The first thing I look for is baitfish activity, because bass are only thinking about eating and spawning now. I watch the water for bluegills, shiners or shad moving around. If they’re not there, then probably the bass aren’t there either.

Places where the weeds are irregular or somehow different, such as clumps that stand out from a grass line or on a secondary point, attract bass. Also, places where two types of grass grow are good. For instance, if there’s peppergrass and eelgrass growing together, you can bet it’s the type of hard, sandy bottom where bass will want to spawn later on. They’ll spawn where they have to, of course, but there are types of bottom that bass prefer in certain depths that can be pinpointed because certain types of weeds also grow there.

My search baits are either a half-ounce, three-bladed Hawg Caller spinnerbait or a Z-Man ChatterBait. I look for patches of grass, indents or holes in a grass flat and cover some water – something different from the surroundings. If I get a fish, I consider how it was situated and the other conditions and then try to find other places that are similar.

Bass are heading toward the shallows and their spawning flats now, but they don’t do it all at once. They’ll move up in stages using grass as cover, and that’s the best place to start looking for them.

— Ranger pro Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C.