Alright. Pretty much a question just for the northern part of the country since we still got ice . The prediction I want you guys to make is... what is the first bait or lure you will catch a bass on when the ice thaws and your first time out? 

I'll chime in. Near DC is north enough considering we just got near 2' of the white stuff.

Itll be a Zoom Ultravibe speed craw in green pumpkin. Already know what eddy I'm gonna throw it in too.

Likely a buck-tail jig tipped with a minnow. It'll likely happen while walleye fishing.  When actually targeting bass, a tube jig.

Depends on whether I fish "the river" first or "the lake" first. River=tube, Lake=Shakyhead worm, as usual.

But I'm going to hold off throwing those as long as I can stand it...one of my goals is to work on improving my jerkbait and jig fishing as much as possible this season, so I'm going to prioritize those whenever appropriate, and try to stick with them as long as I can stand it.  We'll see.

On the river it will be on a Ned rig pearl or PB&J, it just works there. On the lake it will be a sun perch Santone swim jig with a Kalins Rons craw grub trailer. 

It'll be a bills rat l trap for stripers in La Salle IL at a power plant on the 17th of March. It's the same ever year for me.

Either a red lipless crank or my usual go to PBJ jig.

the first one will probably be a jerkbait i'm thinking my lucky craft pinter 100 sp sexy shad

6th Sense Crush Flat 75X Crankbait ~ Bluegill

A-Jay

I'd guess a tube jig. A Cabin Creek Salty Critter Jr in watermelon blue flake rigged on a Confidence Baits Draggin Head. 

However, if the rivers are crazy high early on, like most years, it will be a jerkbait. When the river is high, lakes are the only option. I'd LIKE my first fish to come on a Siebert Sniper jig, but jerkbaits work so well in my local water it'll be tough.

Ned rig on this sandbar the bass stage at.

finesse jig w/ paca chunk ..cant wait till April!

Probably on a bladed jig, or a spinnerbait.  Then again you never know.

Probably be bumping the bottom off a deep point . I'll guess a worm .

Slow rolling a heavy jig dressed with a 5" Fat Impact swimbait for sure.

Either a jekbait, a small Keitech swimbait, or a jig. If this weather keeps up, it could happen later this month.

I predict my first bass of 2016 will be a smallmouth, and it will be caught on a 1/2oz. Silver buddy style blade bait.

My first largemouth will be caught on a Red eye shad lipless crank bait, or SK KVD suspending jerkbait. It will depend on conditions..............if it's a light wind, or calm I will be using the jerkbait, if we have enough wind to put some chop on the surface, I will be using the lipless crank.

It's tough to say for sure since it'll be river fishing, but I'm predicting a jerkbait. 

Flat (shad) style crank, jerk, hair jig, or grub. If we get an early thaw -possibly blade-bait or F-n-F.

Gold Duo lipless or a black and blue Siebert jig, 'cause that's what I'll be throwing in cool, dirty water.

Mine will most likely come on a pointer or vision 110. If not one of the jerkbaits I would say football jig with rage craw trailer.

Chilly 75º deg, clear cloudless sunny skies down here.

I predict it will be a largemouth at the warmwater discharge of one of the powerplant lakes on a junebug colored TRD. Although, it's a pretty safe prediction at this point.

 

On 2/5/2016 at 2:07 PM, Paul Roberts said:

Flat (shad) style crank, jerk, hair jig, or grub. If we get an early thaw -possibly blade-bait or F-n-F.

OK... we've had a thaw and the ice broke on my ponds. 

Water clarity and blue skies and virtually no cover (County's war on invasive milfoil is succeeding, unfortunately) had me adding an UL spinning rig to the day's arsenal. Glad I did. The grub it was, and a little 2"er at that.

51 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

OK... we've had a thaw and the ice broke on my ponds. 

Water clarity and blue skies and virtually no cover (County's war on invasive milfoil is succeeding, unfortunately) had me adding an UL spinning rig to the day's arsenal. Glad I did. The grub it was, and a little 2"er at that.

A-Jay