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March The Month of Magic Or Miracles
March is the month of magic or miracles!
The weather begins to warm up, our
grass begins to green up our yards, our trees and
flowers begin to bloom, and the
lakes begin to warm up and with all this our spring
spawn gets in high gear so if
that aint magic it must be a miracle from God.
As fishermen, we begin to get the bug to
get out on the water to fish for spawning
bass, crappie, sand bass, and catfish and all are fun to
catch. Fishermen are a breed
of their own unlike the sportsmen that are crazy about
football, basketball, golf, and
etc.. Fishermen will actually fight with one another
over which fish pulls the hardest
or jumps the highest and tastes the best on the table.
That's right, fishermen can
be broken up into several categories, you have the fresh
water fisherman and the
saltwater fisherman. You have saltwater fishermen that
like to go miles out into the
ocean to fish for many different types of fish and then
you have the bay fishermen
that like to fish for the red fish or the
specks/speckled trout and then you have fresh
water fisherman. Now the fresh water fisherman will
fight over which is best. I once
was told by a crappie that when I grew up I would leave
the bass alone and
become a real fisherman and fish for crappie.
Well, he may be right but at this time
I sure do like fishing for bass but don't count me out
fishing for the crappie, catfish,
and the white bass because I love fishing for them too.
Now let's talk about March fishing and
begin with bass. Bass will begin to get active
on the warm days or should I say warmer days. They
will be kind of sluggish or
slow to move much when the water temps are in the low
40's and upper 30's but
when the surface temps reach the upper 40's to the mid
50's they will begin to move
around more. Bass are cold blooded creatures and can
handle the cold water but
during the time the water is at it's coldest bass will
be very slow to move around and
when we fish for them we just about have to hit them on
the head to get them to
bite. Now as the water warms old Mr. Bass will begin to
move around and his strike
zone will get much wider and when this happens he is
easier to catch.
When the surface temps move even higher,
say to the upper 50's to the mid 60's old
Mr. Bass will begin moving around looking for that
perfect spot to build Mrs. Bass
a house to lay her eggs and hatch out all their fry. Mr.
Bass will build the nest or
house for her and then go out to move her in but if the
nest is not the way she wants
it then she will move back out and he has to repair it
or rebuild it to her liking. Now
this sounds a bit like our wives don't it. We have
our homes built just the way
mama wants it or we never hear the end of it.
Now here's some more magic, once the
surface temps get right Mrs. Bass will move
in and the spawn will begin. Mr. Bass will then begin to
move in on Mrs. Bass and
push on her stomach working the eggs down so the spawn
can begin. When Mrs.
Bass places the eggs into the nest Mr. Bass will then
move in and fertilize the eggs
by placing a covering over the eggs which will hold them
in tack until they hatch out.
After the eggs hatch, Mr. Bass will stay outside the
nest running everything he can
that might cause a threat to the little ones. Now is
this magic or miracle that they
know how to watch over their small fry? I think maybe
both.
At this time when the bass are on their
beds or nest they can be a lot of fun to catch
and this is a time that we can see them as they work
their nest. Fishing when they
are on their nest is called sight fishing if you work
your way close enough to see
them work. Sight fishing can be very fun and you
can learn more about bass at this
time then any other time of year. You can watch them
take a lure from the nest and
you never feel them move the lure. That's right
you will see them move your lure
but you won't feel them move it. If you have never
fished this way you owe it to
yourself to have someone take you out and teach
you how to sight fish. When you
see that big bass take your lure out of the nest you
will scratch your head and say
that was a miracle. I never felt a thing, truth is that
when we concentrate that hard
with our eyes it's just like our fingers never feel a
thing.
Well I could go on and on about sight
fishing for bass but I will stop for now and tell
you how I will fish this month to locate the fish I
catch.
Bass will be moving into the shallows and
I will be watching for their nest and I will
then use a lizard rigged up Texas Rig with an 1/8th oz.
weight. I will locate their nest
and pitch the lizard just past the nest and work it
through slow to create a bite.
When not sight fishing, I will be casting
my Shimmy Shaker lure along the shallows
working it slow to create the most bites. Another Lure,
I will use will be my 430
special spinner bait. I will work it in the same areas
as where I work my Shimmy
Shaker. Slow and slower will be my best way of fishing
when the bass are spawning.
March will be a great month for crappie
and you will find them both up shallow and
out deep. I will catch my shallow water fish by rigging
up a slip robber about a foot
to two feet up my line and rig up Mr. Twisters new Mr.
Minnow on it this plastic
minnow works so good that even you will think it's
alive. I will work the shallows
very slow covering my water very good. Another way
of catching crappie will be
to rig up Mr. Minnow on a jig head and no robber.
Work the deeper water where
you find brush and the Mr. Minnow will produce you some
really big stringers. If
you would like to purchase the Mr. Minnows you can find
them at the Lake
Palestine Resort they will have many colors and jig
heads to go with them.
Sand Bass will be good this month out on
your main lake points on spoons and
Rat-l-traps, you will also find them working well on the
river.
IF YOU COME TO THE LAKE AND NEED A GUIDE
THEN FEEL FREE TO
CALL ME AT (903)561-7299 AND WE WILL SET YOU UP FOR A
GREAT
DAY ON THE WATER.
UNTIL NEXT MONTH REMEMBER TO KEEP ONLY
THE FISH YOU CAN
USE AND RELEASE THE REST SO THAT OUR KIDS CAN ENJOY THE
GREAT SPORT WE CALL FISHING.
PS
IF YOU LIKE FISHING TOURNAMENTS HERE'S
ONE FOR YOU TO
CHECK OUT. THE SMITH COUNTY PEACE OFFICERS WILL BE
HAVING
THEIR FIRST ANNUAL BASS TOURNAMENT IN APRIL ON SATURDAY
THE 24TH. THIS TOURNAMENT WILL BE A NON PROFIT
TOURNAMENT
TO HELP RAISE MONEY FOR THE PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION.
MAKE PLANS TO COME FISH, I THINK YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT
TIME.
To purchase any of my lures I make you can call me at
(903)561-7299
or you can g go to my website at
rickysguideservice.com and click on
my store.
Spring time spawning
bass lake fork Guide Ricky Vandergriff
Guide
Ricky Vandergriff Lake Palestine spawning bass
My grandson Riley
Enright with his first bass weighing a whopping 2 lbs.
and caught it on my Shimmy Shaker in my LSU Color
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