Pre summer bass

the water is heating up into the 73-76 degree range. the lights lasting longer and the air temperatures can be downright broiling already. welcome to hawaiis pre summer !! as with any part of the fishing season this part will often coincide with the post spawn part. and actually in our little lake this is now the tucanare spawning season!!the bass move out onto main lake points and bluff like banks quite often deeper weed edges also hold good quanities of bass too. this is a good time of year to fish, the bass are usually grouped up a bit more than before and are still shallower than they will be during the summer. get on the right point with the right lures and you can really lose your mind! here in hawaii the tucanare( peacock bass) have moved shallow and made nests in water about 1-4ft deep depending on clarity. large females and smaller males will ferociously guard the nest! personally i don't like fishing for bedding fish but a lot of people haven't a problem with that and if your one of those people now would be the time to cruz the shoreline in search of your trophy. often any type of lure tossed just outside of the nest and hopped,dragged or jerked through will elicit a rod snapping strike. the bad part is your often in a flipping/pitching distance to the nest so you really don't get to enjoy the kind of fight that makes catching a trophy tuc so worthwhile. the bass however are more than willing to take just about any offering and type of lure once you find them and long casts make for much more enjoyable fights with the bass. the key to finding a good place to fish for the bass during this part of the year is usually find water that has deep water access and shallow water access, hence points and find a depth at which the bait may be holding. often a very defined thermocline will appear as the now warmer surface water separates from the cooler deeper water ( winter water is reversed but still has the thermocline) usually around 6-10ft will be a good depth. match it with your lure and look for bait on the graph. when you find it work that spot good and hold on! while the majority of fisherman will be harassing spawners and hopefully not destroying nests. follow my advice and you can catch a sizable amount of fish in short order. maybe not a trophy but some of the fights with a 1-2lb bass will beat jerking a 5 lb tuc right out of the water anyday!