Minnow-shaped plugs featuring spoon-shaped bills excel at taking early-season bass on deep reservoirs.

Long before the arrival of precision-tuned suspending lures, anglers were catching awakening spring bass on modified spoonbill-style hardbaits. On steep-sided highland-type impoundments like Raystown Lake, the shrewd use of these lures continues to con both largemouths and smallies.

From soon after ice out until the water reaches 50 degrees, successful tournament angler Deron Eck uses the spoonbill pattern to lure both bass from the craggy nooks of chilly reservoirs.

"Baits like the Rebel Spoonbill and Smithwick Spoonbill Super Rogue, ones that you can get down a bit in the water column, work best until the water reaches the 50 degree mark," said Eck. "Once the water gets into the 50s it's time to switch to a shallower running bait like a Rebel Fastrac."

The power of the spoonbill pattern is the ability to put an easy-to-eat bait in areas bass migrate to when deeper reservoirs first come to life. That zone often is near rocky banks that drop into deep water.

"In highland reservoirs, bluff banks are one of the first places bass move to when they come out of wintering areas," said Eck. "They rise up out of the creek channel and get in close to these steep banks.

"The key areas are places where the channel swings in tight to shore. Things to look for along these banks are little natural rock outcroppings just under the surface of the water.

Another is where shale has slid down the bank over the years to create a subsurface rocky bump, he noted

You don't need to wait for a warming trend to catch spoonbill bass. Eck said he's had some of his best success during the nastiest weather.

Eck keeps his boat close to the bank when working a bluff wall. At times, he can reach out and touch the cliff from the boat's bow.

"It doesn't give your partner a lot to throw to, but that's where you have to be," said Eck. "Your casts should be parallel to the bank."

Lures like the Rebel Spoonbill (wider action) and Smithwick Spoonbill Super Rogue (tighter action) are floater/divers that must be altered a bit to suspend.

Eck has experimented with several weighting options and has settled on wrapping the front hook with lead wire.

"The bait should hang at a 45-degree angle, nose down," said Eck.

He fishes these baits on relatively limber rods, ones that produce a softer action on the retrieve as compared to the sharper twitch often employed with jerkbait-style lures.

"I use a jigging type of retrieve," said Eck. "After the lure splashes down I make four or five cranks to get it deep. They I begin a 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock retrieve, pulling the bait forward on the upswing.

"I wind up the slack and make a long pause, sometimes nearly a minute," he added, "Most all of the hits will happen during the pause. The line will just start moving off to the side as the bass swims off with the lure."

Eck catches both smallmouth and largemouth bass on this bluff-bank pattern, often mixed right in together in reservoirs that feature both species. Smelt often are a primary food fish along these banks, one that the slender Rebel and Smithwick lures imitate.

Color pattern-wise, gold and black back baits are a good all-around choice. Chartreuse is a good pattern on overcast days. Silver and blue back tends to excel on clear days.

Eck said that smallmouths show a preference for orange-bellied baits.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.