Bass anglers, let me ask you a question. When’s the best time of the year to hook up with a record-breaking Kentucky bass?

If you want to tangle with the largest spots you’ve ever seen, don’t wait until April or May; I’ve set more spotted bass records in February than any other month.

Most anglers don’t realize the spot lays its eggs on gravel bars about 10 feet below the surface. For largemouth fishermen, that seems pretty deep for spawning, but it’s true. This is something I’ve observed in over 50 years of fishing year-round as an all-species angler.

Something else: the big, magnum spots come mostly out of deep mountain lakes that are shunned by many shallow-water bass anglers. If you hit it just right, you have a good chance in February of hooking and landing three- to four-pound magnum Kentucky bass all day long – ones like those pictured here. These were pulled off gravel bars in February.

Now a good share of what you’ll catch are going to be the smaller males, but every now and then a big mama spot will grab your bait, and man, oh man! Let me tell you, the battle is on! These super aggressive female spots will keep fighting even when they hit the bottom of the boat.

To me, hooking a 3 or 4-pound spot is like latching into a 6 or 7-lb bucketmouth. If you could have as smallmouth and spot of equal size and weight, I’d be hard pressed to pick the meanest. Both charge hard and fast and leap the same.

Now let me share with you how to hook up on these powerful freshwater demons. There are three main presentations that I rely on. First is the float’n fly, which you may have seen us use to lay into cold weather smallmouth over on Dale Hollow. (You can watch past episodes by searching for “Benny Hull” at www.myoutdoortv.com.

Another productive finesse bait is a 4-inch ring worm-type. I like a dark, pumpkinseed body with a little glitter and a chartreuse curly tail on a 1/2-oz head. Rig 6-pound line on a 7-foot medium/light-power spinning rod, and make sure your spinning reel has a good, smooth drag.

Also, this is when I especially like the colored lines that I use year-round. Hi-vis lines will help you catch a lot more fish because they enable you to see the slightest line flick of your line that signals a soft pick-up. The only time I worry about color is with these gin-clear mountain rivers and lakes out West like the Snake and Teton when I’m going after trout.

February is a great time for a drop shot rig, which these days has pretty much been replaced by the Secret Weapon Recoil Rig. Rig it with a finesse worm or a 3-inch minnow bait attached with a Daiichi Bleeding Bait #2 Drop Shot’n Nose Hook.

Last, if you expect to find water 50 degrees or higher, pack along a few deep-running crankbaits, a few Secret Weapon spinnerbait bodies, and a handful of their Quick-clip blades. I’ve found that clipping on a small, gold blade followed up with a larger, nickel willowleaf or Indiana blade is perfect for clear water. When you fish these lures, it’s very important that you select medium- or lightweight rigs that you can move through the cold water very slowly and methodically. Be sure there’s some chartreuse color mixed with other colors when you’re targeting Kentucky bass, especially if the water is stained or muddied by late-winter run-off.

It seems that many bass anglers just discovered this beautiful bass in the past several years. The spotted bass spawns earlier than smallmouth and largemouth, and it holds much deeper than others, too. They love scattered rock bottoms, bluffs, blow-downs, and stumps lines.

The three line class world record spots I caught all came in February. Two of them were taken on six-pound test lines — a 5.5-pound Kentucky bass and a 3.5-pound Coosa Redeye spot. Another 5.5-pound Kentucky record bass came on 4-pound test line, but that record was beat a few years ago by a six-pounder.

You got to remember that this window for catching spawning bass on gravel beds is short. But rearranging your schedule in order to feel the heft of a big spot on the end of your line is very gratifying. And who knows but that the twitch of your line could signal a new world record!

Good luck going after magnum spots. And be careful; that super-cold February water is unforgiving.

Remember, make a girl or boy happy this year and take them fishing. And let’s keep the waters we fish in clean for future generations to enjoy.

I’ll see you on the Web or on the river.

Benny Hull
“The Ol’ Stump Bumper”