February Bass

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Gunners Lake in Germantown, MD

Got out on Sunday to enjoy the weather and see if the largemouth bass had started to move up into the shallows. I frequently start out the fishing season hitting some of the smaller, shallower ponds as they warm up faster than the bigger bodies of water. Often the bass in a shallow pond like Gunners (20 acres) are already into that "prespawn binge feeding mode" 1 to 2 weeks ahead of their brethren residing 10 minutes up the road in Little Seneca Lake (505 acres, 68 feet deep).

The lure of choice was the Rapala Rattlin Rap. Lipless crankbaits like the Rattlin Rap and the similiar Rat-L-Trap are often the best lures to toss early in the season. I just keep them moving along at a steady pace just above the bottom. As a general rule the colder the water the slower you want to try to retrieve them. You can cover a lot of water with this type of lure. This time of year it is best not to spend too much time fishing a particular spot. Make enough casts to cover the area and move on to the next one. Keep searching until you connect with a few active fish who can clue you into what the fish are actually doing that day.

Caught 8 bass in 3 hours of fishing with the biggest being the two pounder pictured. Most of them were dinks but it was great to be out and to catch the first fish of the year. On the few trips that I made back in January and early February the only thing I nearly caught was hypothermia.