Hello BR!  I live in NH, and later this week, Temps will be in the 50s, and there's open water a few minutes down the road.  I was thinking of going and making a few casts for the hell of it.  I'll probably use a spinning rod with 6 or 8 lb test.  I'm thinking a Ned rig or a tube, worked slower than slow.  Any input from more experienced cold water guys?

I actually have much better success on suspending jerkbaits in that first ice out water than I do bottom dragging baits. This is probably largely because of the amount of junk on the bottom of our lakes that tends to clog up those bottom contact baits though. 

 

A small jerkbait like a 65 pointer fished very slowly, especially parallel to rocks warmed by the sun, is a good way to get bit. 

Hey bwillis! You have open water in NH in February? WOW!

It's a river, and we just had a warm spell for about a week.  Most moving water is open, however I just did some ice fishing on 18" of ice about 30 minutes from home.

4 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I actually have much better success on suspending jerkbaits in that first ice out water than I do bottom dragging baits. This is probably largely because of the amount of junk on the bottom of our lakes that tends to clog up those bottom contact baits though. 

 

A small jerkbait like a 65 pointer fished very slowly, especially parallel to rocks warmed by the sun, is a good way to get bit. 

It's a river, with a fairly sandy, rocky bottom.  I'm not expecting to catch anything, but I've had the fishing itch for a couple weeks now, and I need to get out.

Enjoy your time out there. We had a window here in NY with some relatively pleasant weather. A little hole in the ice. Didn't expect to catch anything and didn't but it was a great experience as always. The area I was fishing is covered in thick grass, I believe coontail. Could not buy a bite on a texas rig or jig but that reservoir is always tough.

 

All that to say, have fun! @Deleted account had luck fishing holes in the ice recently.

Night crawler

A suspending jerkbait worked extremely painfully slow  I just saw it’s a river with moving water Jerkbait might still  work.

1 hour ago, LrgmouthShad said:

All that to say, have fun! @Deleted account had luck fishing holes in the ice recently.

 

On a squarebill no less...  We had 4 days of decent weather with highs in the 50s almost 60. 

I went to a really small, really shallow, kinda dingy spot, knowing that would warm up faster, then I threw the 3 things I have a lot of confidence in cold water, oh and half a century of experience. In NH, right now?, assuming I could find open water, other than a WWD, I'd be all like...

3 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I actually have much better success on suspending jerkbaits in that first ice out water than I do bottom dragging baits. This is probably largely because of the amount of junk on the bottom of our lakes that tends to clog up those bottom contact baits though. 

 

A small jerkbait like a 65 pointer fished very slowly, especially parallel to rocks warmed by the sun, is a good way to get bit. 

Must be why TW is all sold out of pointer 65's.  I grew up fishing in a bass club out of Joplin, and enjoyed the missouri jerkbait fishing.  

I'm looking forward to throwing my Rozantes at ice out. Only problem is that our forecast is calling for a lot of rain over the next few weeks so it'll probably be pretty dingy which would be a handicap.

Suspending jerkbait fished slow would work best for you! Maybe even a flatsided crankbait? 

I've got a couple jerkbaits, and some flat sided squarebills.  I'll bring them along and see what happens

Jig and pig, or a jig and craw.

With temps in the 30's after ice-out, the bass here are either on the bottom, or high up in the water column. They rarely suspend, so my two best producers are a jerkbait and a hair jig/ trailer. I don't twitch the jerkbait to get that darting action, but work it like a C-rig with short, slow pulls and long pauses. The jig gets dead sticked after a short drag that keeps it in contact with the bottom.

Wow open water in Nh, that’s surprising.

 

I went last week in Ma, got 3 bass, 2 on real prey swimbaits, and 1 on a wake bait, Sherpa baits after dark. Biggest was 3.5. 

I’d fish a jerkbait, a ned rig or a small soft swimbait.  My plan for tomorrow is swimbaits! 

Little swimbait on the lightest head you can throw.  Awful hard to beat as far as numbers go and bigger fish have no issues eating them in cold water.