So we had ice come off many of our ponds between 10 days and two weeks ago due to unseasonably warm temps ..but since then we have backed off into 40s with lows in the 20s pretty much putting the brakes on warming the water at all...I've tried shad raps, lipless, finesse jigs, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits with no luck..only thing I've had any luck on is surprise surprise a jerkbait. Normally this long after ice out we would have warmed considerably but with it being so early this year it has halted any progress. When you are itching to go but faced with these lingering conditions what are you throwing besides what I mentioned? Anything sneaky you use or maybe something you don't hear much about? Btw I had a pretty typical winter outing yesterday...fished 4 hours got all six of my bites in a 15 yard area in 30 minutes then the switch flipped off..biggest was only 2lbs but still felt good just to pull on some..shouldn't complain about 6 bites in 8 hours this time of year but with them stacked up like that it makes for a lot of fishless time

4 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

So we had ice come off many of our ponds between 10 days and two weeks ago due to unseasonably warm temps ..but since then we have backed off into 40s with lows in the 20s pretty much putting the brakes on warming the water at all...I've tried shad raps, lipless, finesse jigs, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits with no luck..only thing I've had any luck on is surprise surprise a jerkbait. Normally this long after ice out we would have warmed considerably but with it being so early this year it has halted any progress. When you are itching to go but faced with these lingering conditions what are you throwing besides what I mentioned? Anything sneaky you use or maybe something you don't hear much about? Btw I had a pretty typical winter outing yesterday...fished 4 hours got all six of my bites in a 15 yard area in 30 minutes then the switch flipped off..biggest was only 2lbs but still felt good just to pull on some..shouldn't complain about 6 bites in 8 hours this time of year but with them stacked up like that it makes for a lot of fishless time

Yes ~ Punisher Hair Jig 1/4 & 3/8 hair Jig with a Reins Punching Predator trailer.

I love the hair jig’s slender profile and subtle action.

 

 

A-Jay

 

I fish for trout & pike during these cold water times.  Bass gear still stowed away. 

5 minutes ago, Nelson Delaney said:

I fish for trout & pike during these cold water times.  Bass gear still stowed away. 

You may be missing out on a chance at some of the biggest bass of the season.

A-Jay

 

10 hours ago, A-Jay said:

You may be missing out on a chance to at some of the biggest bass on the season.

A-Jay

Yea I know.  But I’m fishing for 40”+ pike and 30”+ steelhead. 
 

Sorry OP,   I’ve had some early season luck with the now discontinued clackin rap minnow. 

I had some success this past week in similar conditions by fishing a lipless and varying the retrieve. The first couple of handle turns I will reel fast to get the rattlers making sound and then I slow down as much as I can and even throw in a slight pause after every 5 rotations, and then I repeat that process again until reeled all the way in. Besides that, I've also only caught fish on a jerkbait this winter.

4 hours ago, Nelson Delaney said:

 

Yea I know.  But I’m fishing for 40”+ pike and 30”+ steelhead. 
 

Sorry OP,   I’ve had some early season luck with the now discontinued clackin rap minnow. 

I can totally understand the attraction ~

A-Jay

   My conditions are much like the OP's - iceout two weeks ago, but cool weather preventing appreciable warmup of the water. I've had success with slow spoons (imagine that!) but the only other fisherman that I saw catching multiple bass was using this.    jj

 

 

5 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

   My conditions are much like the OP's - iceout two weeks ago, but cool weather preventing appreciable warmup of the water. I've had success with slow spoons (imagine that!) but the only other fisherman that I saw catching multiple bass was using this.    jj

 

 

I get bites on that one when it's a bit warmer as well. 

A-Jay

1 minute ago, A-Jay said:

I get bites on that one when it's a bit warmer as well. 

A-Jay

 

   Yup .... they like to gobble boot-tails, don't they?        jj