First trip out

I’ve got the worst case of cabin fever I think i’ve ever had. My poles all have new line, tackle is organized and i’ve read every piece of bass fishing literature I can get my hands on. One of the few remianing questions in my head is when is it time to get on the water and start fishing. What is the earliest anyone has hit the water in the spring (pools 6-12) and actually caught fish. Just courious. Thank you for the input.

Crees3…

I feel your pain bud….My better half is upset because i have all my fishing tackle in my office at home and she just can’t stand it being in there…lol…

I usually wait until the majority of the ice is gone before heading out…Sometimes it takes a few days to locate the fish, but we usually get on them fairly quick. If the bays are open, we go there and run spinners over the tops of the weeds and hammer bass and northerns….

My dad (Loan-A-Ranger) and I hit the water late March each year… once you can find the fish, you will catch them with dead-sticking techniques (Smithwick, and other hard bodied baits work well – as well as Senkos, Flukes, etc.) and C-rigging SLOWLY. Here is a picture of a March largemouth from 2003…

Problem this year seems to be extended cold and THICK ice with SNOW on it… might be April this year…

G-man..that picture sure does look familiar . I think we see it everytime you post

I catch fish every time I go out I can honestly say that I can’t remember a day were I didn’t catch anything…. I will be out there as soon as the ice breaks and I can weave my boat through the iceburgs You are welcome to come along if your insurance is paid up.
jc

I’m fishing w/JC from now on!!!

Funny how your insurance rates go up when you keep breaking your own stuff, but it never goes up when your a passenger in someonelses boat and their stuff breaks. (i’ve just cursed myself I realize that.LOL) So what i’ve gathered so far is that ice out means most everyone hits the water. If that’s the case, do you target Green or Bronze colored bass first????

I personally start w/Greenies

I, for one, cannot wait to get on the water!

I was ill yesterday, so I stayed home; with the strength that remained, I was able to find my way to the basement and paint and tie a few jigs; then, after a while, My lovely flower yells down the stairs, “hey, I thought you were too ‘sick’ to go to work?” I answered, “hey, who are you? My mother?” She answered, “no, but when you act like a child, it seems to me that you need one.” Ah, isn’t love simply bliss!

I’ll rig my rods this weekend. I’ll probably clean out the tackle boxes as well -I’ll even try to “reduce” the amount of tackle that I’ll carry this year…

I got a few guys interested in my Bass Cat, so when that sells, I can order my PIV!

April is the Frigid Open & Not So Frigid Open on Puckaway so I may fish them; I may also just say “adios” to’em as well and spend that time and money on the Mississippi (this is my last year on the Miss as I’m moving to VA at the end of June); so I’d like to spend all my time on the Miss so I can give the BFL all my attention.

I’ve been praying for a heat wave… I just cannot take it.

I’m turning 3-I mean 40 this March 19th, boys and girls, so I think what I’ll do is head’er on down to Virginia, see the wife and fish Kerr Lake. That way I’ll spend that special day with my flower and get to fish -cuz I’ll be da birt-day-boy (which I can stretch out for about a week).

So, the first trip out will be on Kerr. 55k acres of fishable water…

Have a good one,

OnTheWater

Curious to know- you guys who go out with ice still in place- how do you locate the baitfish and or bass? I am assuming everything is pretty lethargic on the river, do you just go to wintering holes with the deeper water or do they come up shallow and out of the current. Ive been out scouting mainly early in the year, but never really fished seriously. If I thought there was a chance to catch something i would try fishing. Any tips would be appreciated.

To be quite honest it help to put a dozen or so schools away in the fall. Just go to the wintering areas and you will make contact. The first ice out warm couple days is simply awesome. 39 degree water in the main channel and around 45 in the back waters and for a few days the bass both green and brown go on a 3 day binge. If you hit it sight you will leave with more shakes than Ted Kennedy after a hard bender.
jc

Good question Bassbaron. I look forward to everyones response to that.

My cryptic notes from a few years back. Looks like it will be a late start this year because of the ice depth.

1999

Ice was going of the lower end Pepin on March 28, I caught 2 small fish in 20-25′ of water. Buy April 3rd Pepin was ice-free. Fished deep for an hour and only caught 2 small (10-11″) fish. Move in to the shallows and caught a reasonable number of fish including two in the high three’s the fish stayed shallow the remainder of the spring

March 3-5 2000 Had to break ice of the launch ramp at Camp LaCouplus on Friday and could only reach one fishing area. Only caught one and lost fish in three hours. Came back Saturday at noon and got 18 including a 19.5 incher. On Sunday we could reach other areas but the only had scattered fish. We ended up with 39 fish for the three days but considering we only had one school to work it wasn’t bad. We missed lots of hits and had trouble hooking em. I suspect they were hitting short.

The water temp was 37 degrees on my dial thermometer. The fish were concentrated in inside turns around the 25′ depth. Both Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 till 3:00 the fish got fairly active and hit with a vengeance. The tube worked best when they were off, the grub when they got active.

3/20/00

The deep bite is over. Fished deep for 1.5 hours and only caught one 9-10 incher. The fish we caught were in the 5-10′ range. It was kind of slow and nothing big.

I just got my hands on the Bass 2000 issue. I just skimmed it but came across your smallmouth article. You mentioned eye and air bladder problems with deep fish and said putting them in a livewell was wanton waste. What

happens that is so hard on the fish? I’ve never experienced any problems.

3/6/00

The fish looked fat and healthy. They fought pretty good and couple even broke the surface. It looks like winter was kind to them. The fish were in the same locations as last fall but the numbers changed. The spot with the big school was mediocre last fall, the good spot from fall just had a few fish. I think it’s safe to say if you know where you put them to bed for the winter they will be there in the spring. The river has come up a foot and-a-half and is clear. With normal rain I wouldn’t expect high water.

Should be good spawning conditions on the lake.

4/2

Water temp 49 degrees found fish in wood in slight current. I believe this fish was from the sprin of 2000.