A-Jay

It's been hard for me to come up with any hard and fast rules. I think you know that though. I have come to believe some real 'general deals'. Super early open water does not prolong the pre-spawn bite for me. And pre-spawn is just a what is commonly called the time period before the bass spawn. The fish I am targeting early season are looking to capitalize on the perch spawn and while they will be spawning later, they are looking to eat NOW. No love making on their minds. 42-44 degree surface temps in the areas I'm fishing seems to be a good thing. Air temps mean virtually nothing. Fish bite on both clear & sunny days as well as cloudy/overcast days. Some years when the water temps right and I'm hammer fatties, I'm wearing no coat and other years I'm in the same gear I use to blow snow. So as long as the winds & waves allow me to transit to & from the areas safely, AND I can present baits effectively in those areas, I'll fish them. The bass ARE COMING to these spots eventually, I just need to be there when they do. Unlike the fall bite, early season still demands being at the spot before sunrise. First light can still be surprisingly good, and I almost always have very little company. Especially when the docks have not yet been put in and I'm using waders to launch/recover the rig. Mid day straight to sunset depending on the conditions keeps me casting. Surface Water temps above 55 for me signal the sad end of a great bite. Mostly because the perch have long finished spawning and move back out to deeper water and the bass have no other reason to be in there. Good Luck. A-Jay

Well we made it to March. Before this hard water season and since the past winters have been mostly mild, I was really anticipating at least an average winter. Hoping the lake water levels would at not reduce any more and perhaps even rise up some. Nailed it - with a record single season snowfall for this area. Been a seasonably cold one too which keeps a hat on Lake Menderchuck reducing the evaporation that happens when it's not. Still have 39 days and a wake up, which is looking more and more unrealistic by the day. Either way, totally looking forward to that first early season flat water run across the lake. A-Jay

Back to Giant Set Workout Day 1. Starting to find a groove but still feel like I'm sucking wind. I think that's a good thing. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

I think it's great that as long as it's legal, we get to do it the way we like to. A-Jay

Remarkable bag of Bass ~ @22RangerZ520R Congrats. However, what's far more impressive to me at least, is the 10 YEARS of Blood Sweat & Tears it took to put yourself in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. Day after day, month after month, year after year all for days like this. It rarely happens by accident. Figure Two years of fishing your Arse off in all types of conditions, for each one of the beauties. I know how hard you work at it too. The planning & preparation, the time, the travel, the sacrifice & the drive to stick with it not willing to settle for less. THAT'S what it takes. Congrats again. btw, nice job on the pics, especially if you were fishing solo. Ice out/open water may be later this year here. A-Jay

Thank you for the encouraging words, thoughts and prayers. You know how we feel. We're far from being out of the woods but at least we're not being hospitalized. Lynn's blood pressure keeps dropping off the charts. Something she's been dealing with for a while. Among several other challenges this is part of something called Autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Often super challenging to diagnose because it can cause many different types of symptoms that also occur with other conditions. As a result, there is usually a multidisciplinary team of providers involved to fully evaluate these symptoms and help exclude any non-neurological problems. Either way, she's hanging in there best she can, resting at home here. And I'm just going to keep ordering tackle I don't need. Stay healthy & Safe. A-Jay

The wolf is at the door again. Going to be a long night. Life is fragile. A-Jay

A-Jay

Almost as good as Baccarac ~ Almost. A-Jay

BP just landed another 9 ! He's having a day. A-Jay

Jerkbaits of assorted sizes, running depths and types of sound emitted. (or not) Bladed jigs (see above). Rattle Baits, again see above. Flat sided Square bill. Black hair jig. Paddletail swimbait on a ball head. As for colors, patterns, size & profile, there's generally two themes if you will. 1. Baits will usually come close to matching local forage especially in clear water. Dirty water rarely produces super early season for me. I do send in the clowns at times. 2. Default in all scenarios is "perch". A-Jay

Said this at least one or two times a year here since it came out. I use Megastrike on Everything All The Time. Does it Help ? I can not say for sure. But what I do believe right down in my soul, is that it certainly doesn't hurt. YMMV (Obligatory Big Bass pic below) A-Jay

Hello and Welcome to Bass Resource ~ A-Jay

As the days weeks and months of the hard water season passed me by, I will admit to cherishing my time down here in the hobby shop going through the gear. I got plenty of time to square it all away. Almost always pays off too Since there's no windows down here in the basement hobby shop, I am always completely oblivious as to the outside weather. Will there be a blizzard 30 below?Any of the other? Really fun times that make winter up in northern Michigan a good place to be. Take tonight, for instance, I'm down here, going through some new tackle that I just arrived from tackle warehouse and put in it in its 's assigned position. And it's good to get another one of the tackle warehouse packages that I swore at the beginning of the hard water season. That I said, I wasn't gonna purchase or I didn't need somehow. All that goes right out the window. After about the first 6 to 8 feet of snow, I hope we get open water soon. My little bit of disposable income is pretty much been disposed. Good talking to ya. A-Jay

What are your 3-5 go to lures for water temps under 50* ? Fishing for brown bass here 50 is not a temp that I've identified as all that significant. With a surface water temps of 50, with clean water, whether it's warming or cooling seems far more critical. Helps me choose where & when to with. 42 degrees is a more of a line in the sand for me. Either way, I'm rarely fishing any type of mid depth. It's either shallow or deeper. Baits for the shallower deals include but may not be limited to; Jerkbaits, Bladed jig, hair jig. Deeper stuff might still see a jerkbait getting wet, just a deeper unit, Swinghead and a Blade Bait. A-Jay

While you 'could' run over fish, there's really no need to with side scan. In almost every case side scan operates best with the transducer mounted on the stern. SIDESCAN - ACTIVE IMAGING Perfect for searching large areas for fish-holding structure, SideScan provides views up to 600 feet to each side of the boat, allowing you to cover more water in a shorter period of time, and view areas too shallow for your boat – like next to the shore or bank. https://www.lowrance.com/sonar-basics/?_gl=1*2l2uba*_up*MQ..*_gs*NQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp4Sv-fnkiwMVvkf_AR3hdgB2EAAYASAAEgJ9UvD_BwE A-Jay

I thought whoever came closest without going over got whatever was in the box behind Carol Merril ? A-Jay

Stumpy says "Put me in Coach, I'm Ready to Play !." A-Jay

Giant Set Workout Day 4. Still acclimating a bit to this style of training while at the same time cutting my caloric intake slightly. Both seem to be going as planned. #borninfiftynine A-Jay

While we've been enjoying air temps close to or slightly above freezing, there's still plenty of snow up here. And then there's Lynn Striking a Pose on Mount Menderchuck ~ A-Jay

Yes, the Shrimp pattern seems to be right up there with the Fine Art & the Respect series ~ Meaning frustratingly scares. A couple of months back I went Full on Ninja and under the cover of darkness managed to snag a few from Yuki Ito's night stand. Bet he'll never miss them A-Jay

My gear has been in B Zero status for a while. And it will still be a while before we have open water. A-Jay

Thank and your response is both insiteful and spot on. While I hate to admit it FFS is a bit of a trigger point for me. Must be an OG thing, AND my two day shipping TW order is on day 3 ! I hate that. Not really but the timing was pretty good. Btw, I used to DS a rage Craw on a 4/0 EWG in light coverwith pretty good results for Smallies. Fish Hard A-Jay

Can't really put a numer on it. Let's say that it's just barely enough time to justify having it. 😎 A-Jay

You're right. Sometimes I do that. Can't say for sure why. Perhaps my reading compression skills aren't what they used to be. Either way, it will probably happen again A-Jay