Jesse Simpkins shows off an Iowa bigmouth that he caught on a Rat-L-Trap. Photo by Ted Peck.

Listen to the counsel of professional bass angling's big names long enough, and you're likely to hear this mantra again and again: Largemouth bass won't chase a lure until spring water temperatures warm to almost 60 degrees.

Don't believe it -- at least, not if you're in Iowa. In waters across the Hawkeye State, largemouth bass begin feeding nearly as soon as the lid of ice leaves the surface.

For a short time, when water temperatures hover between 43 and 48 degrees, anglers have an opportunity on a number of Iowa waters to tangle with bucketmouths that behave more like fish in a pre-spawn frenzy than fish in a coldwater funk.

Timing is almost everything, but location and lure presentation are equally important for tapping this little known bonanza.

I don't fish tournaments, and I certainly don't possess enough hubris or ego to claim to be a great bass angler. But I've been guiding in northeast Iowa and western Wisconsin for more than 30 years, on average spending more than 150 days each year on the waters that pool in this region -- and many of my outings are in pursuit of bass. It's difficult to fish that often and not learn something about bass behavior, especially if you keep an angling diary like I have since 1976. Maintaining this database has proven to be a great way to discover fishing patterns and anticipate trends. Staying on the cutting edge certainly beats hearing "You should have been here last week!"

Although Iowa lakes and ponds have a wide variety of habitat parameters -- ranging from the deep, clear waters of the Iowa Great Lakes to shallow, stained waters of Lake Anita west of Des Moines -- some common characteristics can be found wherever these fish call home.

Being cold-blooded creatures, bass become profoundly inactive in near-freezing temperatures under a sheet of ice. When spring arrives, with run-off, rain and wind exposing lake surfaces and providing oxygen once again, a subtle change occurs among the bass that inhabit their water.

Soon after ice-out, wind action can blow stressed bass up against the shoreline, where the last thing they want to do is eat a spinnerbait, but reflexes often trump native intelligence.

The spring sun warms shallow water on the north side of lakes quickly. Especially prone to this effect: water that's somewhat dingy and that lies above a heat-absorbing dark bottom -- water such as will be found in most of the access channels off of the Iowa Great Lakes. Water temperatures at the back ends of shallow bays can be at least 5 degrees warmer than that of other lake locations. Fish respond to this metabolic message like lost souls hearkening to a Billy Graham altar call.