I'm already thinking about spring fishing in 2024, studying the maps, wondering, and planning. One of my favorite ponds is fed by wetlands and those wetlands are drained by a river that's about three miles long and about ten yards across. I've fished that river and caught some bass, but not a lot. There isn't much current. 

 

I'm thinking that come spring, that wetland water, being shallow and clotted with vegetation, might warm a little faster than the deeper water in the pond, and that warmer water which drains into the river might draw bass. What do you think? The pond itself is shallow too, about eight feet at its deepest. The pond is just a basin with not much structure, but considerable weeds in the summer. I caught a 20 lb. bag there one morning in 2023, i.e. five, fat bass 19" or a bit bigger, and I'd love to find such bass in that little river too. The little river has tributaries wide enough to fish too, so I also

plan to paddle up those and fish them before they become weed-choked come summer. 

It depends on how early you’re looking to get out there I’d say. I know around here ( pretty much just about as far north as you are in Maine), usually any moving water is often cooler than the still water of  lakes/ponds first thing after the ice goes out. I’ve never seen a lot of action in moving water until well into May when things start to warm up all around. Guess you’ll never know till you try it though, might as well give it a go and see what’s out there. 

18 minutes ago, Way north bass guy said:

It depends on how early you’re looking to get out there I’d say. I know around here ( pretty much just about as far north as you are in Maine), usually any moving water is often cooler than the still water of  lakes/ponds first thing after the ice goes out. I’ve never seen a lot of action in moving water until well into May when things start to warm up all around. Guess you’ll never know till you try it though, might as well give it a go and see what’s out there. 

 

Do you think there's a time when that river (again, not much current) will load with bass? As I stated earlier, I did catch a few there this fall, but nowhere near as many in other rivers with more current.

I don’t target bass here much in the the spring, as most of our seasons for them are closed till later, but I can say for sure that once we get a few weeks of warmer weather after ice out, while pike fishing I often find tons of monster bass anywhere flowing water enters a lake. I’d bet that once May rolls around, right about the time the blackflys get thick, you’ll find some fish in that river for sure. 

1 hour ago, Way north bass guy said:

I don’t target bass here much in the the spring, as most of our seasons for them are closed till later, but I can say for sure that once we get a few weeks of warmer weather after ice out, while pike fishing I often find tons of monster bass anywhere flowing water enters a lake. I’d bet that once May rolls around, right about the time the blackflys get thick, you’ll find some fish in that river for sure. 

 

Thanks! I'm excited to see if you're right.

@ol'crickety,

 

If you’re able, take a week & fish each body (wetland, river, pond) as often as possible. You should run into them at some point. They’re not going to go too far from whatever food source they’re using at that time. Another option might be to contact a local guide or one nearby & see if they’ll give you some advice for that time of year - like starting points.

 

Some of the pits I fish are small (less than 50 acres), deep (20’+) & clear waters. They don’t fish like most impoundments (think shad-based reservoirs). You may be in a similar situation. We’ve had success in beating the banks with skirted jigs as near to ice-out as possible up until we see them move up on beds. Early & late in the year, areas where sunlight hits the longest should be key targets. Our thought is females, prior to spawn, are seeking out biggest bang for the buck regarding high protein & that would more than likely be crayfish mixed in with panfish.

Check the tribs and the tribs mouths in spring. I know you say there is a not much current but a day or two after a good rain hit those mouths again. You want to hit the mouths when the main river is up but, the creeks are coming down. 
 

Because of it not being deep you may have fish that stay very resident to each area. I’m the river try to find some anomalies. Gravel, rock,hard bottom. That change can be key.   
 

I know this is completely different than what I fish. I would still bet you will find pockets of fish and the rest of the area won’t have them.  

shallow water warms faster.  Darker/rocky/weedy water warms faster.  So if the streams coming in are slow moving, shallow, weedy/rocky then they should warm just a little faster.  It will help, especially when you get some sunny, still days for the sun to really bake what's under the water.  The same will be happening on the bog side of the streams, so you'll have to try both and see.  Your bogs aren't very deep, so there probably won't be much difference there but sometimes that little bit might matter.

 

The event that you want to watch for is a warm rain.  Early season warm rains (like a storm coming up the coast from the gulf stream) will push warmer rain inland which will collect in the streams.  The water streaming in might be a couple degrees warmer than the main lake at that point and that will pull fish in.

 

Also, the baitfish will get followed that time of year.  I think you have an alewife run, not sure if its there in that pond or that time of year.  if they are moving up the creek though the bass will position accordingly.

 

I grew up on the Monongahela river where its a quarter mile across and 40' in the channel.  Different situation and different bass (smallies for me) but every year the first couple floods would see bass filling the creek mouths of 20-40' wide creeks.  They were getting out of current, following baitfish, and otherwise looking for better living conditions.  Lots of those fish would then stay up in the creeks all year after the water receeded.  

Your intuitions sound reasonable, as long as the current isn't very fast.  Generally, though, moving water tends to be cooler and better-oxygenated than still water, and so tends to become more advantageous in summer, and less so in the spring unless it's actually delivering bait and heat (as mentioned above).  the only way to know, though, is to check.  Bring a thermometer and check temps in the main basin, mouth of the river, and in the river itself, to see what the variation is like.

 

Actually, what you're describing sounds not too different from a situation examined earlier this year by @Paul Roberts on The Nature of Fishing channel, in that case following a spring heat gradient between a deeper main basin and a shallow "back bay" area connected by a creek channel:

 

Personally if I was helping guide such an expedition in the Maine backcountry, I would be throwing a multi specie bait, something that could pick up brookies and browns as well as bass. Little jerkbaits like the x rap would be a go-to. 

Neimire Red Ripper 1/2oz gold weedless spoon.

Tom 

Thanks, all, for the suggestions and insights. I look forward to testing your ideas come spring. I likely won't go until mid-May because being a stream in wetlands means there's no solid ground on either side and tipping in cold water could be my last day. 

2 minutes ago, WRB said:

Neimire Red Ripper 1/2oz gold weedless spoon

 

I just googled it and I like the looks of it. My issue with a Johnson's Silver Spoon was the stiff weed guard. The Neimire has a yielding weedguard. I think it would be great casting into weeds. I used to use pork rind on a Johnson's. What do you use on a Neimire?

You can add a pork trailer but it works without a trailer. The hook is very sharp out of the box whereas the Johnson spoon is dull. The big difference is the silicone skirt and....built in rattle. I suggested the gold because of the tannic stained water where you fish.

Tom

3 minutes ago, WRB said:

You can add a pork trailer but it works without a trailer. The hook is very sharp out of the box whereas the Johnson spoon is dull. The big difference is the silicone skirt and....built in rattle. I suggested the gold because of the tannic stained water where you fish.

Tom

 

Since you say it works out of the box, I'm going to buy a couple and fish it that way. Soft plastic or pork would lessen the wobble, I'm thinking. 

Where’d you find them? 

@ol'crickety

Your pond-wetlands-river sound like a pike-walleye-lm bass factory.

32 minutes ago, PaulVE64 said:

@ol'crickety

Your pond-wetlands-river sound like a pike-walleye-lm bass factory.

 

At my latitude, most of the water holds lmb or smb or both, white perch, pumpkinseed, and pickerel. Pike are rare. Walleye are even rarer. Yellow perch are fairly common.

https://youtu.be/Cwl2t282bn8

My favorite place to fish.

Last time there I was with my 2 brothers and in 5 casts consecutive casts I had monster pike take 4 bouyah frogs right off 50# mono leaders.