By Brian Pentecost

Greetings! How was your winter? In Chicago, the descriptor was BRUTAL. Even as I write this article it is 45 degrees outside with a stiff bone-chilling 20 mph wind, it’s damn cold today! Winter has clung tightly to our comfort with its icy inescapable grasp for over 6 months. We’ve had a handful of nice days up here, and on those days massive size and quantities of largemouth and smallmouth bass have been caught and posted online amongst my network of friends.

I am seeing a lot of personal best and biggest bags from personal friends and fishing contacts from throughout the United States. I also shattered my own IL personal best, last spring’s 6.9 lb, with this spring’s 8.3 lb. And we are really just getting started.

The bite didn’t get hot until three full weeks after the complete ice out of these local bodies of water. Those three weeks were hard unpleasant weeks to fish. I hate to admit it, but I walked away with the skunk nine times out of ten.

How are you going to know when and how to work the water if you are not constantly doing it? Most reports, and even this article I am writing come out right after the biggest bites or best patterns have developed. This has been an amorphic season, fluid in its changes.

Immediate patterns of success were developed by me and many others in the area using lipless crankbaits and jerkbaits. These lures were inhaled by bass with desperation and anger. The fish that struck these lures did so with such tenacity! I was very impressed at the ferocious fights and desperate nature of the battles that ensued after hooking up with many of these large angry fish. What a fantastic way to be rewarded after a long winter season and slow starting spring! I think the fish are just as tired of this never-ending weather pattern as we are. They certainly have a timeline in which to feed aggressively and then spawn to propagate their own genetic code and fruitful species. One could also surmise that these fish feel the tug of nature and the pressure of lost time this spring.

At this rate we will get about one month of true spring followed by a brutally hot summer pattern. The farmer almanacs tend to be very accurate, for this planet has cycles and we’ve been keeping note of them for over a thousand years. Some patterns are apparent while others have been mutated based upon pollution and population density.

The last two tournaments I fished in, baitfish were sticking out of the gullets of 80% of fish caught by myself and other anglers. For these fish to strike an artificial lure with food still trapped in their throats is a fantastic sign for anglers. Feedbag is on and nature continues to do her thing.

Big females are still being caught, but I have been seeing a lot of males in the shallows lately, which is a sure sign that bedding will occur soon, provided these waters stabilize to the magical temperature of 55 degrees and near a full moon with the frogs croaking and the willows touching the waters. Then it’s baby making time!

After the spawn, females will drop back to secondary holding areas to recoup and “chill out.” This process does not entirely happen for all of the fish on the same body of water at the same time. Certainly not different bodies of water scattered throughout the region.

Anglers must be diligent in our efforts to continue working the various waters in our regional fisheries to understand at which point these fish are in the timeline of spring and spawn. Otherwise, how would you know how to start patterning during a tournament with no pre-fishing previously?

The time to catch big bass in the Midwest is NOW! Especially on lakes and regions have have recently completed ice-out. Get out on the water or shore and be successful. Enjoy what little of spring we will get, as it will undoubtedly be a shorter one this year. Such is life. Your biggest fish may come during this phase of the annual life cycle for bass.

As for right now, I advise all to throw lipless cranks and suspending jerkbaits. Throw jigs with rattles too, and even the spinnerbait. Work obvious places bass love to hang out such as laydowns, weed edges, and flats near dropoffs. Add flair to your retrieve. Wear some headphones, jam some tunes and tug to the beat of whatever you’re listening to drops in your ears! Best tip I can give you – if you locate fish, don’t leave. Most have been stacked, over 20 strong, and rotate positions. Always cast and retrieve your lures in different angles, and keep it funky.

Go be successful at it. These are tips that will help you do it. Knowledge is shared with those who seek it. Have a nice spring. I’ll report on summer when the atmosphere shows its sunny face again.

Brian Pentecost

Online Contributor

Brian Pentecost, 35, a native Floridian, has had some stellar successes in the Midwest, but these exploits did not come easy. It took about 2 full years of re-education and learning new techniques for him to figure out the Midwest bite. Since 2013 he has been fishing competitively and attempting to conquer the many waterways of Illinois and Wisconsin. Brian uses hand crafted lures and smaller boutique craftsmen to create lures and soft plastics that mimic nature in the best possible ways. We look forward to see what Brian will do during his double tournament series and personal fishing exploits this year. You can visit Brian on Facebook at his FishingForFishy page.