Paul Roberts

I just listened to Zona's post-Classic description and he described it as a "typical winter (cold water) scenario". I guess conditions were warmer earlier and a lot of fish had moved up but it chilled out during the event and fish became inactive. That's as Zona told it -all the coverage I've seen.

I guess my point is that, while it may be spring in FL, it's not in IA.

Ouch. Sorry to hear. Drag had nothing to do with it. As RW said, you are an accomplished angler and you made a decision ... and lightning struck. If there's anything to learned there it may lie in the reasons we choose tackle. Finesse can a necessary evil, but not always, maybe rarely, is it a necessity. Use it when you really need it. Where I fish I don't have bass the size you are talking about. But I do have circumstances where tackle matters. One unique one is the presence of a macro-algae called Chara that carpets some of my deeper crystal clear water quarries, water you'd look at and immediately think "finesse". But Chara is like steel wool, and hooked bass will just bury in it. It's frustrating as you can see em through 10 feet of crystal water -just a tail sticking out of that bright green carpet below. I had to go up to 10lb just to keep 2lbers from burying, when I'd normally be fishing 6lb. Some bright sunny days in that clear water, 10lb simply turns away too many fish. But it's not worth hooking them if I can't get em in the boat. Those times I fish elsewhere, or pray for clouds or wind.

Your bass live in Florida and have never seen ice.

Sounds like they needed speed.

J Francho has a great pic of a big NY bass in which the hook point stuck in maxiallary, but not through it. He landed it, but was lucky. Fish hooked like that have a better than even chance of popping free.

Sorry to hear. It's hard to think aobut. You'll be saying "Awwwwwwww...." every time yo uthink about it for the forseeable future. Been there. A few thoughts: She'll most likely hit again. Some fish are more vulnerable than others though, Some in a population are known to never get caught. But, esp if this pond is not fished heavy, fish that get exceptionally big are often the aggressive individuals, and they are susceptible to angling. This from some research on susceptibility to angling and also mentioned by Doug Hannon in his writing. I've noticed from a number of fish I've caught more than once that they may show a preference/vulnerablity for a certain lure type. Big fish ar often most susceptible during the coldwater season -fall thru spring. During summer, I think bc of cover density, fish going deeper than most people fish, and activity levels, they can be harder to find. This may depend on the layout of your pond though. Good luck.

Just a gorgeous fish, in prime condition. Wow. That's nice to see.

