TriStateBassin106

6lbs on the first cast? On the ned rig? Wow. Nice fish!

First full pre spawn since 2018 so i'm still learning the ropes for this time of year but the bait I'm throwing the most right now is the lipless crankbait and ned rig.. have I caught any bass on them so far in 2021? No, but I'm keeping faith especially with the lipless. The baits I should be throwing are chatterbaits and senkos, but I'm stubborn and want to learn new techniques

The dirtiest water I have ever fished was green pea soup in the summer time and even then I had luck on black ned rigs and worms (my ned setup pic below), would these baits also work in chocolate water that is known to come with spring time or would I need something with more action to get those fish to bite?

Tell my bass that hahaha

But in ponds like this though do the bass even have anywhere to go during the winter? If it's featureless they would just suspend I guess right? Or would they always be nearby?

My pond is a max of 7 feet but has a steep bank side on the other side (behind the fountain) it's basically a featureless fish bowl that also goes down in the summertime if we don't get rain, it also has storm drains that bring in runoff. Pic below is the northwestern side when water gets lower, all that bank and rip rap is underwater right now.

What are some good Colorado blade spinnerbaits that work well in smaller bodies of water?

Even in fishbowl ponds like mine? I haven't seen any bluegill activity yet which is kinda disappointing. I honestly just want to locate the fish right now. Baits are secondary. It seems like none of the fish have moved shallow yet.

I've only used 4/0 that was a typo. One problem with weedless senkos is sometimes they'll choke it and you will either get a gut hooked or tounge hooked fish. Pretty messy situation. Guessing the 3/0 prevents that from happening? I always try to be quick with hooksets when that happens.

When the bass are agressive? Chatterbait. When the bass are being stubborn I would go with the senko weightless. 5/0 EWG hook, any brand works really just make sure the hooks are sharp. 5 inch senko in either Green Pumpkin or Black n blue but the most important part is the retrieve twitch twitch fall for about 10 seconds and repeat the twitch twitch many bites will come on the fall so watch the line.

What jerkbait colors would you throw for that kind of stain?

I tried spinnerbaits today, it's heavily stained though and some sides of the pond are a little bit more murky than the others, the windy side in my jerkbait pic was much more dirty. This was the "less dirty" side, for my pond being a pressured fish bowl with a fountain i'm surprised the water clarity can be "good" at times.

It's my first entire spring of bass fishing. Last year the spring fishing was canceled because of covid and the year before I started late (late may) I always wanted to catch spring bass before, even if it's 1 bass only in March I'll feel happy.

Tried that today, kvd shallow and also threw around some finesse jigs. Water temps dropped down again to 50 degrees... I don't expect to catch a bass until April to be honest. This is my water clarity, pretty much stained. When would that usually happen? April? I live in Northern NJ so I know it's different for regions.

Which one is better? Does a spray attractant work better than traditional gels?

Would KVD shallow cranks work?

So I finally tried out some bang garlic yesterday and after spraying it once and then storing it my backpack compartment it started to smell like garlic. The smell is gone now but what's the best way to store this can so it doesn't stink up everything? Ziplock bags?

That's almost the same water quality here in the summertime, runoff will come into the pond and make everything murky and green like, here's a pic of a snapping turtle that was creeping up on me last year with similar water conditions. This was the jerkbait color I was throwing, behind it you can see the water quality on the windiest side of the pond which I tried first, average temps was 52 degrees.

I've caught ned rig fish there before. Yoga pants and junebug colors. I think the problem is the metabolism is still very slow.

What's everyone's favorite retrieves for jigs during the pre spawn? I've always been a fan of slowly dragging and pausing. I've heard some other people enjoy slow hops this time of year.

Finally went out to the pond today after waiting for the warm spell to heat up the lake here in NJ. water temps for the most part were in the lower 50s (warmest part of the pond was the northern bank with a temperature of 53 degrees) after 4 hours I couldn't get anything to bite, water clarity is about 5 to 8 inches and I tried jerkbaits finesse jigs and the ned rig, is it too early for the bass to be shallow yet? What should I throw in this situation until the temps reach 55? what parts of my pond should I target? There's little to no cover except some small riprap and overhanging trees.

Welcome back, you're in good hands here. Everyone on the forum is very knowledgeable and knows a lot about the sport, also the founder Glenn makes a bunch of cool videos and articles explaining everything about bass fishing! Tight lines.

This! Could prevent any injuries in the eyes/face. Always wear them no matter the conditions

Anyone here throw any of the Berkley gulp products for bass? I've heard a bunch of negative things about gulp from other anglers for bass fishing. I've only used Gulp saltwater and gulp minnows before.

I mean, it is the winter time. I wish I could carch bass right now hahaha.