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.

When it comes to a pond, you can fish the shore all year round. Fish super slow and make repeated casts to likely targets. 57 degree water temperature is not really what I would call cold water. Try fishing weightless plastics. Something with little action like a senko would be a good idea. Maybe try a jerkbait as well. The biggest bass I ever caught out of a pond was on a jerkbait in about that same water temp. Let it sit a while between jerks. A jerk pause jerk jerk pause jerk is the only cadence i've ever used and works quite well.

I could be wrong but I believe the OP is saying the daily air temp is 57 degrees. Spotswood, hands down the best lures for me in cold water are jigs. The key for me in cold water is to work that jig SLOOOOOOOOWLY! Bass wont expend much energy in cold water so you have to put your bait in it's face and leave it there. It's painful to do when its cold outside but, for me, that's what has worked for me in cold water. When the water is clear, I use lighter line and smaller jigs (1/8 or 1/4 oz). Hope this helps!

Good luck!

Carlton

Try S-L-O-W retrieving a weightless, Texas rigged tube, just crawling across the bottom. Find where the deepest water comes closest to the bank. Good Luck!

Slow down on the retrive and also try smaller lures. Like others have said, bass wont move much in colder water.

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.