This is the latest I've seen ice out in Wisconsin. The bass fishing opener is always the 1st Saturday in May. This year as of today most lakes in northern Wisconsin still have 20" of ice. In southern Wisconsin the water temp is between 46-50 degrees. So with the opener this Saturday and water temps in the low 50"s, what would be your choice in what to throw and/or best technique?

Suspending jerkbaits would be my first choice.

Suspending jerkbaits would be my first choice.

X2, with a jig being a close second. Start with 5-10 second pauses between twitches and let the fish tell you to either speed up or slow down. 

Suspending jerks and jigs. You can't go wrong IF you can find the structures with fish on them. I'd also be tossing a 1/2 - 3/4 oz. blade bait.

I'm here in WI tooo,. Throwing football jigs and rouges

I'll be up there myself too as long as the rain isn't going to be really bad. Not looking so hot as of now. I'll be throwing jerkbaits, flukes, jig, and a drop shot. I may have to sneak in a square bill or lipless. I struggle with the "slow" concept of fishing...I might have ADD.

Water temps in N. IL are 53-56 as of this past weekend. Ice has been out for about 4 weeks. We caught fish in 18fow on jig n craws, 8fow on swimjigs and spinnerbaits, and 2fow on flukes. Nothing on suspending jerkbaits. Talking to other fishermen, seems like swimjigs were the preferred bait. Water was stained and weed growth was nonexistent. 

I fished Long Lake two weeks ago with a buddy of mine. We fished for 6 hours on a cold and windy day. He got a 3.2 on a crankbait, which I personally think was a fluke. The rest of the day I fished with a jig, and got 4 fish, (2) 16", a 18" and my personal best which was a 5.1, which I was really shocked in the cold water . The water temp was 45 degrees. With that said I'm fishing Delavan this weekend, and will definitely be using a jig 90% of the time. I believe the fish will be hitting, however I don't expect neck snapping strikes. Just like Long Lake, I felt the fish, but they didn't have a lot of fight in them yet, but they are hungry. I either dragged my jig slowly on the bottom with pauses waiting for a pick-up or slowly swam my jigs. This is my take on the WI opener this weekend. Hope to see some of you guys out there. I'm from Northern IL.

cadman, Is Long lake open to boats or closed like the rest of the Chain?

I don't know if the launch on Wilson road was open at the time and don't know if it is currently open. My friend has a house on there, and when we were out there, the water wasn't as high as the "Chain" was. Many docks were visible, we went slowly anyway. There was no water on any of the property as far as we saw on that day. BTW, they are planning to put in another ramp on the lake which will belong to the DNR. That is the word on the street so far.

I don't know if the launch on Wison road was open at the time and don't know if it is currently open. My friend has a house on there, and when we were out there, the water wasn't as high as the "Chain" was. Many docks were visible, we went slowly anyway. There was no water on any of the property as far as we saw on that day. BTW, they are planning to put in another ramp on the lake which will belong to the DNR. That is the word on the street so far.

Can kiss that fishery goodbye.

I'm in Michigan but after ice-out I can always get bit on flat-sided crankbaits.