I cannot write a short trip report. There’s just too much going on to keep track of. Hope you’ll find this interesting and relevant to some of your early season fishing. March 14, 2013 1pm – 6pm Mostly sunny following a cold front with snow. High 70F! Reporting on the weather on the day of fishing alone can be misleading. Tracking the fish means following trends. This day was a good example of that, a beautiful partly sunny spring day with a high of 70F. Great heating day! Yesterday was in the mid 60s too. Surface temp's ran 57F to 64F in the shallow ponds I perused today. It's "spring! Yes?? Well...not quite... These brilliant blue "spring" days were the first really warm spring-like days of the year, and followed back to back cold fronts that had dumped several inches of snow on my ponds over the past week and a half. From my home high above the plains where the ponds sit I could see that the snow had finally melted off completely just yesterday, my fishing day today being 2 days out from snow melt. Where would the fish be in their year? March is the month of awakening here. While warm spells in late January and February can start some birds singing prematurely as this behavior is under photoperiodic control, it is strongly influenced by immediate weather. Cold snaps put a cork in those premature singers. Seasonal fish behavior is similarly under endogenous (internal) control and exogenous (external) influence. These plains ponds may experience ice-out as early as January or February some years, but the fish remain in winter mode, the shallows being devoid of mature bass and bluegills until sometime in March when photoperiod and sun angle has increased, promising warming trends that draw fish toward heated shallows. It’s the bluegills, carp, and small bass that arrive first and they appear to be heat seeking. However, interestingly, (as you may have read about elsewhere) the NW corners do indeed draw the most fish –probably bc the slight difference in heat and sun accumulation compared to the rest of the N shorelines stimulates the lower end of the food chain in the NW quicker. However to make a NW corner, or any shoreline, a really good fishing spot good habitat (depth and cover mostly) has to be present too. Good habitat attracts larger ‘gills and the bass that follow them. A horde of 2” sunfish, happy with similarly miniaturized habitat, just doesn’t draw mature bass like a horde of 4 to 6”ers does. As I hiked in I checked out the ponds I passed for clues of just where in the season this day sat. Some years the bass make their appearance by mid March. Today my ponds looked like they were still at ice-out stage, the water a slightly turbid soup of dead algae and flotsam floating about. But ice had left early this year, being a warm droughtish winter. The ponds today were experiencing rapid warming following the back to back snowfalls of last week, again, the snow finally melting off completely just yesterday. Birds were singing and the herons in the rookery making a racket. Some bluegills and carp were collected on the N and esp NW shores but not that many, and the gills were all the small ones. I saw no mature bass or bluegills. "It’s still early", I mumbled to myself, "The bass are most likely still in winter quarters." On top of the current weather trend, our droughted winter has brought low water levels to the ponds, some down as much as 3 feet (over the course of the winter) leaving some habitat areas high and dry or too shallow to draw mature bass. Such shrinkage of habitat in general tends to cause bass to fall back from the shallows, often relating to steeper contours -just like many wintering locations. Today, in some places the only comfortable depths for mature bass are the deeper steeper winter quarters, which is where I found them today. But water level doesn’t explain the bass’ current location entirely as some ponds that experienced only a foot of water loss did not have bass cruising the shallow coves either. In fact, I did not see a mature bass, or a mature 'gill, in the shallows in the 6 ponds I perused today. That says a lot. After a short peek into the first three I came to, I headed straight for known bass’ winter quarters, focusing on two ponds. The first pond had had a strong year class of bass from 2007. Last I fished them in 2011 there were good numbers of ~13”ers there. Mature bass here gain about 1-1/2” per year so I expected those fish to be in the 15-16” bracket now. In the years I’ve fished this pond the bass tend to top out at somewhere around the 18inch mark. I measured 64F ST along the N bank! That is enough to make one think SPAWN! But, the bass are far from ready for that, the average spawn initiation date here still more than a month away. As mentioned at the beginning, there’s more to that story than a fixed temperature. The NW corner that attracts a lot of fish in this pond was too de-watered from the drought to hold fish. I went through the motions anyway, but failed to turn or see a bass. So I moved back down