"In that case, we tie on 1-ounce jigs or Texas-rigged tubes with a heavy lead weight and sling it as far back into the brush as we can," said Trimble. "You can sometimes see bass swirling around their beds, but it's mainly a case of hoping you pull that heavy jig or tube by a fish that's on the bed."

NORTHEAST LOUISIANA
While the spawn might start a few days earlier in south and central Louisiana than in north Louisiana, region's bass also typically wrap up their business in just a couple of weeks; compare that to the north Louisiana fish, which -- according to West Monroe angler Kenny Covington, winner of multiple regional tournaments in northeast Louisiana -- can spawn in their corner of the state for six weeks.

"You can even find them on the beds as early as February in waters like Caney Lake and Bartholomew Bayou," said Covington. "And the great thing about these early-spawning bass in those lakes is that's when you usually catch the largest bass you're going to catch all year long. Up here, I think the spawn is more a product of the photoperiod and lunar phase than water temperature, because I've caught spawning bass in water as cold as 53 degrees."

Caney Lake and Bartholomew Bayou are the best lakes in the region for actually being able to sight-fish for bedding bass, but Covington pointed out that he doesn't equate fishing for spawning bass with sight-fishing, even though bass on the beds are spawning bass.

The lakes in northeast Louisiana are generally large enough for anglers to find bass in different parts of the lake in different stages of the spawn. Take Lake D'Arbonne, for example: Bass are usually found spawning first up the Corney Creek and Little D'Arbonne arms while bass in the main lake are still in a pre-spawn pattern. Once bass in the main lake start their spawn, bass up the arms are in a post-spawn pattern.

"It's hard to say that they're done up here until the end of April," Covington said. "They may be done in one part of the lake, but if you look around you'll find them still spawning in another. I think the key up here is to cover water with a spinnerbait like a 3/8-ounce Mr. Hooty. Once you get a fish to show itself, you can then target that same fish with a Senko or a Texas-rigged lizard."

In Covington's view, the main source of any delay in northeast Louisiana's spawn will be extended periods of cloud cover. Without the sun, bass will delay laying their eggs, as they wouldn't get the required amount of sun for incubation.

NORTHWEST LOUISIANA
Bass around Shreveport are notorious for deciding to move into shallow water all at once to spawn. As Local Lake Guide Service owner Sid Havard from Simsboro put it, "You'll be catching bass on a jig in 5 feet of water one day, and the next day you will hardly get a bite. Then you look up there in the shallow water and your guess that they moved on you is confirmed. Every day I fish during February and March, I'll zigzag from the deeper water to the shallow water until I get a bite; then I'll stay in that same depth the rest of the day."