The Last Two Hours of Incoming Are Prime Time

WHAT’S BITING

Spring has the fish scattered, but not confused. Largemouth bass are sliding into warming coves, smallmouth are staging near rocky transitions, and crappie are hanging around brush, dock posts, and the first green weeds. Fish the low-light window from first light until the sun clears the trees. Small jerkbaits, 1/16-ounce jigs under floats, and compact spinnerbaits are doing the work.

In saltwater, look for speckled trout, redfish, striped bass, and whatever else has found the first push of bait along tidal creeks, marsh drains, and rocky shorelines. The best window is usually the last two hours of the incoming tide and the first hour of the outgoing. That’s when the water moves bait past ambush points instead of just sloshing around like soup.

THE MAIN COLUMN: FISH THE CURRENT, NOT THE CLOCK

Everybody wants to know what time the bite starts. Wrong question. Ask when the water starts moving.

On an incoming tide, fish the up-current side of creek mouths, points, oyster edges, bridge pilings, and submerged grass. Cast across the flow and bring the lure with the current, not against it. A 3- to 4-inch paddletail on a light jig head is hard to beat. Use natural colors in clear water, darker baitfish shades when the water is stained, and don’t fish it like you’re trying to win a speed contest. Two turns of the handle, pause, let it tick bottom, repeat.

For bass in freshwater, use the same idea without the tide. Find water that is warmer because of wind, dark bottom, runoff, or afternoon sun. A suspending jerkbait worked over a flat beside deeper water is money from dawn through midmorning. Give it three sharp snaps, then let it sit. Count to five. Sometimes count to ten. If you can stand it. The fish often eat while the lure looks like it has given up on life.

Last spring, I watched a ten-year-old girl catch her first redfish from a little skiff while her grandfather fussed with a reel that had tied itself into a bird’s nest. She was using a plain shrimp imitation under a popping cork, drifting along a grass edge on the incoming tide. The cork disappeared, she set the hook like she meant it, and that fish dragged the boat six feet sideways. Her grandfather finally got his reel cleared and shouted, “Don’t lose him!” She looked at him and said, “I’m not the one who messed up the line.” Fair point. The fish came aboard, everybody got a picture, and the grandfather never mentioned the reel again.

DOCK TALK

• First light: throw topwater along calm banks. If nothing happens after fifteen minutes, switch to a jerkbait or paddletail.

• Falling water concentrates fish around drains and creek mouths. Put your cast where the water exits, not ten yards behind it.

• Tactical advice: mark every bite on your phone or GPS. Fish are creatures of habit. If one eats on a particular depth, tide stage, and retrieve speed, repeat it until the fish quit or you run out of bait.