I had a chance to get to the river this morning and do a little fishing. Unfortunately my trolling motor appears to have bit the big one over somewhere between this time last year and now while sitting idle in the garage… 
Luckily, someone was kind enough to loan me a transom mount trolling motor and I was able to get by for the day. It took a while before the first bite of the day, but things started to get better as the day wore on. Let me tell you, I figured something out late, and I sure wish I could be out there right now. With the sun shining, I can guarantee they are eating. A 15-20 pound bag wouldn’t be out of the question. The problem was that I was not out at the right time of day for how early in the season it is. Luckily I was able to get 5 fish in the boat before calling it quits, 2 of them were fat 2-1/2 lb largemouth. Unlike last year, where we saw fish feeding on bluegills as the primary forage, this year the shad are in the area thick, and they’re HUGE! When the ice goes out ( as it did this Monday) my two confidence baits are a dark or natural jig and a jerkbait. I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence in fast moving baits just yet, but my attitude on that matter changed when I saw fish actually BUSTING those 6″ shad. Unfortunately by the time I tied on a swim jig I only had about 15 minutes left to fish. I hooked up with one schooler right away but lost it early in the fight. That fish was so aggressive that she waked the bait all the way to the strike. I casted back to the shad school and put a 2-1/2 lb fish in the boat before heading out. If I could be there right now, I’d be throwing a swim jig, crankbait, and maybe a topwater or two..
Won’t be long now before some of the rest of the backwaters in the area are open and ready for prime spring highwater fishing! Get out before she hits flood stage! It should be a whack fest…. well for 3 or 4 days anyway…. 
Cade
it was cool driving by all of the