Though there’s still time to catch bass off bed the further north you go, the spawn is winding down for many across the South, Southeast, and the West Coast. As the bass leave the beds, it’s time for us to transition with them. Here are three great baits for the early post-spawn period.

Popping Frogs

We recently looked at why the popper was the perfect topwater for the immediate post-spawn period. And, while that is true, a popping frog can do a few things a traditional popper can’t do. For starters, a popping frog can maneuver effortlessly through shoreline vegetation and other cover, where the dangling trebles of a popper would hang up. And you can skip a frog far better than you can a popper.

For these reasons alone, it’s a good idea to have a popping frog rigged up as the bass spawn winds down. Being able to skip a popping style bait like this back under bushes and docks is critical, since this is where big bass like to recuperate from the spawning process. They’ll tuck up in these shady spots and wait for a meal to come by. When one does (in the form of your frog) they erupt on it, usually at least. Though there are times when a more finesse approach will work better.

Wacky Rigs

A wacky rig is the perfect bait for those high pressure days around the post spawn. This is the bait to skip under docks and bushes when the bass won’t quite commit to a frog. Wacky rigging a finesse worm or soft plastics stick bait offers a slow falling, subtle action that doesn’t intimidate a finicky bass like some bigger baits do.

The wacky rig works exceptionally well at catching bass that are guarding fry in particular. Schools of tiny bass fry that hatch out from the spawn like to hang around docks, bushes, grass and any other shady cover they can find. The male spawners guard these little balls of fry against attack from a wide range of predators, including the female bass that turn on the fry the moment they hatch. Softly presenting a wacky rig to a fry guarder is one of the most effective ways to catch these bass.

Deep Diving Crankbaits

Where some bass seek shelter under shallow docks and bushes after the spawn, others head straight for deeper, cooler water. This is especially the case on current driven reservoirs. On places like the Tennessee River, bass like to get offshore in the current and setup shop, waiting for a meal to wash right to them. This is what makes a deep diving crankbait, like a MONSTERBASS Seeker 12 or a Strike King 5XD are deadly in the early post-spawn.

This bait used to be thought of as the epitome of a deep diving crankbait, but with several different cranks on the market now that can reach a depth of 25-plus, the 5XD is really one of the shallower, deep divers. But this bait is the perfect plug for cranking those first drops and brushpiles where bass move to as they exit the spawning flats.

Bass get a little spread out this time of year, and sometimes you have to junk fish your way along to find a few. It’s not uncommon this time of year to catch a bass on a frog in a foot of water, one under a dock on a wacky rig and one in 12 to 15 feet on a 5XD, all by noon on the same day. These three baits will help you cover a good chunk of the water column that early post spawn bass occupy.