I have the worst case of cabin fever so I am planning on hitting the ponds as soon as the ice melts. I am planning on throwing a red craw red eye shad as well as grubs. Being that i havent done any early spring time fishin in the past, i was wondering what baits i need to get them to bite.

Depends on cover, water temperature, clarity, forage, and weather. What are the anticipated conditions? If that water hits a certain point pre spawn you can catch em on just about anything but considering there was ice I'd say fish slow. I'd recommend if you're power fishing use a slow gear ratio reel and crawl a rattle trap over depth transitions and ledges. If finessing I always start with a Texas rigged Zman lizard or move to a drop shot. Considering I'm in the Northwest spring conditions are slightly muddy and very cold initially so fishing is tough until that gets closer to 55°. Also depends on species. The smallmouth bite starts before the the largemouth because they are more active in colder waters. Biggest thing is to fish slow unless you know the bite is on. Enjoy!

The same baits will get bit 365 days a year. You change the presentation. Not the bait.

Jerkbaits fished very slowly with long pauses and soft twitches, adjust your retrieve as the fish deem needed. 

Around here lipless cranks work pre-spawn, and during the spawn.  If you are fishing shallow I would try some Mann's 1 minus cranks.

The same baits will get bit 365 days a year. You change the presentation. Not the bait.

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I'm not to far away from you, and thaw is still too far out for me to start hopin n' dreamin.....

 

That being said, i'll echo what other's have said. Throw your favorite baits... I'll be rigging up rattle traps, various drop shots, and cranks. As I do most of the year.

 

Cheers

I'll be throwing a Lucky Craft Pointer 78