Juniors enjoy great spawn fishing

This past weekend Mokolo Dam near Lephalale hosted the Junior Southern Bassmaster Divisionals. Water conditions were clear in the main dam and slightly stained in the river section.  17 - 18°C (62 – 65°F).
Early mornings on Mokolo are still decidedly chilly, but the day warms up quickly until it is a more comfortable mid-20, but cools down again as soon as the sun disappears – typical for a bushveld spring.  The water in the main-lake section is clear with high visibility, although by Mokolo standards not gin clear, but clear enough to consider downsizing your line diameter.  In the river section it is slightly more stained.  The water temperature is cool, 62 – to 65°F (17 - 18°C), with the stained water in the river section currently the warmest.
The males have started moving up into the shallower water to start the spawning process of building and protecting nests, with an occasional female cruising the shallows and making house inspections.  Most females, however, still seem to be staging in slightly deeper water, waiting for the full onset of spawn.
Most of the bass caught during the tournament were shallow, in rocky areas, but with deep-water access close by.  Shallow rocky points, 45-degree banks and cliffs with shallow ledges all held fish.  Some bays produced fish.  Very few fish were caught off timber or brush.
Pre-spawn is a time when bass feed quite actively, and they can be caught on a variety of different lures.  Once bass move onto the nests they virtually stop feeding.  Bass are mainly caught during the spawn because they instinctively grab a lure to protect their nests and/or eggs.  On any given dam, during the spawning season, you should be able to find bass in a pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn stage.  Pre-spawn bass are the easiest to catch, so it is advisable to always try to target fish in this stage.  During the early spring, search out the warmest water where bass will start spawning activities first.  During mid-spring, most pre-spawn fish should be found in the mid-section of the dam, and during late spring, look for pre-spawners in the coldest section of the dam, closest to the dam wall area.
Pre-spawn is a good time of the year (when the bass are hungry) to gain confidence fishing with a new bait, as bass can be caught on almost any kind of lure or presentation.  Top-water baits and reaction baits are good early-morning baits.
Rattletraps are notorious as an early-season/spring bait.  Once this active bite has died down, switch to soft plastics, shaky head and skirted jigs.
The winner of the Junior Southern Divisionals, Nicholas Milligan, caught the majority of his fish on a jerk-bait, whilst the runner up, Cian Conradie, fished predominantly with plastic Yamamoto Stretch-40’s.  Anything from a fast-moving reaction bait to an almost no-moving split-shot bait, and anything in-between, was used to catch fish, and a variety of different patterns produced quality fish.
Good colours to use this time of the year are gold for jerk-baits and cranks, amber and watermelon gold for plastics, and any combination of brown, pumpkin seed and green pumpkin with black and a little orange for jigs. - Christie Thomas