The end of the annual spawn signals the start of some frustrating times for bass anglers all over Kansas. It's difficult to dispute that this is the toughest time of the season for catching bass consistently at the Sunflower State's bigmouth venues.

It doesn't have to be that way, however -- there are some things you can do to help assure that the odds are always in your favor, even during the post-spawn period. Pointing you in that direction is what this story is all about.

In general terms, bass go into an underwater "recovery room" of sorts after the spawn. The biggest largemouths around, the females, are the most spent. They've lost weight in recent weeks, of course, having first laid their eggs and then spent most of their time focused on guarding the spawning beds. Food hasn't been that much of a daily priority for them, and it still isn't -- but they do have to eat, and though they're not going to move very far or be very aggressive in seeking out forage, they'll feed when presented with the opportunity to do so without expending much energy.

Male bass aren't quite so worn out. They, too, have spent time guarding beds and being part of the annual spawn. But the physical demands of laying eggs and everything that goes with it don't affect them, for obvious reasons.

The downside of this for anglers is that males are the smaller specimens in any given Kansas bass fishery. Chances are good that you'll be able to catch them more easily and more often than you will the females during the coming weeks. They're active, all right, but they just won't be quite as big as those egg-laden females you were catching not so long ago.

So what do you do? There are two approaches (at least) that can help assure you bass fishing success in the Sunflower State this month. One has you focusing your efforts on fisheries with really good numbers of bass. Doing so will increase your odds of action, although, as noted, you may not get into many big fish. The other requires you to change up your fishing method at venues that you know hold good bass so that you slow down and work more deliberately. Doing those simple things can help you catch bigger bass this month. Guaranteed!

Admittedly, it's not the most fun kind of fishing for many of you bass fans. Lots of anglers prefer to cover water fairly quickly. They use crankbaits or spinnerbaits to work the best spots as fast as possible, knowing that they generally are catching the most active bass in the area -- and leaving other fish behind.

It's a numbers game for these anglers. They're not getting bites from nearly all the bass around; they're just catching those fish that are the most aggressive. The downside of doing this in the post-spawn period is that the numbers simply are against anyone taking this route.