that they need to fish with smaller, slower-moving baits and lures in order to catch fish. While this is mostly true, it’s essential to realize that it’s only for certain species and certain conditions. During spring, different fish species have different priorities, and many of them are actually going to react better to larger lures, baits, and flies, and it’s up to you to know when and where to use them.

On low, clear cold lakes, rivers, ponds, and streams, smaller, slower-moving baits are going to work best for most species. This is especially true for spring spawning fish like walleye, steelhead, panfish, and pike, which are concentrating on mating and are usually too drained or distracted to hunt larger prey.

However, in the late spring when water temps have risen past 50 degrees, these fish finish spawning and will often go into recovery mode, and are looking to gain calories, making them voracious. This is a great time to pull out the big guns and to use the largest baits, lures, and flies you can fin, as they’ll usually get the most attention from post-spawn fish.

Another time to use larger, more gaudy lures, baits, and flies is when you’re fishing on rivers or lakes that have been colored up by heavy rains or snow melt. In these conditions, fish are often hunting blind and depend on their lateral lines and other senses to find food. These cloudy water fish will react and strike out at anything that’s moving and/or putting out a lot of scent in the water, making big baits incredibly productive, even for smaller fish species.

While fishing later in the day and in shallower water are both good practices for spring angling, if you’re bound and determined to fish all day long, then you should start with the deeper water first. After a long night when the water is still cold, most fish will be in deeper water below the thermocline, where water temperatures will be slightly warmer and more stable. If you’re fishing in the early morning during the spring, these deeper areas should be your priority, and there are certain spots you should concentrate on if you want consistent spring fishing throughout the day.

On larger lakes, rivers, and ponds, focus your morning fishing in deeper water, between 10 and 20 feet, that is immediately adjacent to the shallow water that the fish will move into during the late morning. Right after sunrise, look for sharp drop-offs along the edges of sandbars and beaches, as well as deep spots along rocky, dark-bottomed flats, and off the points of islands. By fishing these areas early, you’ll get into spring fish quickly and be able to stay on top of them as they move into the warming shallows throughout the day.

For many anglers, spring fishing represents the kickoff. Like lighting off fireworks and kissing your loved ones at the New Year, those first few casts represent a celebration. It’s the dawn of a new fishing season and a new day on the water, and it should be commemorated.

While it may seem like a fresh start now, the fact is that summer, fall, and eventually winter will come much sooner than you think. So you need to go out, shake off the winter shackles, and get a few bends in your rod, enjoying all the colors of spring for as long as they last.