It's been a funky year weather wise this year, although when is it not? One thing is certain though, the majority of the biggest fish in every lake have already spawned. So it's probably safe to say that the chances of catching "easy" big fish in early February and March are probably past. But this doesn't mean that big fish are impossible to catch for the rest of the year. Post spawn can in fact be a good time to go after big fish. My theory is though, that you have to use a big bait!
There are several reasons for this. After spawning the big females are going to need some time to recover. This doesn't mean they get lockjaw for weeks though. And after usually a few days to a week of recovery, I believe that the big females begin to feed again. Only now, unlike prepawn, there is a lot more available food in the water. This is the time of year when tons of bluegill and crappie will suddenly appear in the shallows. Trout plants have been going on for most of the winter and most lakes are reaching the peak as far as number of trout in the water. Crawdads also become more vulnerable as the water clears in mid to late spring. This influx of available food leads to shorter feeding periods and an inclination for big fish to want to eat bigger food. I observed this last year at Santa Margarita big time. My 7" plugs that I had been throwing were not producing like they had been in winter and prespawn. Since I wasn't having much sucess, I started experimenting with the 12" MS Slammer. In May and into June I began to get more bites on this lure than my smaller stuff. It seemed crazy at first but it makes sense. Bigger fish had easy pickings and they weren't interested in chasing small baits. They wanted something to fill thier stomachs in one bite. Even 2 to 3lb fish were hitting the 12" plug very aggressively.
So I don't think we're quite there yet, but keep this in your mind when you're out on the water. The warmer the days get and the more bait you see in the shallows, the bigger the bait you should be throwing. I know I will!!