along the N shoreline to the wintering hold, a channel cut when this pond was a working gravel quarry. At its present level this channel would be no more than 5 feet deep, but it’s what there is in this shallow pond, so the bass use it. The key area, the deepest part, cannot be reached from shore and I discovered it several years ago during a worse drought than this one, when I was able to wade out to alongside it and found bass stacked in there like cordwood. Today, on a long cast I could just hit the very edge of the key area of the channel. With warm water and winter mode fish ... What do you throw? I felt a good safe place to start was something with good attraction but not too much forward speed. With such warm temps esp, trying some speed isn't a bad idea, but with the bright skies, calm surface and shallow water, I didn't want to spook the fish off the bat. As it was, casts did push wakes of nearby fish away from splashdown, indicating that they were spooky, despite the relatively low sun angle. The shallow depth and dead vegetation between me and the channel precluded the use of a jerkbait or lipless and the water was a bit turbid for a topwater #11 floating Rapala -an early season killer. I’d have chosen a small grub jig that had good strike inducing action (like a paddletail) had I not forgotten the box! I could picture it back at home sitting on the shelf where I’d left it. I debated over a soft jerk and a tube and went with a 3-1/2” bluegill hued tube on a 1/16oz weedless internal jighead rigged to scoot and corkscrew on the fall. I tossed around the immediate shallows, finding no one. "Well, they aren't on fire", I thought. Then, on a long cast to the very edge of the channel I found, by brail, a large dead milfoil clump. Bumping it, tugging the tube through, then letting it fall resulted in “Whump!”, the first bass takes of the season. I took three off that clump, a 14, 15 and 16”er before things quieted. I inspected the bass for clues on seasonality. They were a deep color, and yellowish, both indicators of winter bottom oriented pre-prespawn largemouths here and, more telling, they also had red teeth, now beginning to fade from the brilliant scarlet of real cold water winter bass. So it appeared I was indeed fishing to wintering bass, despite the 64F water so close by. I’d forgotten to bring my temperature-at-depth thermometer (always forget stuff on my first trips) but I doubt the depths of that wintering channel were much less than 54F. On the way to my next target pond, I stopped to fish another one and drew a blank there. This one had a ST of 57F. The shallow coves had attracted hordes of little yearling bluegills but no larger ones. I fished the tube, a swim jig, and a #11 Rapala as both a twitched topwater and shallow jerk at various speeds, turning no fish. The higher water clarity, the lack of tall weed clumps for "ambush points", the fact that the breeze had died, and the fact that I simply do not know the wintering quarters of the mature bass in this dishpan shaped pond had me deciding to find an easier bear to tackle. I felt challenged, knowing there are a lot of nice fish in this pond, but being my first trip of the year I wanted to be catching more than exploring. So I moved on to my next target pond, one in which I have a good bead on a good wintering spot, a steep sided bank that drops quickly into the pond basin, all of about 8 feet deep at present level. I'm guessing the depths were around 50F. This drop was rimmed with tall but dead milfoil clumps (all the better; you never really know just how weed bed structure will come through the winter) and good numbers of small bluegills held in the tops. I tried a hard jerk first but felt it wasn’t getting down with the angle I was able to fish it, being shorebound. So I switched to a small 1/4oz lipless and was in business taking three 14 -15”ers, these too yellowish in coloration and with red teeth. Walking out I looked again for shallow visible mature bass, seeing none, the shallows devoid of them, or the larger bluegills. But it’s not far away. Next week perhaps. We’re rolling into spring now and winter’s seeing its last. Even the late snowfalls won’t have the impact they could earlier. The sun is just too high now. The remaining ice on the S shores revealed just how close behind us winter really was today, despite the spring-like date and temperatures. This channel is the winter quarters of the bass in one shallow sprawling pond. Whump! First bass of the year. Ah, it feels good. Internal rigged weedless tube jig that produces a nice triggering fall. Tube bass. Note yellowish hue. Red teeth, just beginning to fade, indicating proximity to winter. ‘Nother tube bass. Notice red at base of anal fin, related to the red teeth phenomenon. Lipless crank bass. Just behind is the steep winter bank on this pond. The crank was a 1/4oz Sebile FlattShad. They're pricey, but they have a tight wiggle and stable horizontal fall that bass like in cold water. Another. Pretty things they are.

