There's no better time to be a bass fisherman.

The scent of flowering dogwood trees is in the air. The sun is a warm balm on your face. Birds are singing. Waves are lapping against the shore. Somewhere down the lake, an owl is hooting. Conditions are perfect for this much-anticipated day of fishing: partly cloudy skies and a gentle wind. It's a glorious time to be on the water.

You pull your boat into an area that looks promising, and quietly lower your trolling motor. After 10 minutes of inching a plastic lizard across the shallows, you get a jarring strike. You set the hook. The water boils and the fish surges. Your rod bucks as you try to turn the fish away from a brushpile. Soon, you have the flopping bass in hand -- a healthy female. You admire her and gently turn her loose. With a splash and a powerful sweep of her tail, she is gone.

Such scenes are repeated countless times across the U.S. each spring. Serious bass anglers from California to Virginia know that this is the absolute best time to be on the water. Many bass are patrolling the shallows, getting ready to spawn, and they're feeding like they haven't eaten in months. Buck bass that have already prepared beds are guarding them with a fierce intensity -- intruders either are killed or driven away.

Not all bass spawn at the same time, however. This means that while some fish are shallow, others are deep, so a multiplicity of patterns will work. Most anglers are pounding the shoreline for spawning bass and overlook the deeper fish.

Following is Bass Pro Shops' guide to spring bass fishing. We contacted some of America's best-known and most proficient anglers to share their tips on catching bass in spring. Copy their techniques, and you'll be doubly rewarded: you'll catch more fish and have more fun in the process. Simply click on the photos to the left to learn about that specific technique.