One warm day

[PaulVE64]

The weather in my home town has been hovering around the freezing point as our daytime high.

BUT, for the next few days it will be warming up. Saturday night the low will be near 45 and Sunday its sunny, breezey and 60.

 

Lions and tigers and bears OH MY! - I'm going fishing!!! 

Best part of spring is getting to use my new equipment and throw the new store bought lures and the jigs ive been tying all winter! 

[A-Jay]

That is Awesome !

Good Luck

A-Jay

[PaulVE64]

Im so stoked!

[Finessegenics]

Crossing my fingers I'll be able to find some open water before ice season ends (Mar 31, plenty of time), so I can legally target bass. I never had any success in the few outings I've completed this time of the year. 

 

How do you do it? I'm thinking since the river I fish is fairly large and deep, from the shore, the bass or any game fish for that matter, is out of reach for me. 

[Kirtley Howe]

58 minutes ago, Finessegenics said:

Crossing my fingers I'll be able to find some open water before ice season ends (Mar 31, plenty of time), so I can legally target bass. I never had any success in the few outings I've completed this time of the year. 

 

How do you do it? I'm thinking since the river I fish is fairly large and deep, from the shore, the bass or any game fish for that matter, is out of reach for me. 

You may be very surprised. Bass often hold near shore and in shallow water even in very cold water. Look for areas that have baitfish first. Failing that, look for areas with large rocks, or a dark colored bottom as those areas warm up quickly when exposed to sun....and if there is cover (lay downs, weeds), or structure (stumps, etc.) even better. Also remember that the fish may still not want to chase much....slow down your presentation, and start with more subtle baits like plastic worms, plastic crawfish style lures, or jig heads with grubs or creature baits moved slowly on the bottom, or weightless drifting in the water column. If that does not work, try rattle trap type lures with a yo-yo retrieve, or a slow steady retrieve. Still no luck? Try a fast retrieve with the rattle traps and try a jerk bait with long pauses between the jerks. After that, try spinnerbaits using both slow roll and faster retrieves.  Good luck.

[PaulVE64]

Craws come out when the water here hits around 50. Ive tied some red and brown craws with bucktail and zonkers.

 

Cant wait for topwater season too

[Spankey]

I think I’m gonna kick my season off a day this week also. We have a bit of a warming trend going on. Don’t expect that much. I don’t find things to turn on out here that fast.  
 

My plan will to be fishing a couple of creek mouths. Some smallies might just move up in there. Just don’t know. Tubes, grubs, finesse worms. Rat-L-Traps ????????

[TnRiver46]

I was fishing off the bank in the snow a few weeks back, water temp was 40-43 on the whole river. Kind of bored, staring into the water, I saw a huge crawdad scooting along the rocks 

[PaulVE64]

 

 

First 3 hrs of river fishing in the bank.

First impression is that the new Shimano  Nasci 3000 is a beauty.

[PaulVE64]

And Ditto on hitting up creek mouths !!!

[PaulVE64]

If the breeze would calm down I would take out my new Redington Crosswaters 9 ft 6wt fly combo. 

I'm planning to learn how to cast a fly this summer. My brother and I are heading out on the Bow River again this autumn for trout and we plan to try some streamers.

[Finessegenics]

Any fish so far?

[PaulVE64]

Walleyes but no bass

[Finessegenics]

1 minute ago, PaulVE64 said:

Walleyes but no bass

 

You're making me want to get out there!

[Sphynx]

12 hours ago, PaulVE64 said:

If the breeze would calm down I would take out my new Redington Crosswaters 9 ft 6wt fly combo. 

I'm planning to learn how to cast a fly this summer. My brother and I are heading out on the Bow River again this autumn for trout and we plan to try some streamers.

Enjoy the learning process, you'll probably get frustrated a bunch and get caught up in wanting more progress faster, but one day you'll look back fondly at the process and wish you could do it again 

[Spankey]

On 3/5/2022 at 5:47 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I was fishing off the bank in the snow a few weeks back, water temp was 40-43 on the whole river. Kind of bored, staring into the water, I saw a huge crawdad scooting along the rocks 

This time of year I also see huge crawfish. I leave them alone. Mine are green black with a grayish bottom. Olive, black, green pumpkin crankbaits and plastics produce good when they want to hit. 

[PaulVE64]

I was just checking my photo gallery and my 1st smallie last year was Mar. 21st. 

As of today most of my local river's banks are ice free. Save a few glacier packs in the shade I can pretty much hit my spots soon. We have a week of 60s (daytime sunny) and high 40s nighttime. 

 

GO SPRING

 

[PaulVE64]

One warm day turned into consecutive warm sunny days.

Water temps in the creeks is mid 40s now. 

Really hope we avoid a cold snap in the next two weeks. Must catch a March smallie.

 

[PaulVE64]

So,

Big Update!

The water temps have hit a consistent 50 which seems to trigger the bass into feeding voraciously!

The lure of note has been a 3" widderdilch that ive tied on a 1/12 oz jig hook. Tan & olive deer hair, a plume of white maribou, some uv dub and some  grizzly saddle hackle.

 

Very rewarding to be whaking them on my own ties. As if creek fishing wasnt fun enough

[PaulVE64]

Decided not to fish today on Easter Sunday but its beautiful outside and im having a beer at a fire.

 

In the swirling wind at my roof top 3 bald eagles enter the scene, two lock talons and spin like tops in a dive.

 

AMAZING MOMENTS

[TnRiver46]

18 hours ago, PaulVE64 said:

Decided not to fish today on Easter Sunday but its beautiful outside and im having a beer at a fire.

 

In the swirling wind at my roof top 3 bald eagles enter the scene, two lock talons and spin like tops in a dive.

 

AMAZING MOMENTS

Awesome man. I’ve seen eagles do that before, absolutely crazy. We had a juvenile fly right over the boat on plane yesterday, it’s feathers looked ratty. Maybe getting ready for adult plumage? 

[PaulVE64]

Just one creek chub today. Some guy with his kids asks me what kind of fish are in the water just as i hook the creek chub.

Atleadt his kids were impressed. Maybe a fisherman was born today?

[TnRiver46]

4 hours ago, PaulVE64 said:

Just one creek chub today. Some guy with his kids asks me what kind of fish are in the water just as i hook the creek chub.

Atleadt his kids were impressed. Maybe a fisherman was born today?

I caught a lot of creek chub in corn in the creek behind my grandmas house growing up. We were shucking the corn they grew so I had unlimited free bait! When we caught a rare bluegill it was a bonus trophy. I’d say you did a good deed 

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 4/18/2022 at 8:21 AM, TnRiver46 said:

Awesome man. I’ve seen eagles do that before, absolutely crazy. We had a juvenile fly right over the boat on plane yesterday, it’s feathers looked ratty. Maybe getting ready for adult plumage? 

Saw a juvenile on the River Sunday. Looked disheveled like a long night and a short sleep. Can't find the big bass but the small ones were eating like sharks. Caught 43 but only 2 over 15".

[PaulVE64]

So,

Weve had some snow wrapped around 60 F days. Thats spring . But i guessed the smallies might  have come shallow into the creeks today. Water temps near 50 and rising. Today it was breezey and hazy so it seemed a good bet.

Im not certain i was correct but i did have a solid 3# follower while sight fishing a tiny creek.

 

Thats always a rush when a big fish charges your lure.

 

(Edit- he didnt pick it up)