The sun at this time will warm the northern bays first. The reason that the dark shallow bottoms warm up quickly is because they collect heat, and release it back into the water. Water temperature is very important in determining the spawning period for the bass. The best places to find bass at this time are around water covered brush, stumps, boulders, and fallen trees. When the water temperature reaches about 60 degrees, bass will move to suitable spawning habitats, such as, wind protected weed beds, lily pads, and along grass shorelines.
Spawning beds are generally near protective structure.
The best time to catch lots of bass is throughout the pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn periods, when bass are concentrated near the shorelines. During the summer, bass generally move into deeper waters, but at times, you can still find them in the shallows. Both small and largemouth bass can be located around docks and in weed beds that are in waters ranging between 5 to 25 feet deep. Summer bass will hit on both surface and subsurface flies. Surface poppers usually work best on bass in fairly warm, calm, shallow water.