Early June bass fishing can be a ton of fun, but it also can be frustrating if you are in the wrong area and tossing mid-summer baits. Traditional spawning bass like water temperatures — note water temperature not air temperature — under 70 degrees.

For example, water temperatures on Chautauqua Lake are currently ranging from the low-to-mid 60s, which in turn tells us that some bass are still in the shallows. While we have never been in to target spawning bass, there are some that do. If by chance one does happen to catch bass hanging around spawn areas, it’s best to get them back in the water as quickly as possible.

Bass baits during this part of the year vary. This week, let’s discuss a few different baits and how they work that will change things up for anglers, and possibly put bigger fish in your boat.

One of my favorite early season bass baits is a squarebill crank or stick style bait. No matter the cover and in almost any watercolor, you can put a squarebill in your hand and just go, knowing you have something a shallow-water fish will have a hard time passing up. There will be times when you need to give them a second look to draw the strike.

Bass are cold-blooded creatures, so when the water gets cool, their metabolism slows down and they try to conserve as much energy as they can. They won’t often move far or fast and instead just sit still and try to absorb heat, either from the sun or from some object around them. Due to this unwillingness to move about, a lot of anglers think they must drag something around and give up on moving baits right away. That’s not the case at all.

When throwing a squarebill bait this time of year you must be super thorough. Imagine a fish is sitting to the left of a log and you throw to the right. In the spring and early summer or even later in the fall, that same fish very well may swim to the other side of that log and chase down your bait.

Instead, you must hit them right on the nose and, sometimes, you even must do those multiple times to get them to bite. Making the same cast a half-dozen times, you may come to a piece of cover that looks really good or has been particularly productive in the past. And sometimes it takes those extra casts to draw the strike, even in less than a foot of water.

Honestly, it’s a toss-up for me between spinnerbaits and squarebills in cool water. Both are my favorite for this style of fishing on certain days. The weather is the determining factor when it comes to which I’ll choose. On sunny and calmer days, I’ll typically lean towards the squarebill. But add a little wind and cloud cover, then it’s time for the spinnerbaits.

A spinnerbait is perhaps the most versatile bait out there, second maybe only to a jig. A spinnerbait can be used in all four seasons in less than a foot of water or all the way down to deep-water ledges. You can burn it, slow roll it, pump it and pause it, there’s so much you can do with a spinnerbait. But in shallow water at this time of year it is best to slowly roll them.

You want to pick a spinnerbait with large blades for a couple reasons. One, the vibration obviously helps the fish locate the bait in muddy water and even in less stained water I believe that same vibration helps trigger the fish into biting. But big blades also offer more resistance and, in turn, allow you to slow down your bait on the retrieve. Whether I’m going with a tandem Colorado/willow combo or double Colorado blade, I like for my outside blade to be in the 5 or 6 size and then complement both with a smaller Colorado around a No. 3 or 4 on the inside.

Slow rolling a spinnerbait around docks, logs, stumps and shallow rocky points is one of the most productive ways to catch fish and to catch big ones in particular. Spinnerbaits have just the right combo of color options, flash and vibration to trigger reluctant bass.

While I’ve never been a big jerkbait guy for bass, I’ve had my teeth kicked down my throat often enough by this bait in the dead of winter to put it firmly on the list of my top five baits for shallow and cool water. But it’s not only there because of the damage it has done to my battered ego. A jerkbait also offers something different from any other bait on this list, which is the ability to target fish that are loosely related to cover as opposed to holding tightly to it.

For the crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs that comprise the rest of my top five, you’re going to want the bait to be extremely close to the cover. If you’re cranking riprap, you want your bait bumping bottom. If you’re slow rolling a spinnerbait down the side of a log, you want to try to scrape the bark off.

But with a jerkbait, you’re able to target suspended fish that are loosely relating to cover. Take a bank or bridge piling for a couple of examples. The fish may be sitting 10 to 20 feet from the cover, but they are relating to that cover while waiting for baitfish that are also relating to the cover to pass by. A jerkbait gives you a great bait to toss into that scenario and trick a bass into biting.

Cadence is the key; you’ll hear that a lot anytime someone mentions a jerkbait, and rightfully so. When you figure out the right combo of pumps and pauses, it can unlock every fish’s jaw in the area. But I’ve seen the pump, pump, pause 3 seconds, pump, pause 10 seconds cadence work wonders in cooler water. It’s not a one-size-fits-all deal. Play with it and figure out the combo that works best that day and you’ll be on your way to a line-tightening action, whether you’re talking a compact flipping jig in 3 feet of muddy water around stumps, or a compact finesse jig dragged across a gravel bar in 5 feet of clear water or flipping weed edges and pockets.

When I do slow down to a jig, it’s typically when I’ve found a concentration of fish. Whether you’re fishing a muddy creek with a lot of fish hanging tight to isolated cover like rocks or stumps, or you’ve found an offshore hard spot that’s holding a group of fish, pitching and dragging a small jig gives me the approach I want. I don’t have to worry as much about the fish slapping at a treble-hooked bait or spinnerbait and not getting the hook well. Instead, I can just pick off the fish one by one.

It’s easier to be accurate with a jig and you’re less likely to hang up if you pick the right jig. Pay attention to the style jighead you’re buying. Jigs are intentionally designed for the style of fishing you’re going to be doing with them. A compact skipping jig with an almost Arkie-style head is my favorite all around jig if I had to choose just one. But that jig was designed primarily with skipping in mind.

Then you have ball head and football head jigs meant more for dragging, each with a different shape to the head and orientation of the eye. All of that is important when picking a jig. What I believe holds true across the board. You want a compact jig 99% of the time. There’s no call for a huge flowing skirt or big flapping craws. Nice, tight and compact is the way to go in the cold.

The bass bite when temperature is right can make even the most bullheaded angler excited, when you get into them. From now until the first of July, we all pretty much have the lake to ourselves and there is no better time to chase bucketmouth bass on one of the best fisheries in the country.