Looking to get into some bass and have a few questions. Mainly, what are patterns are they in this time of year in south Texas? I'm a fresh Yankee transplant, so I have no idea when they go into the different seasonal transitions down here. Also, looking at heading to Mathis, Choke or Coletto. Any tips on what body of water I should start at?

Bonus question. I'm gonna throw out some jugs so I'll have something to bring home since I don't keep bass. Where I'm from, it's illegal to use cast nets and use sunfish (bluegill, perch, whatever yall call em lol) as bait. Since you can do both of those here, is it also legal to keep bluegill that you catch in a cast net and eat them? Wasn't sure if they had to be taken by hook and line or if cast netting them is legal

Thanks for any tips!

...why would you want to eat your bait?

As for the bass, normally this time of year we'd be just into the prespawn period but the warm weather has thrown it off a bit. Today, I found some pre-spawn bass and some that were already on beds and a couple that looked like they'd already laid. They were worn out and bloodied.

I'd say, depending on what your lakes are like, either head to some flats on the north end of the lake, or find some nice creek/rivers running into the lake and start at the mouth fishing the points, then move up the river and look for shallower areas with rocky or sandy(not muddy) bottoms. Focus on laydowns and ledges near the flats and if the water is clear enough, look for fish on beds.

Oh yeah, presentation... Start off with something that covers water quickly. Try a squarebill or a swimbait. If you find some fish but aren't getting a lot of bites, switch to a plastic and fish it around the usual spots till you find em. If you can spot the beds, try a smallish plastic. Toss it past the bed, then drag it up into it and let it sit there, twitch it. Pop it. [censored] the fish off till they attack to protect the bed.

Keeping sunfish and other fish caught in cast nets for food is legal.

Only fish classified as non-game can be legally caught in cast nets.

See the TPWD publication for definitions.

Cast nets:
Cast nets are discussed here

Thanks for the tips guys!! Really looking forward to fishing down here. Back home, the state record bass isn't even 9lbs. Just the chance at seeing a bass over 10lbs is awesome

Get out there man, perfect time for you to get that big one. We got three 6+ and a 9.6 yesterday.