The Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing premieres on WFM Tuesday, March 31st.

Here's a sneak peak.

Pre-Span usually happens between 48 and 55 degrees.

As lake or river waters warm up,

both smallmouth and largemouth bass

begin to move from their deep winter haunts

to search for food in preparation for spawning.

In this animation, you can see how bass travel from deep water to shallow water areas to hunt for prey. The type of structure they go to will vary

depending on the water types and prey availability. They're usually quite aggressive,

depending on water temperature, and will spread out in small hunting packs, constantly moving and searching for prey.

This corresponds with the emergence of crayfish from hibernation,

which is why crayfish patterns are so effective in spring.

Baitfish are also moving into the shallows in search of warmer water.

Bass are trying to get nourishment in preparation for spawning, so they feed eagerly.

On sunny days, when the shallow water warms quickly,

bass will be found in the shallows hunting for crayfish and baitfish.

Look for them in areas of down timber, rocky shorelines, and around rocky islands.

Now I've never done any small mouth fishing this early on purpose anyways, but we're here to try to see if we can catch some of these pre-spond small mouths.

Here we are in Maine in May before spawning season.

We look for smallmouth in the shallows on this river and we found this nice one.

There's one way back in the shallow water, but low and slow is sure the

is sure the secret here with these early seasons small mouse.

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