Spring chill is no deterrent to catching big bass [The Kansas City Star]

March 24--The air temperature had dropped to about 30 degrees, and a strong north wind kicked up whitecaps on Lake of the Ozarks.

So why was Marcus Sykora standing at the bow of his bass boat, saying this was his favorite time of the year to go after big bass?

"Some fishermen think you have to wait until the weather warms up before you can catch bass," said Sykora, who was wearing several layers of clothing and had a hood pulled tight around his face. "But by the time they get out, they've already missed the best time to catch big fish.

"These big bass are the first ones to move up. They'll leave their winter spots and go to the chunk-rock banks and secondary points next to deep water to sun and start feeding. That's when I want to be out here."

Moments later, Sykora provided a demonstration. He launched a long cast with a suspending jerkbait, then cranked it down, jerked it several times, then let it sit for a 12 count. As the bait was sitting motionless in the water, a bass swam up and crushed it.

Sykora set the hook, then watched as the bass wallowed to the surface.

"It's a big one," he said as he fought the fish.

In a matter of seconds, he had the pot-bellied bass in the boat and was celebrating another cold-water catch.

Sykora placed the bass on a scale and found that it weighed 5 pounds, 6 ounces. After posing for a few pictures, he slid it back into the water and he was casting for more.

And there were more to be caught. Fishing solely with the MegaBass jerkbait, he caught and released eight other keepers Wednesday on the first day of spring, including several others in the 4-pound range.

An outstanding day? Well ... let's just say he's done it before. Many times.

The biggest bass, he ever caught -- a monster that weighed 9 pounds, 4 ounces -- came on a suspending jerkbait fished at this time of the year in 1996 at Lake of the Ozarks. And he routinely does well in tournaments in March at the big lake. Consider an FLW EverStart tournament on March 14-16. In three days, he weighed in 14 bass totaling 51 pounds, 9 ounces, good for third in the prestigious event.

So what's his secret? He leaves little to chance. He doesn't simply drop his trolling motor and start fishing down a likely looking rock bank. Instead, he says, "I fish a specific spot on a spot. I fish targets."

Sykora put those targets there. He works tirelessly to sink brush and trees along the banks where he thinks the bass will move up first.

He has those locations marked on his GPS, and uses the satellite technology to guide him to the brush and trees he has put out.

Lure selection is a given. In the cold water of early spring, suspending stickbaits are the only way to go, he said. He makes sure the baits he is using will suspend perfectly in the water when he pauses his retrieve. If they rise slowly, he will wrap wire on the hooks until they work the way he wants them to.

"These suspending jerkbaits are ideal imitators of what is going on right now," said Sykora, who lives in Osage Beach and has an insurance business there. "You can watch struggling shad in the water. They take one kick, then they just there for a while.

"You can do the same thing with these baits. In this cold water, bass aren't going to chase anything. But if something suspends right in front of them, they'll take it."

Sykora will retrieve the bait with several jerks, then he will pause the lure for up to 12 seconds. The hits always come when the bait is sitting still.

"Sometimes they'll hit like a freight train," he said. "Other times, you'll just feel weight on the end of your line."

That bring us back to the brush and trees that Sykora puts out. He casts beyond those targets and pulls his bait down to the point where he can suspend it just over the top of that cover. That's often when he will get a strike.

"A lot of times, these bass will be inactive and just sit down there in a brush pile," Sykora said. "But if an easy meal comes past, they'll come up and take it."

Other tricks of the trade? Sykora will use 8-pound test line to get better action from the lure than if he would use heavier line. And he is careful not to fish too quickly in the cold water. With the fish sluggish, he wants his baits to imitate how the baitfish are reacting to the cold water.

Time of day also can be a factor. He often catches his biggest bass in the afternoon, after the sun has warmed the water by a degree or two.

"In that EverStart tournament, I didn't have a fish the first half of the day," he said., "But I caught 22 pounds, 5 ounces of bass in the afternoon."

Sykora will fish the suspending stickbaits from December through the middle of April. Once the bass show signs that they are willing to chase baits, he will often go to large spinnerbait. But until that happens, he knows there will be plenty of opportunities to catch a huge bass.

"Lake of the Ozarks is in tremendous shape right now," Sykora said. "It has a great population of bass, and lots of big ones, too.

"It's just a fun place to fish right now."

Even when the weather is downright nasty.

To reach Brent Frazee, the Star's outdoors editor, call 816-234-4319 or send email to bfrazee@kcstar.com.

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