 Not
soon enough, the ice will be out and the water will start
to warm up from a uniform 39 degrees, and it will start
to warm and stratify. If you are like me you cannot wait
to get out and start catching the first bass of the year.
I hope this article help you get started with Spring or
post-Winter and pre-spawn fishing with some success. As
always, we will start with location and then move on to
equipment and techniques.
We will start during ice-out, with the water being approximately
40 degrees and the bass operating very slowly due to their
metabolism. I start looking in areas where we encountered
the last green weeds from the following year, and depending
on the body of water, the deepest weedlines available
(not necessarily the northwest side of anything). The
only other area that is worth a very good shot would be
any place a creek, river or inflow bringing water in at
a constant tempeture. These inflows are sure bass magnets,
one reason being that the yellow perch begin to spawn
in these areas. Any time they inflow is a constant temperature
and warmer than the surrounding lake, so you can bet the
bass will be stacked in the area. If there is current,
all the better. The best lures for fishing in these areas
are the Grub, Hair Jig and the good old Jig and Pig; however,
on more than one occasion I have seen some real nice bass
caught on Rapala minnows twitched on the surface (pretty
strange). Let me stop and tell you how I stumbled onto
this discovery. In 1985 I could not wait to get started
so I convinced the only person crazy enough to go fishing
with me, my wife, to go on this cold January day. We started
fishing Lace Mill Pond, which was still partially covered
with ice. As always, I started fishing with a Spinnerbait
and a Black Marabou Jig. After two hours and not much
success my wife wanted to try the lure she had a lot of
success the past summer on a #7 Rapala. I tried to tell
her that common knowledge would disapprove of such a silly
selection. So there she is casting a floating minnow bait
at the edge of the ice when boom! a swirl and a large
Pickerel ate the minnow lure. I mumble something about
Pickerel being a trash fish and I wasn’t trying
to catch them anyway. A few moments later another swirl
and this time a nice two-pound bass. Wow what luck, once
again I mumble something this time about stupid bass.
Now the guide is still trying to make the bass eat what
he is suppose to be eating according to the book.
People say their mind is a steel trap and they are right,
but at this point my mind was a trap. I had stopped observing
and learning and persisted to the point of insanity. Two
points -- 1) Don’t stop learning and trying new
things, everything was new at one time 2) If your wife
ever out-fishes you you can bet that you will hear about
it for years. Now for the conventional approach to the
post winter-coldwater period. I like a Diawa Tony Bean
Smallmouth stick and a Diawa 1300 SS Spinning reel with
8 pound silver thread line; my favorite baits are an "MTO"
1/8 ounce Hair Jig and 101 pork frog in Black/Purple or
Avocado/Black, a 1/16 ounce Green Pumpkin Gitzit, or a
1/8 ounce Chicot Shiner Sweet Water Chub.
All of these are fished right on the bottom using a lift
and crawl type retrieve. Fish slowly and keep polishing
the rocks; a lot of the fish you will catch will be hooked
in the lower part of the mouth. I believe that this is
caused by the sunlight penetration causing lower life
forms to start squirming on the bottom and the bass are
used to feeding on these small creatures.
On to the warming water when the tempeture gets to be
between 45 degrees and 54 degrees. The techniques outlined
above will be worth a shot, but in deeper lakes you are
looking at jerk-bait fishing. Start with a Tony Bean Smallmouth
rod and 8 pound test to throw the smaller suspending baits
and an Allstar Zell Rowland TWS 6’6" for the
medium to larger jerk-baits. My favorite patterns are
clown, perch, and purple chartreuse. Fish these on any
(45 degree water) bluffs down 5’ to 8’ or
slightly deeper with a slow pull and wait retrieve, pull
and slowly reel back to the bait on a controlled, almost
slack, line. At this time, the Bass will either jerk the
rod out of your hand or just hit the bait like a plastic
worm. Do not become hung up on the idea that all jerk
baits have to be suspending, they do not; sometimes the
floaters out-produce the suspenders experiment. As the
water warms pay attention to any flats next to deeper,
steeper banks which are also near bays with dark bottoms
(scattered rocks a major plus). This is the time to start
thinking about the northwest side of cover. In the past,
too much emphasis has been placed on only looking to the
northwest side of a body of water, for a period of time
conditions may be more conducive to catching in these
areas. Keep in mind every cove and every area down to
the smallest rock has a northwest side (due to southern
exposure). For example drive down the parkway and notice
the north side of the roads snow has melted while the
south side has not. This occurs all over, not just on
the northwest side of Long Island. As the water warms
I will try a Spinnerbait (Terminator, the only Spinner
Bait to use) slow rolled around cover to cover water more
efficiently or a full Sized Jig and Pig ¼ to ½
ounce.
The water is constantly changing with spring winds blowing
and warm water filling the water column my choice areas
become spawning bays. The Bass are prone for a short period
of time to want a fast moving lure ripped through the
growing vegetation. Nothing works better than a Bill Lewis
Rat-L-Trap, give me my 7’ Diawa crankin’ stick,
Royal Express reel some 20 pound Silver Thread and a Chartreuse
Shiner or Chrome Blue Trap in ¾ ounce and let me
loose on the stump flats of Greenwood Lake. Crank slow
enough to encounter the tops of the weeds and rip the
bait free when you tickle them. All of the above mentioned
techniques will work and soon enough you will be upon
the spawn the next article to follow.
In conclusion, do not be afraid of trying something new;
other techniques such as the Float and Fly, or a bait
everyone seems to forget, the plain in-line spinner sometimes
will work wonders. Earlier in the season steeper is better,
while later on, flat is where its at. All of these events
can happen at the same time over any given body or bodies
of water.
Use your knowledge to start your search, but be open
to what the world is telling you. Catch a few, lose
a few, in the end they all even out.
See you on the water.
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