I've not C-rigged in such cold water. Worth a go I suppose. As to speed I would think a hard jerk, blade bait, or lipless would cover water better. Plus, I don't think a C-rig would work well on the more vertical drops a lot of fish like to winter off. But I'm sure there are places where it could be a good option. I've just not done it.

That's what needs to be said on the subject.

Great post. Very important one too bc this kind of thing can surprise you, and workingout of it is long and painful, both physically and emotionally. I suffered the "bass elbow" a few years back and it took a year to recoup. Since not fishing wasn't an option I switched to left handed fishing. It was quite a challenge, frustrating at first. And strange in that my right hand / brain was so well trained. But I persevered and became nearly ambidextrous.

Not retro, that's just my stuff. Get good stuff, take care, and it'll last. You almost got 'em all: Card 4, XLT, BG15, Shimano Bantam, and the new reel there is a USReels "Ray Scott" 230.

You think you guys are cramped for space? ... Here's my ride: Gotta be thinking ahead. I'm afraid I'll bust the zippers in those pockets someday.

You know, Ed, whenever I read "depending on conditions" in an article, I yell outloud "WHAT CONDITIONS?!" The devil is in the details in fishing and there are plenty of em.

I'll share some of what I know about this time period in the waters I fish -ponds and small reservoirs in the north in which primary forage is bluegills, some yellow perch, and some gizzard shad. Forty degree water likely has fish in winter quarters or at least remaining deep (although I have seen small fish coming shallow on sun-warmed north banks in mid-winter -but don't expect it.) Winter quarters often mean steep drops, so probing the steeper drops (in a boat) or the steeper banks (if from shore) is worth checking, especially those near a good shallow cove with good habitat. But, I have a spot on a smal res I fish that has the most consistent winter quarters fishing on a steep bank that is well away from the shallow coves that attract the largest numbers of fish as the water warms up. But fish will winter in the best available places. In some very small ponds I've fished the mature bass winter in the only deep hole. In another, larger pond that happens to be very shallow, they winter in one main channel that is only about 5 feet deep some years. I catch them in bunches with 1/32oz and 1/16oz jig heads (with various trailers), rest em, then catch a few more. As shallows warm, shallow coves and bays will suck fish in, esp those on NW banks and corners bc low angle early spring sun hits there first and longest and the food chain is kicked off there first. In my waters bluegills pile in to these places. Bass follow. These movements of bass are feeding not spawning movements. Water temp trends are critical with rising temps bringing more aggressive and often concentrated biters, and dropping temps turning them off. Stable temps are somewhere in between. On fast rising temps fish can come very shallow, right to the shoreline, pinning bluegills at the shoreline. Less warming and the fish hang back a bit and are less heavily concentrated but still present, just holding off a bit deeper. Dropping temps cause the fish to shrink back deeper, and slower close-to-the bottom presentations are needed, although close to the bottom is where the majority of action occurs early anyway. When fish shrink back it may be to a deeper pocket in the cove or a channel if available. Bass can stack heavy in these spots and fishing just a few feet off and you might miss em. Find em and you may catch one after another. In general, the more aggressive they are, the further they’ll move to strike a lure, and more apt they are to be coaxed off bottom –but not far. I mean like maybe only an extra foot or two. Don’t get lazy and expect the fish to come to you –good general advice year round. Even while this warming action is happening in NW coves, it pays to keep checking the steeper “winter quarters” too, as not all the bass in the pond are doing the same thing. Warming helps here too but movement is more vertical, the fish relating to more vertical “bottom” than flat bottom. So warming trends can move them a bit shallower up the break, and make them more willing biters. On cooling periods I tend to do poorly here and just don’t know exactly what the fish are doing –how they are relating to the steep banks. As to confidence, part of angling is taking your lumps. Don’t worry about getting skunked. Work hard and don’t expect miracles. They’ll come, but you will earn them. Early spring coldwater lures: The important thing in cold water is that bass are less willing and able to chase in cold water. There are exceptions, such as when large amounts of easy prey are available and the extra effort is worth it –shad die-offs in late winter are an event that can goad bass into chasing in frigid water. Bass can move quickly in cold water (although apparently not prolonged as they tire quicker) but the vast majority of times and places they will not move fast or far to chase a lure. They also tend to be much more sluggish fighters in cold water. The point is, you must still attract strikes with lure movement but the bass must know they can catch that bait. In cold water this is the biggest issue (outside of bass activity level). The way to do this is to control, minimize, horizontal movement. You can use aggressive motion (pumping, jerking, slashing, twitching, fluttering, etc….) but it can’t move horizontal at a pace that the fish are unwilling to commit to chasing. So with that in mind lots of lures can work, but here are some that lend themselves well to cold water bass: -Hard jerk baits. The pauses are the important part, letting the bass know whether they can catch it or not. The less aggressive the fish the longer the pauses and shorter the horizontal movement must be. -Jigs are a staple, especially when fish are less aggressive, bottom hugging (I often catch them with mud and clay stuck to their bellies during cold snaps), or in/around cover. By jigs I mean almost any jig: skirted, hair, paddle-tail grubs, and creature baits. -Spinnerbaits can be excellent. What I like is the fact that they can be fished so slowly in horizontal speed. One of the most effective lures I “invented” was one I made to solve the problem of catching coldwater bass stacked in a channel in a small cove. I tied a good fan-like “skirt” of bucktail to a 1/16oz Brewer Slider jig head. I added a twister trailer and then a clip-on overhead spinner with a Colorado blade. Together this little SB, fished on a light action spinning outfit, could be slow rolled at incredibly slow speed. And that’s what it took to be back in business catching those bass, one after another, during cold snaps. I doubt many people have ever fished anything THAT slow! -Soft jerks can be good as they can be worked very slowly. Sometimes just hanging one in the water column is enough. Other times some short kicks are needed. I haven’t tried it yet, but one fished wacky might work well. -Lipless cranks have amazing fish attracting power. The trick in cold water is controlling forward (horizontal) speed. It’s always worth moderately burning one bc you never know who’ll be triggered with a lipless. But vertical pumps and falls seem to work most consistently in cold water. Don’t be shy, let the bait fall close to bottom, then vibrate up, then let it fall. Aggressive fish may chase up some, but most will hit on the fall –or simply, close to bottom. -Bladebaits are basically a heavy deepwater lipless, fished nearly vertically. Not very applicable from shore bc they stay so deep and fish best nearly vertically, but pumping one over deep holes and along steep drops is worth a go. -Crankbaits can work well, but ones that are not too buoyant tend to work best bc they can be kept deep, near the fish. I like shad shaped ones (“potato chips” I call them) as they have a tight wriggle that coldwater fish like. You can weight a crank with a pinch on sinker (on the shank of the front hook), or use stick-on lead strips to slow the rise rate of a crank, keeping it down and slow where it’s needed. -Oh yes, one more... In-line spinners. I love throwing Mepps #3 Aglia's as they can be retireved SO slowly and have great fish attracting power. I also fish them on the fall, just killing em and letting em drop ALMOST to bottom. I say almost bc they tend to collect weeds, algae, sticks, trees, you name it. But if you are deft, they collect bass too. My staples tend to be the hard jerk and jig, often a creature bait. These tend to cover the range of cold water activity levels pretty well.

