Spotswood

The craws are a mix of green and orange, rapalas clackin crank in the green crawdad color is a pretty darn close match to the color of them.

I've been looking for Rage baby craws for a while, and having a heck of a time finding them up here, our local tackle selection is not great. Now when you say rage baby craw, naked, what do you mean? Hook point exposed or what?

I've used tubes a bit there, with limited success, I'm not very confident with them yet so I'll have to give them more of a try, I've been having trouble finding a good color resembling the craws in the area. As for the drop shot, do you know of any particular plastics that would work good in this situation?

Some more information on the lake, water temps are high 60s right now, Canadian shield lake, so pretty clear water, rocky bottom, deepest point is just over 21ft, most of the lake is more in the 16ft range. Fish species are black crappie, yellow perch, walleye, northern pike, and smallmouth.

My buddy and I went out fishing in Manitoba's Whiteshell Provincial Park, a nice small lake that shall remain unnamed. We did well, very well in the morning, topwater jump baits early, then square billed cranks. Afternoon we had a rough go though, we have a really hard time finding any fish in the afternoon, any ideas? Fish were definitely feeding heavily on crayfish, lots coming up with crays in their mouths. Most fish caught were in the 15" range. Best of the day was 17.25". Best of the day Real chunky one, fat on crays.

I was fishing in eastern Manitoba, Canada. It hasn't been much warmer here than usual, in fact the past few weeks have been coolish, less than 50 at night and around 80 during the day.

I fishing for smallies this weekend, and noticing all the ones we were catching are much, much more slimy than normal, what is the cause of this?

This weekend a buddy of mine and I are going after the smallies, we are going to a relatively small lake in shield country (very rocky) that is known for producing lots of nice smallies. It's going to be around 90 degrees with little wind. Where should we be looking for them? And what do you guys recommend to use for lures?

Thanks for the advice. Not many people fish specifically for bass at this pond, but there are a lot of people that regularly go to it. You can easily see bottom in most of the pond. Now that you say it, I can see how the bass were probably seeing me and that's why they weren't biting, for some reason I was thinking if they don't swim away, they don't see me.

I fish a large pond in southern Manitoba. The water is very clear, gravel bottom, lots of sunken logs and such. Average depth is around 5-10 feet, but is as deep as 35 feet in some places. There are large bass slowly cruising along the shorelines, every so often stopping briefly at shallow structure like logs. But they just will not bite! I have had very limited success with a chigger craw and a grass pig, but for the most part they are entirely ignoring my presentations. What's going on?

So I'm interested in trying out using braided line with a fluoro leader. I really like to be able to see the line for detecting bites, but I do a lot of clear water fishing with jigs and other finnesse techniques. So from what I know this gives the best of both worlds. But before I go out and buy it, what can you guys tell me for pros and cons of this combination as an all purpose line? I was thinking of 20lb braid with 8lb fluoro.

Just recently I have witnessed the same thing on a small local river. Here in Manitoba, the spawning time period is completely closed to fishing, April 1 to the middle of may. But this year because of the early spring, the spawn hit during legal fishing times, and I saw many large female walleye just about to spawn being taken. And buckets full of the males. Many people just don't realize how big of an impact it can make.

Caught another bass, here's some more detailed pictures http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/J_MIL_20/bb167d25.jpg http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/J_MIL_20/27533a9e.jpg http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/J_MIL_20/da8914b3.jpg

2001 silver F-150 supercab 4x4 for me.

Well I tried a few different things yesterday at the ponds, no luck with the weightless Texas rigged tube, but I did have some luck using a drop shot rig with a 5" purple robo worm. Still not consistently catching, but I got a few dinks, missed a good one, and one 15"er. http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/J_MIL_20/bb167d25.jpg I caught the nice bass in a small deep bay strewn with small boulders.

That is so true. When I was between 3-12 years old I passionately loved fishing, so much that I would fish in ANY body of water, whether there was fish in it or not (more often not). But I was so discouraged by never catching fish, and having noone to teach me how to catch them. So between the 16 and 21 I stopped fishing, but one June a friend asked me to join him for a company fishing derby, I caught fish and again I was hooked. But this time I have access to Internet and videos and forums like this, so in a couple years I have improved phenomenally and regularly catch fish. All because someone invited me along.

Hey all, I'm new to bass fishing and trying to figure out how to catch them in early spring here in Manitoba. I fished this pond quite a bit last summer, and man the bass were on fire, 20 fish in a couple hours was not uncommon. But in the fall it seemed like they dissappeared, and I could not find them. Now in the early spring here in Canada, I am doing my best to catch some but my results are spotty at best. Can you guys help me find them? The ponds are about 200 yards long, by 100 yards wide, the deepest spots are 35ft, gravel or sandy bottom, clear cold water, average day temp. Is around 57 degrees F, if there's any wind and you get your hands in that water they freeze! There is an abundance of small trout, and some bigger ones in the same ponds as the bass. I have caught maybe 5 or 6 dinks with little trout jigs, and only one nice bass this year, that was with a 4" chigger craw. You guys are great on here, look forward to your advice.

Thanks! And I'm certainly getting there, or so my wife thinks.

Well I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to go out and try to catch some bass from the closest body of water with them. So I made the drive out to try my hand at early spring fishing for bass for the first time. I tried a few different things, caught a couple dinks on a drop shot with a purple 4" roboworm. Then switched to a Texas rigged 4" green pumpkin chigger craw and started working some submerged brush, and pulled out a nice 14" bass. A pretty good way to start off the bass fishing season up here in the north methinks. http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/J_MIL_20/9494b54b.jpg

Oh as a side note, the inside of all of the bass mouths is like sandpaper. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. The mouth size seems to be similar to the smallies I've caught. But again, I will get pictures with the mouth closed and of the belly.

Ok, thanks guys, I really am a newb when it comes to bass. Last year was my first opportunity to catch any bass at all. But I will be going out again this weekend, I'll get some more detailed pictures to confirm the identity.

So I've been fishing at a local pond here in Manitoba catching bass. What has been bugging me though is nobody seems to know which bass they are, some people say they're largemouth, others say largies can't live in the cold so it must be smallies. I've developed the opinion that they are spotted bass, but I have no one to back up that opinion. So I'd like to know what you guys think, sorry I can't post the picture directly, stupid iPad. Here's the link though. http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc487/J_MIL_20/9494b54b.jpg

Hey all, I live in Manitoba, Canada, I am 21 years old and I have been fishing for 17 years. This year, because of the move to Manitoba, is my first bass fishing, and what can I say, I'm hooked! My favorite spot is a local pond that somehow manages a healthy (though overpopulated) largemouth bass population in our cold weather. Unfortunately it is currently inaccessible due to a fire ban in our area But its given me an opportunity to broaden my knowledge base about bass on this great site. I look forward to learning more here!