On feral farmland near Slippery Rock and Sarver, two private lakes quietly hold bass genetically linked to ancestors that were likely stocked there generations ago.

In the spring, when the Pennsylvania trout crowd is everywhere and bass anglers are waiting out the state’s two-month harvest ban, Lee Kann of Monroeville has the ponds to himself.

“I know it’s early and the water is cold, but it’s so beautiful out that I thought I’d try to cast a few,” he said during a mid-April email exchange.

Originally native to the Ohio River and Lake Erie watersheds, largemouth and smallmouth bass may be the perfect North American freshwater game fish. Prolific breeders, their fisheries don’t require an expensive hatchery and stocking program. Environmentally tolerant, they’re fine with water that is less than pristine. And bass can be exciting.

Pennsylvania smallmouths can top 8 pounds and work a strong river current against a struggling angler. The state record largemouth weighed 11 pounds, 3 ounces, but even a 5-pounder can put up a tail-walking fight and has a good chance of shaking the hook.

Pennsylvania’s bass season is open year-round. But during a spring harvest ban April 8-June 9, catches must be immediately released and bass tournaments are forbidden. Bass fishing pressure drops significantly in the spring. Catch-and-release is particularly common among bass anglers, but the “no harvest” rule may be widely misunderstood as “no bass fishing.” The lull could stem from a conservation mindset to prevent the predation of bass eggs, or it could be that in the spring bass anglers are out for trout.

But before the spawn, pre-season bass fishing can lead to some of the year’s best catches. It works best with an understanding of what’s happening under the water when spring is in the air.

After months of partial winter dormancy, lakes turn over when thermoclines shift and river flow changes dramatically with rain and snowmelt. With the spring arrival of baby aquatic wildlife, easy-to-access food is suddenly available to every predator.

Kann’s favorite lakes come alive in spring. He calls himself “a cast-retrieve lure guy for bass” and generally begins fishing for the largemouths in May.

“I usually start when the water and air warm up, but with the recent high temperatures I really wanted to cast a few weeks ago,” he said. “The [Slippery Rock] pond is large, maybe 20 acres. No weed beds where I have access, but there’s a dropoff. I usually catch bass there.”

Bass behaviors shift with the arrival of the prespawn, spawn and post-spawn periods, and Kann said food preferences can change in an instant.

To cover all bases at the ponds, he takes four spinning rods pre-rigged with a black or purple rubber worm, jointed Rapala (black-silver or blue-white), deep diving Rapala (black-silver or gold-red) and a split-fin soft plastic lure. He also brings a bait casting rod with a weedless rubber minnow in various colors.

Spawning begins when the water reaches 60-70 degrees — at Pennsylvania’s latitude that’s May and early June. It’s not unusual for several females to spawn on the same redd, depositing 2,000-7,000 eggs per pound of body weight. After dropping their eggs, the females leave the area. Because they spawn at different times the eggs don’t hatch simultaneously, but each hatches in about 10 days.

Newly hatched “larvae” retain part of the egg yolk and cannot eat. They remain at the bottom of the nest for about a week until the yolk sac is absorbed. Together the growing fry periodically rise out of the nest as a school and feed on nearby zooplankton, insects, small fish and each other. They are cannibalistic.

The males guard the nest, protecting the eggs and fry from every predator in the pond including crayfish, sunfish, other minnows and juvenile bass. They stay with the nest until all of the young have gone, which could take more than a month.

In the rivers, pre-season bronzeback fishing faces different challenges and requires alternative strategies.

Jeff Knapp, an Armstrong County outdoor writer and owner of Keystone Connection Fishing Guide Service, said during normal flow females start moving toward spawning sites in mid-April when water temperatures approach 50 degrees.

“It’s common for the females, which are bigger, to show up first,” he said. “Unless driven out by high water, the fish will remain in these areas until they nest, usually once water temperatures reach the low 60s.”

To bulk up for breeding, prespawn smallmouths feed aggressively. Knapp said he typically uses soft jerkbaits such as a Zoom Fluke rigged with no additional weight, casting to waters one to 3 feet deep.

“River smallmouths tend to nest in areas protected from the main force of the river … below rocky points that deflect the flow, along the insides of river bends and within island complexes.”

To locate prime spawning waters, Knapp’s preseason jet boat charters can cover 12-15 miles of the middle Allegheny River in a day.

The smallmouth bass spawn in rivers is much like largemouth spawning in lakes, except that the current constantly pushes against every egg and sweeps things into the nest. The eggs are extremely vulnerable to predation if the guarding male is temporarily preoccupied, like when thrashing around at the end of somebody’s fishing line.

“There’s thought that male bass will vacate a nest if harassed too much,” said Knapp. “As such, once it’s evident that bass are on nests I greatly reduce my guide trips and focus on other species and venues.”

After spawning, river smallmouth bass are exhausted and lethargic for a week or two.

“Once they’ve recovered from the spawn and begin to resume feeding,” said Knapp, “I continue using soft jerkbaits, suspending hard jerkbaits like the Rapala X Rap, and soft swimbaits like the Galida’s Grubz.”

On Pennsylvania inland waters and Lake Erie, the bass harvest season opens June 10. Inland regulations require a 12-inch minimum and daily limit of six of combined species. On Lake Erie, it’s a 15-inch minimum and four combined species per day.

The season is open year round with a 12-inch minimum and combined harvest of five daily on Pymatuning Reservoir, which is co-managed by Pennsylvania and Ohio. Check the Summary Book for special regulations.