Yes, the "shuffle" can be pretty destructive, if many people are doing it. Certainly wouldn't want something like that to become too popular in popular waters.

I guess I'm glad I don't fish tourneys, then I don't have to "panic". Lotsa good choices above though - i particularly like the jig, worm, and buzzbait options. I do remember one day, long ago, being particularly frustrated at the slow fishing, and at the very end finally pulling out a single-spin and (angrily) ripping it off bottom then letting it fall. I did that maybe 6 times and on the seventh I yanked up into heavy weight -nearly 5lbs of it. When things seem "sleepy" out there, I'll try ripping a SB, heavy jig, blade, or crashing stuff with a crankbait. I also have seen fish come alive following disturbances. I once caught onto the fact that stale steelhead would bite after drift boats passed overhead. Stale steelies suddenly becoming catchable after you moved them. Boot em out of their pocket and then come back and fish through after a 10min rest. Trout coming alive after someone waded through, or just upstream. I started to employ this myself at times. It really works. Smallies that come alive behind a dragged anchor. Largemouths going on the offensive after a boat roars through a channel rolling up weeds and sediment. I guess the fish need a little "panic" sometimes.

I fish small waters mostly now, and fish kills are a part of that. Here we have winter kills. They can be partial to nearly complete. It pays to know when they ocurred and how bad they were. The good news is fish grow pretty fast -you can have fun catchable bass in big numbers in 3 years. Oxygen depletion (most winter and summer kills) tend to weed out the larger fish however. And it takes time to grow big fish, at least in the north where I fish. Keep track of the date of the kill. Also, partial kills may mean a percentage of fish were killed over the entire water, or that certain areas were spared. The latter is more apt to have left some big fish. I call this "Boom-n-Bust" fishing. A strong kill often clears the way for rapid growth. I follow my waters closely so I know when a given water is likely to be booming or has gone bust.

Ditto. Outside of that generalization, what separates water body types is the physical and chemical parameters that influence structure, cover, and food chains. At times, reservoirs can be more lake like or river like, depending on water draw. At times, lakes and reservoirs have pond-like or river-like characterisitcs within. And at times I see pond-like characteristics in rivers. It's about recognizing habitat, whatever you call the water body.

