Question for bass fishermen…

[roosiebull]

I’m working close to a good trophy bass lake for the next month, have been saving that work for the weather to get a little better, and I’m leaving this job after this month.

I’m doing some extremely boring work and have to try to not go too far over production, most people would like my scenario, but I despise it… with that said, I have time to kill every day and am way ahead as it is, so I plan to do a little bass fishing this month (at least until turkey opens)

I don’t know when bass traditionally spawn, but assume it’s coming up. The main problem right now is very cold water, I’m guessing below 40 degrees. What should I have with me for really cold water bass fishing? I’m not a bass fisherman, have done very little of it, and certainly haven’t done any cold water bass fishing.

Common sense says slow finesse presentations, as well as making multiple casts into the same spot knowing they won’t be chasing baits… also, most cold water freshwater fishing, dropping down in presentation size is always a good idea, I just don’t know what types of baits are best for cold water, or if they will be on shallow cover or more open water.

Sounds like there is also a pretty good crappie population in the lake, so may fish them a little too.

What I have now is a few light jigs (1/4oz) some 1/16 and 3/16 oz jig heads and 3” curl tail grubs for them

A couple small flat bill crank baits, and a couple small single Colorado blade spinner baits to fish slow… what else should I have, and what type of habitat would likely hold fish?

I would think this time of year they would be somewhat shallow because they will get more heat from the sun, but shallow may be colder overnight too… of course I will try everything, just curious on what is traditionally intuitive for cold water bass?

This lake is managed for trophy bass and has produced at least 2 state records, so it has my interest, and it’s something different. Very few bass around where I grew up, and it’s hard to get excited about bass when I have the ocean, and year round salmon and steelhead fishing on the rivers.

I know it’s not ideal time to fish them, but am going to try

 

[CRJR45]

Cold water deep = Silver Buddy
Cold water shallow = small Square Bill with a wide wobble
Maybe a Chatterbait fished slow , have to find the fish first , then find what they want .
Good luck .

 

[roadrunner]

"Cold" water definitions vary based on area. In the deep south, cold water is 50 - 55 deg while up north or the Rocky Mountains it sits at 42 - 45 deg. Depends on the species of (black) bass. Are they largemouth or smallies? Each spawn at different temps, smallies in the 60 deg range.

"Deep" varies as well. Are they suspended at 30' in 75' of water, or is the deepest part of the lake 20'? 20' isn't all that deep where I'm from.

I'm not a bass fisherman either since I don't run with the local "pro" crowd...

 

[N2TRKYS]

Jigs or worms/lizards in brush tops or other types of structure have worked for me. Most folks around here use minnows for crappie. I use 1/16oz beetle(black with 2 yellow stripes) for all my crappie fishing.

This time of year, locally, is prime time for bass and crappie. I mostly use 6” june bug lizards and floating worms or frogs.

 

[LoggerDan]

Use a big flashy tandem leaf in chartreuse to locate.. during the span, I like flat areas where they bed. I use a locator spinnerbait, get some reactions, then I focus on big gaudy jig and pig baits in black and blue or motor oil. I use a trailer for late bites. Early mornings in calm water that’s medium to shallow, a big top water bait works

 

[stanginthe11s]

40 is cold for bass. they likely will not move and if they do its slow and not far. you would have to know where the thermocline is for the lake at the current conditions. has it been warm outside? bass will come in the shallows to warm themselves and feed so try late day as the morning will have the shallows cold. no need to drop bait size with bass, they like to maximize their intake vs energy used so they will gladly take a medium shiner as apposed to a small minnow. as for what to use, well that depends on the lake. if you only had 2 lures id probably bring a suspending crankbait with small bill and twitch/work it real slow or a stick worm and finesse it. keep in mind you may not really feel a bass hit when its cold, sometimes they don't even fight.
the above applies to largemouth bass, smallies are a different story. if the lake is well known, you can usually get all the info for it online. max depth is important as well as structure/weed beds.

 

[ProStaffSteve]

I’m working close to a good trophy bass lake for the next month, have been saving that work for the weather to get a little better, and I’m leaving this job after this month.

I’m doing some extremely boring work and have to try to not go too far over production, most people would like my scenario, but I despise it… with that said, I have time to kill every day and am way ahead as it is, so I plan to do a little bass fishing this month (at least until turkey opens)

I don’t know when bass traditionally spawn, but assume it’s coming up. The main problem right now is very cold water, I’m guessing below 40 degrees. What should I have with me for really cold water bass fishing? I’m not a bass fisherman, have done very little of it, and certainly haven’t done any cold water bass fishing.

Common sense says slow finesse presentations, as well as making multiple casts into the same spot knowing they won’t be chasing baits… also, most cold water freshwater fishing, dropping down in presentation size is always a good idea, I just don’t know what types of baits are best for cold water, or if they will be on shallow cover or more open water.

Sounds like there is also a pretty good crappie population in the lake, so may fish them a little too.

What I have now is a few light jigs (1/4oz) some 1/16 and 3/16 oz jig heads and 3” curl tail grubs for them

A couple small flat bill crank baits, and a couple small single Colorado blade spinner baits to fish slow… what else should I have, and what type of habitat would likely hold fish?

I would think this time of year they would be somewhat shallow because they will get more heat from the sun, but shallow may be colder overnight too… of course I will try everything, just curious on what is traditionally intuitive for cold water bass?

This lake is managed for trophy bass and has produced at least 2 state records, so it has my interest, and it’s something different. Very few bass around where I grew up, and it’s hard to get excited about bass when I have the ocean, and year round salmon and steelhead fishing on the rivers.

