Two recent fishing trips that delivered meager results are motivating me this weekend as I seek to settle the score against those confounding largemouth bass.

Many agree bass are not especially difficult to catch. They’ll strike anything – under most circumstances – but they can be vexing when their moods are contrary.

My two most recent visits to favorite lakes apparently coincided with extreme moodiness, as the bass finned their noses and ignored my offerings. Two trips netted me only enough fish to whet my appetite for revenge.

So today and tomorrow I’ll be out there fanning the water with my best efforts to return to form against the fish that have been my favorite quarry for decades. They can whip me once or twice, but the third time is my turn to flip the score.

I’m going with a fresh game plan, adjusted in recognition that even though the calendar says the bass should be cooperative, they may not be quite as frisky as I might think.

Competitors in a variety of sports know they must adjust on game day when the previous results were not up to par. Just as I need to tweak my swing when my golf ball goes awry, I know I cannot continue to pound away on the bass with tactics that did not produce last time.

No question, the bass here in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania are jockeying between eating and spawning. Our early spring pulled bass shallow weeks ahead of schedule and many of them have already spawned.

While last week I observed large schools of days-old largemouths guarded by buck bass, it’s a fact that some of our local fish spawned several weeks ago and others will spawn later in May or even in June. In other words, the fish don’t all do their thing at the same time.

The key to this weekend will be to find fish that are in the mood to eat or defend. It’s possible, too, that some will be on nests. Sounds simple, but as I mentioned earlier, this is a time when bass are especially fickle.

Bass that have yet to move to spawning nests will be hunting aggressively for bluegills, yellow perch and shad. Their body clocks tell them it’s time to eat.

Post-spawn bass behave differently based on their gender. The females retreat to deeper water in the days after they drop their eggs and remain fairly inactive for a week or two as they regain strength. The males assume guard duty and remain at the nest to protect the eggs from marauding bluegills.

When the eggs hatch, the fry congregate in huge schools that look like clouds of black specks. The males lurk under the schools and in the shadows of vegetation and hard cover to ward off hungry predators.

Fish locked on nests are fairly easy to identify. Anglers spot them as pairs of fish hovering over light-colored spots fanned out in sand and gravel.

Pre-spawners will attack a variety of baits. Anglers will catch males and females, and can count on some of the biggest fish of the year.

Post-spawn catches will be mostly buck bass attacking lures they mistake as invading bluegills and perch. Nesting fish can be tricked with plastic baits dragged into the beds and twitched in a manner that prompts the fish to inhale the lure.

I’ll take my cues from what I observe and adjust accordingly. After 40 years at this game, I’m confident I’ve got something up my sleeve for the bass swimming in front of my boat.

Jack Wollitz is the author of “The Common Angler,” a book about the “why” that drives anglers. He likes readers’ emails. jackbbaass@gmail.com