Absolutely. You are not alone. Bass fishing just happens to be complex. Making it simple, isn't. Unless you are willing to not cover all the bases well . Organization and maintenance are real and constant chores. Let up and I've got a mess or, almost as bad, don't have something when I need it. My soft plastics are "warehoused" in large plastic boxes sorted by type: creatures, jerks, worms, grubs, tubes, etc... . Worms are sub-sorted by size, general hue, and type (swimming, stright, finesse, ...). I then use smaller "working" boxes I stock from the "warehouse" for the season and water I'm currently fishing. I bring several on any given trip -a finesse box (shaky, mojo, DS, ...), a creature/craw box, a standard worm box, a jerk box, .... Pale colors are kept within these boxes in baggies so they don't get bled into. I actually handle all my lures this way: "Warehoused" and then pulled for the water and period, like borrowing from a library. I keep "working" box contents together for as long as those particular fishing patterns hold. The contents change and evolve over diff waters and through the season. There is a simpler way... Commit to a few lures, like topwater say, and see what you can make happen. Just don't be upset when your buddy gets onto a DS pattern and slays em. That's where the trouble really begins. Versatility is powerful. But that means a whole lot more stuff. I think it's worth it, as long as you drop some other hobbies along with each new tool you pick up. Just don't drop your job and family. Then you know you are in too deep.

Perfect. Seems those 60F days are what kick things into gear.

Tom, you probably already know this, but, "the bite" starts well before the spawn. The first movments shallow are associated with heavy feeding. Temperature and esp temp changes are an issue at these times though, in terms of fish activity -movements, and willingness to chase and bite. Hey thanks for welcome back, Goose. Yeah I've been MIA -here anyway. My interests run a bit wide. I've been off chasing trout, deer, elk, grouse, and snowhsoe hares. But, I think I'll be after the bass again this year. Sure love it. Oh, and Dave ... One (sometimes two) temp profiles per day (in a pond or specific area of a lake) is sufficient. I fish for fish more than numbers . Surface temps I track all day long, and in multiple areas, as they tell me quite a bit about general heating in the shallows where most bass activity occurs. Each of my journal entries has a small table with time and ST, at least at the start and end of my fishing session. They look like: SE cove: 61F @ 10am 68F@ 3pm 67F@ 6pm Profiles may only have 2 to 4 measurements, depending on depth: SE Cove; Main Channel: 71F ST @ 9am 67F@ 8ft 61F@ 12ft 54F @ 16ft (bottom)

Hi Dave, Yes, that’s temperature at depth. A surface temperature (ST) gauge only scratches the surface. Its relation to deeper temps is not linear –you can’t just subtract a known amount from ST bc surface water heats, and cools, progressively faster than deeper water. And the relationship is not predictable either, because currents and wind come into play. Water temperatures do vary through the day –some days more than others. Angle and availability of direct sunlight, overnight temperatures, and precipitation affect things most. Warm water floats. Cold water sinks. Wind can blow warm water across a cove or pond and stack it on one shore. It can also roll up deeper cold water and change things fast. When I’m in my boat I keep general track of heating and cooling via the ST gauge on my sonar. I also use a thermometer that I clip onto a sounding rig on a depth coded line, or just clipped to a fishing rod where I have known depth. There are fancier instruments out there but I’ve not owned one. I use this rig to take vertical temperature profiles. These can help me eliminate water directly or simply to get a measured bead on how much heat the water body, or subset of it, is holding. This tells me where in the season I’m at, as this can vary water to water, area to area, on any given date. Just measuring 62F on a good spawning bank doesn’t mean the spawn is on. A temperature profile might tell me that indeed it is early as the depths in that area have not heated enough yet. I also track temperature changes through the day, esp in different conditions so that I can put measured numbers against conditions and behaviors. One does not NEED such measurements as evidenced by the fact that most anglers don't do it, relying on "reading the signs", and "letting the fish tell you". I still do both these things, but take temps too, as well as keep records. My observations and memories are sloppy enough; I don’t want to be guessing at everything. Measurements help me understand things better. And, if I haven’t been fishing for a while and just drop in cold to a lake, or am at a new lake, knowing waters temps helps give me a starting point much quicker than just guessing.

Bass tend to winter deep but begin to move shallow early -not long after ice out in many waters. Some studies have shown such movement AT ice out. These initial movements are following the food chain. What they appear to be waiting for in terms of the spawn is temperature stabilization at depth, that is a mass of water that cannot easily be re-cooled. Once water heats it can hold heat well, thus becomes more stable temperature-wise. For bass beginning pre-spawn this means a good 10fow hitting and maintaining ~55F. Fluctuating temps prior can keep them at bay. This 55F number happens to jive with the lethal temperature for bass eggs. No surprise there I guess. The spawn is normally initiated around 60F.