Bank Fishing Blueprint #002: Adding Red to Your Lures in April

By Keith Lusher • Published April 9, 2026

Welcome back to Bank Fishing Blueprint, the weekly AllOutdoor series focused on helping anglers find and catch more fish from the bank. Last week, we covered a simple way to locate hidden ponds in the woods by scanning the treetop canopy for openings that reveal hard-to-find ponds. If you missed that installment, it’s worth going back and checking out, because finding new water is the biggest barrier that bank fishermen face. Today, we will be talking about why adding red to your lures in April can make a big difference when targeting bass in ponds and small lakes.

More Fishing on AO:

Welcome to ‘Bank Fishing Blueprint,’ our recurring series dedicated to anglers who fish from shore. Whether you’re targeting bass in a pond or river fishing for catfish, this series is built on real experiences, practical tactics, and lessons learned over countless hours with boots on the ground. Bank fishing isn’t a compromise – it’s a legitimate approach that requires its own skill set, strategy, and problem-solving. Through this series, we’ll cover everything from reading water and accessing hard-to-reach spots to tackle selection and seasonal patterns that produce from the bank. Hopefully you’ll pick up tactics that put more fish on your stringer, and we’ll learn from your experiences too when you share your own knowledge and feedback in the Comments. Bank anglers are some of the most resourceful fishermen out there, and we’re excited to share what works and what doesn’t.

Spring Pattern: Adding Red to Your Lures in April

Over the years, I’ve noticed a simple spring pattern when fishing from the bank. Here in Louisiana, once April rolls around, I start adding red to my lures. It’s a small tweak, but I find it often helps when targeting bass in ponds and other small bodies of water. In fact, I’ve even caught bass in swampy areas where crawfish are everywhere.

Most bank anglers spend a lot of time fishing smaller fisheries. Ponds, borrow pits, and small lakes are easy to reach on foot, and many of them connect to shallow creeks or swampy areas that hold plenty of crawfish. In this type of water, crawfish are often a bigger food source than baitfish.

As the water warms in spring, crawfish become more active. Some take on shades of red, orange, or rust as they move shallow. I find these lines up well with April fishing patterns. Over time, I’ve gained confidence throwing lures with some red in them this time of year. Whether it’s a jig, crankbait, or soft plastic, adding red just seems to get more bites in small water.

Why it Works: Adding Red to Your Lures in April

The reason adding red works so well in April comes down to forage imitation. Bass are opportunistic feeders. In smaller bodies of water, they often rely heavily on crawfish as a primary food source. Crawfish live in shallow water that often features rocks, laydowns, grass edges, and hyacinth. All of these areas are easily reachable by anglers fishing from the shore.

Adding red to your lures in April helps imitate the natural coloration of crawfish that bass are already targeting. Even a small amount of red can make a difference. A red lip on a crankbait can help. Red flake in a soft plastic can also trigger strikes. A jig with a few red strands mixed into the skirt can be just enough to get attention.

Another advantage of crawfish patterns is that they naturally encourage anglers to fish slower. Crawfish move along the bottom using short bursts and pauses. Fishing a lure slowly along the bottom helps keep the bait in the strike zone longer. This is especially important when covering water from the bank where casting angles are limited.

Bottom Contact: Adding Red to Your Lures in April

For me, crawfish-style baits work best when they stay near the bottom. Unlike shad lures that I might fish higher in the water column, I usually try to keep crawfish imitations where bass expect to find them. Around ponds and other small water, crawfish are often moving along rocks, wood, and hard bottom areas that are easy to target from the bank.

I find that letting the bait bump into cover helps make it look more natural. When I am throwing a crankbait, I like when it deflects off structure. With jigs or soft plastics, I try to use slow hops or short drags along the bottom. That little bit of contact can look like a crawfish trying to get away, and that is often enough to trigger a strike.

Keeping the bait near the bottom also helps me stay in the strike zone longer. From the bank, I try to make each cast count by slowing down and fishing the bait where bass are most likely feeding.

In Conclusion: Adding Red to Your Lures in April

As we wrap up this installment of Bank Fishing Blueprint, my hope is that this series gives you practical ideas you can apply the next time your boots hit the shoreline. Bank fishing is about making the most of what is available and paying attention to small details. It also means learning how fish use water that most people overlook. Over time, those observations begin to add up, and the results speak for themselves.

In closing, I hope this Bank Fishing Blueprint article gave you actionable tactics you can use on your next trip to the water. This series exists to help bank anglers fish smarter, not harder, and to prove that you don’t need a boat to be a darn good fisherman. Every technique, every spot, every species requires problem-solving from the bank – and that’s what makes it rewarding. So, I put it to you! What bank fishing topics do you want covered next? What waters are you fishing, and what challenges are you running into? As always, let us know your thoughts in the Comments below. Your feedback and experience make this series better.

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