Strike King pro Scott Suggs gives a rundown of what anglers can expect in Zone 4 during April.
Suggs expects water temperatures to be in the 60- to 64-degree range with air temperatures from mid-60’s to high-80’s with lots of sunshine. “April is the biggest spawning month for bass in Zone 4, and you can expect to find bass either spawning or relating to spawning all month long,” Suggs says. “If they’re staging, brush piles, docks, and the mouths of spawning areas are all great starting locations,” he advises. At the end of April, you can expect to find fry guarders around docks and shallow cover as well.
If the water is clear, Suggs prefers Green Pumpkin Craw with a Green Pumpkin Scounbug trailer. In stained water, he switches to Bama Craw with a Summer Craw Scounbug trailer. For muddy water, he will favor Black Blue with a matching Black Blue Scounbug trailer.
Strike King’s Compact Tungsten Casting Jig is built with a premium tungsten jig head that is 40% more dense than lead for greater castability, sensitivity, and performance. Featuring a premium hand-tied skirt that emits life-like pulsating movement and a heavy wire hook for exceptional hook-setting.
Suggs prefers Green Pumpkin for clear water, while he opts for Blue Craw if the water is stained. Blue Bug is his go-to in muddy conditions.
By far the undefeated champion of crawfish baits in the water, Strike King’s soft plastic Rattlin’ Rage Craw is a slender, 4” crawfish imitator, pre-rigged with a glass sound chamber imbedded in the tail to emit a powerful rattle and attract fish. This noisy little beast refuses to be ignored.
Suggs opts for Green Pumpkin in clear water, and switches to Big Tex if the water is stained. In muddy conditions, Black Blue Swirl is his top choice.
Looking for a creature bait that excels in heavy cover—that won't hang up on every leaf and stem it touches? The Strike King KVD Perfect Plastics Game Hawg has a lithe, supple, totally natural build that allows it to slither cleanly through vegetation with no loss of action. With 6 appendages all working together, it's the perfect jig trailer, and can also pull extra bites on a drop shot rig.
If the water is clear, he will throw Green Pumpkin, while more stained water calls for Blue Craw. Suggs loves to use the Black Blue Swirl in muddy water.
This 8-sided beast takes the concept of the soft jerkbait to another level. Like a faceted bead vs. a round bead, the Strike King KVD Perfect Plastics Ocho's smooth beveled sides reflect light in different directions, creating a flash effect unlike that of any other softbait. Precision molded of super soft plastic, with a slow sink rate, the versatile Ocho is ideal for jerkbaiting and wacky rigging.
He opts for Spotted Frog in clear water.
He opts for Spotted Frog in clear water. If the water is stained, he will throw the Stump Jumper, while he will switch to Black if the water is muddy.
The KVD Sexy Frog is one of the finest, feature-packed, frog-style baits yet from Strike King. Chief among its features are a sealed nose, which minimizes water entry, and a free-floating rattle to create the noise needed to get those lunkers' attention. It has a big strong double hook and easily collapsible hollow body for better hookups.
If the water is clear, Bohannan prefers Green Pumpkin Purple Gold Twin Tail Menace. In stained water, he switches to Crawdaddy. For muddy water, Bohannan will favor Fire Craw.
Strike King’s Swinging Football Head with Twin Tail Menacetrailer is the ideal smaller profile set up for high pressure conditions. The Swinging Football head allows the Twin Tail Menace to swing freely while the tight kicks of the Menace accurately mimic a small to medium profile bait fish.
In April in Zone 4, Strike King pro Trey McKinney expects water temperatures to be between 55- to 65-degrees.
Bass are getting close to, if not already, spawning. The key is figuring out whether the majority of quality fish are on the bank or still waiting for that perfect weather day. If they aren’t on the bank spawning, McKinney will try to find isolated cover before a big spawning flat or grass edges and lines.
If the water is clear, McKinney prefers Bluegill. In stained or muddy water, he switches to Bruiser.
Trey will throw a Tungsten Thunder Cricket around the bank for cruising bass looking for beds. He specifically targets isolated cover, vegetation, and laydowns. He also advises anglers to throw it up in the shallows.
McKinney’s choice for clear water or stained water is Green Pumpkin, while he opts for Black Blue if the water is muddy.
For bedding fish and general picking apart cover, Trey will throw a Texas-rigged (1/4 oz. Tour Grade Tungsten) Rage Menace. He loves how versatile the bait is and will swim and glide it around cover.
He opts for Stump Jumper in clear water, and switches to Pearl White if the water is stained. Black is his go-to in muddy conditions.
McKinney will throw a KVD Sexy Frog around the shallows for spawning and cruising bass. He mostly targets lighter/darker spots and cover near the water’s edge. His general rule is in sunshine, throw white, and in cloud cover throw black.
If the water is clear, he will throw Ghost Shad, while more stained water calls for Baby Bass. Pearl is the most efficient in muddy conditions, according to McKinney.
A weightless, Texas-rigged Caffeine Shad is another one of Trey’s go-to cover shallow water soft plastics. He specifically targets scattered vegetation and off colored spots on the bank.
He opts for White in clear water. If the water is stained or muddy, he will throw Black.
Trey prefers a Skip’N Buzz on cloudy, windy, and rainy days. His goal is to get reaction bites and cover water. He will generally start with a black toad, but if he misses a few bites, will switch to a white toad.