I know it’s not ideal time to fish them, but am going to try

What state? Deep spoons/small cast masters. If things are starting to run good & it feels like spring, go crappie fishing to find the bass. A crappie tube under a bobber should give away the bass locations & you can 2:4:1. The cast master being a more winter pattern & tube being more spring. If spring is in full effect, Minnesota May, then listen to chatter bait guy. He knows what’s up. Oh, minnows if you get desperate

 

[dmoto]

Dropshot. Spinning rod, 20# braid with a 6# fluorocarbon leader (5 ft). #1 Rebarb hook with a 4.5" curly tail Roboworm in morning dawn or MMM3.

Largemouth start to move up when water temps hit in the high 50s, smallmouth a bit lower temps. The big girls will hang off ledges while the males start building beds.

 

[Rich M]

You didn't say if you were boat or bank fishing - and I'm not sure about the state. They catch bass thru the ice, so you're okay there. You also didn't say you wouldn't use live bait.

Where I came from, bass would spawn in areas that warmed up faster and had sunlight more of the time. We were usually trout fishing that time of year and usually bass fished in summer with large wild shiners, for every 20-inch plus bass we caught on lures, we caught 10 on shiners.

If I was shore fishing, I'd focus on warm sides of the lake. Rubber worms, spinner baits, rapalas. I was out of bass fishing before this finesse fishing became popular, so never did it. Fish mainly saltwater these days.

If you can get to an elevated area, larger bass used to just hang in the water at times - my biggest bass was doing that - hoovering about 4 ft down in say 8 ft of water. My dad got a 24-inch smallmouth on a deep diving shad rap where he was trying to trench a hole in the bottom with it - she was jinormous and started dripping eggs when he went to pick her up for a photo. Back in very quickly.

As for crappies - just some light maribou jigs, figure out the bottom depth and suspend em with a cork. I used to switch over to flyrod and maribou streamers for crappie spawn in a couple of areas. Summertime crappie fishing was trolling white twister tails on 1/8 and 1/4 jigs.

 

[roosiebull]

You didn't say if you were boat or bank fishing - and I'm not sure about the state. They catch bass thru the ice, so you're okay there. You also didn't say you wouldn't use live bait.

Where I came from, bass would spawn in areas that warmed up faster and had sunlight more of the time. We were usually trout fishing that time of year and usually bass fished in summer with large wild shiners, for every 20-inch plus bass we caught on lures, we caught 10 on shiners.

If I was shore fishing, I'd focus on warm sides of the lake. Rubber worms, spinner baits, rapalas. I was out of bass fishing before this finesse fishing became popular, so never did it. Fish mainly saltwater these days.

If you can get to an elevated area, larger bass used to just hang in the water at times - my biggest bass was doing that - hoovering about 4 ft down in say 8 ft of water. My dad got a 24-inch smallmouth on a deep diving shad rap where he was trying to trench a hole in the bottom with it - she was jinormous and started dripping eggs when he went to pick her up for a photo. Back in very quickly.

As for crappies - just some light maribou jigs, figure out the bottom depth and suspend em with a cork. I used to switch over to flyrod and maribou streamers for crappie spawn in a couple of areas. Summertime crappie fishing was trolling white twister tails on 1/8 and 1/4 jigs.

I’ll be bank fishing but this lake has excellent access, they have several long docks and man made jetties so you can literally fish half way out in the lake from some of these structures, and it’s good access all around the lake… seemingly no pressure currently, I went by last week in the afternoon, nice weather, spring break, and one person fishing on the paved side of the lake, so I’ll have a lot of options.

I do want to focus on bass, but it sounds like a good crappie fishery with black and white crappie. Don’t plan on fishing any bait, trying to keep things simple in the work truck, but I do plan to grab some night crawlers to have on hand, and there are bullhead cats in there and I have never seen a live catfish, so I do want to catch a couple just because

 

[kloppy]

The easy button is a wacky rig, they will hit it while its falling.

 

[JGTWI]

The easy button is a wacky rig, they will hit it while its falling.

I was going to chip in and say to throw either a yum-dinger or senko. Just let it sink and keep the slack out of the line. Jerk up, and repeat. Once you get the hang of it, it’s lethal…

 

[roadrunner]

Learn what the Ned Rig is...

 

[def90]

I used to slay bass on Mister Twisters back in the day, don't think they make them anymore though.. lol

 

[camelcluch]

There is so much info needed to give you help. Location and a huge to get an idea of what the fish are doing. Is it a private pond or public pond/lake? If they are up on the nest, a white jig in their face. If they are deep and cold, big and slow.
With out some more info we will just give you our favorite baits and techniques.

 

[roadrunner]

I used to slay bass on Mister Twisters back in the day, don't think they make them anymore though.. lol

They're still around.

 

[Rich M]

I did a little catfishing when younger too - we'd go camping and would catfish at night. Also stayed at a lake w my folks one duck hunting trip. My mom would fish off the dock and leave her pole overnight, had bullheads on the hook in the morning.

Sounds like you're gonna have some fun. If you just want to catch a couple diff species - talk to folks and ask em how they do it around there. Most fishermen like to talk fishing.

 

[Swamppirate]

Shaky head worm, slow rolling spinnerbaits, anything with a slow presentation.

 

[roosiebull]

Learn what the Ned Rig is...

I have some Ned rig gear… kinda funny, I have fished my whole life, both for recreation and almost my whole career, but the bass lingo I knew little of, haha… it’s certainly its own entity

 

[roosiebull]

I used to slay bass on Mister Twisters back in the day, don't think they make them anymore though.. lol

They certainly do, still a fairly common brand… they have passed the test of time for sure