Cold Water Biters

I have just read much of the discussion on the water temp and bass activity. I did have a seemingly strange experience last year. Cause I get soooo itchy during the hard water as soon as it breaks I will try for bass just…well just cause.
We were in a backwater where half the water was still hard, the half that wasn’t had depths of 4-5′ with some submerged dead weeds. “This was last February of 02 when it got warm for a bit.” For the heck of it I was throwing some stick baits and man did we start to nail them, bass and pike. 2-3lbs. fat and active. I have no explanation for this. The temp had to be 34f max. This lasted for a day or two and them she froze up again. This begs the question is this a common occurrence or an anomaly? Any thoughts or similar experiences?

One word,
Trending. The warming trend got the fish up and around. The water I am guessing was warmer than you think. The water on the bottom of that bay was around 38 degrees and if I were a betting man I would say these fish had been soaking up the rays for the past few hours.
jc

I have encountered similar occurrences in early spring when the ice is first leaving the lake/river backwater. The fish are mostly females and seem to be very aggressive for the water temperature. It only seems to last about a week even during a continual warming trend then slows down or stops for short period. Then if the water temperature keeps going in the mid to upper 40s the males really start getting active. I think the big girls are taking advantage of the warming trend and get active knowing or smelling that there is a smorgasbord of food in the shallows that died over the winter and was conveniently preserved or are just emerging from estivation or hibernation and they go nuts until they are full. In the colder water temperatures it will take longer for them to digest the food so they are sluggish after they feed up for a spell. As the water keeps warming there is more food available to them in their pre-spawn staging areas in the deeper water, likely mostly crawfish and other inverts that are coming out of hibernation or schools of minnows or other forage that are grouping in their own pre-spawn staging.

From here on out I will hardly miss a day when I don’t chuck a husky jerk, small Rattlin Trap type, or a fluttertail at some historic early bass spots. Just like you guys said almost always when warming trend is in place, ie…Shallower sun-warmed areas (usually sand or darker mud), shallow rocks that seem to hold some of the suns heat, warm rain runoff, (I have actually caught fish in these runnoff areas when it appeared that it was the only “structure” holding them there), and places where the creeks mix with the colder river water. The forage is there , too. It is really a hit and miss situation though and not very consistent for me till the general water temp gets at least 45 and usually more like 50s where the warm spots were talking about are.

Does it matter if they are SM or LM? Because I have a whole camera full of film I need to get developed with nothing but LM that we caught on tip-ups in February. I myself thought it was not possible to catch bass through the ice. I am now a believer. Only problem is, everybody else found them too. I cannot understand how so many people can catch these nice fish day after day, and keep every damned legal fish. I did keep a few to eat, but threw many back. I caught a nivr 5.5# that I am putting on the wall.

Went out again on Sunday 3/23 and with the warm weather thought what the heck.
We hit some area that we felt may be a bit warmer and sure enough there some were. We caught them with stick baits, and again they were aggresive. What are the baits that those of you who catch them early use?

Up by the Airport every year the folks catch a ton of winter Bass through the ice and unfortunately keep them. I intentionally stay away and don’t have a clue what keeps the fish there , but they obviously feed to stay alive. My post above was regarding open water.

I agree Mountain Man. I was referring to the airport. It made me sick. I went there to catch fish. But i also practice CPR 99% of the time. I do however keep some to eat. I love fish. Most of the time the bass are spared because I cannot seem to catch many on open water, so I stick to panfish to eat.