Veteran bass tutor Flukemaster has stripped his April kit for southern US lakes down to five baits and made the case that those five — fished against the conditions rather than against a calendar — are all an angler needs through a month that can produce pre-spawn, spawn and post-spawn fish on the same bank.
"Most anglers are fishing way too randomly this time of the year," he said on YouTube. "If you're not matching the bait to what the bass are doing at that point in time, you're missing out."
Bait one is a spinnerbait. Flukemaster runs a larger blade when he wants to slow a retrieve down and a smaller blade for aggressive fish. The scenario is windy conditions post-cold-front, especially along wind-blown banks and points. "I parallel that bank and I throw as close to the shoreline as I can," he said. "And the bass just destroy it."
Bait two is a ChatterBait, which he rates for any lake with clumpy submerged grass or pre-spawn bass staging in grass flats before bedding. He sticks with two Z-Man Jackhammer colours — bluegill and shad — and also recommends the newer, cheaper Z-Man Evo. "I'll rotate through until the bass tell me what they want," he said.
Bait three covers the tight-to-cover bite: a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Bug on a 3/8-ounce pegged weight, flipped into shallow cover and laydowns. His edge is patience. Flukemaster lets the bait soak for roughly five seconds on a precise cast before shaking it on the spot.
"Somewhere between four and six seconds is when they're either going to turn away or they're going to hit it," he said. "That's when I shake it and it causes them to just to basically reaction strike without moving very far."
Bait four is a lipless crankbait. He carries two — a Strike King Red Eye Shad, which he yo-yos off the bottom on a semi-slack line, and a Spro Ruku Shad, which he burns on a straight retrieve without fear of it rolling. Colour is the hinge. "Red is key early," he said. "Once they start to spawn and start to spawn hard, I change it to a bluegill colour. That is key with a lipless crankbait."
Bait five is the wacky-rigged Senko — a bait he openly dislikes fishing but concedes is devastating on bedding and fry-guarding bass. He casts it aggressively into the shallows, jerks it out fast, and lets the bass reveal themselves before slowing down. Two colours handle the month: green pumpkin and black and blue. "No need to go anywhere else," he said. "Just fish one or the other and figure out what the bass want."
Pulled together, the system is a short decision tree rather than a tackle box. Spinnerbait for wind; ChatterBait for grass; Texas rig when they sit tight; lipless crankbait for pre-spawn; wacky Senko for beds. "April isn't about a magic bait," he said. "It's about matching what the fish are doing and what the conditions are in front of you."
