I had a really great 2025 season on the 4 ponds I fish. I caught a ton of fish and a few big ones. Learned what techniques work what spots were good. But I’m really excited to fish the Same ponds this spring. Same techniques. But I’ll have to find the fish again. Watch the vegetation and slop come on. Even gonna learn a new pond that is river fed right by my work!

Anyone else get excited for the chase?

Only 74 days and a wake up if my guess for an open water date is anywhere close.

A-Jay's Annual Ice Out / Open Water Countdown Thread 2025...

But who's counting?

A-Jay

3 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Only 74 days and a wake up if my guess for an open water date is anywhere close.

A-Jay's Annual Ice Out / Open Water Countdown Thread 2025...

But who's counting?

A-Jay

I can’t flipping wait lol. If we get water that isn’t frozen but it’s still cold. I’m still gonna go try haha

6 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

I can’t flipping wait lol. If we get water that isn’t frozen but it’s still cold. I’m still gonna go try haha

Preach on and fish hard my brother.

But be careful; you don't wanna get your arm broke off . . . . .

A-Jay

This was a historically cold January so I'm looking forward to the opposite....... unseasonably warm weather to trigger an early bite.

I'll be out somewhere in March with a smile 😊

27 minutes ago, Bird said:

This was a historically cold January so I'm looking forward to the opposite....... unseasonably warm weather to trigger an early bite.

I'll be out somewhere in March with a smile 😊

I hope so! I know it’s been snowy and cold In the Midwest.

2 hours ago, Joedodge said:

I can’t flipping wait lol. If we get water that isn’t frozen but it’s still cold. I’m still gonna go try haha

We used to fish the local farm ponds all year and almost every spring we were throwing lures while there was still a sheet of ice covering part of the pond. Usually the first warm spring day when the sun had just melted off a chunk and was warming one side of the lake. Rattletraps were always the lure. 20-30 bass days once you figured out if they wanted chrome, chartreuse, or another.

1 minute ago, casts_by_fly said:

20-30 bass days once you figured out if they wanted chrome, chartreuse, or another.

That's impressive...and surprises me. Water so cold, but fishing so hot!

Anyway, I'm excited for you too, Joe.

10 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

We used to fish the local farm ponds all year and almost every spring we were throwing lures while there was still a sheet of ice covering part of the pond. Usually the first warm spring day when the sun had just melted off a chunk and was warming one side of the lake. Rattletraps were always the lure. 20-30 bass days once you figured out if they wanted chrome, chartreuse, or another.

That’s aweosme! Flipping rattle traps. Never have gotten good with them. Always get tired of cleaning muck off the hooks and switch lures lol. I’ve had some days like that last year on jigs tho.

@Swamp Girl Winter fish stack up in spots and when the water warms they stack up on the warm spots. They are hungry and also reactive so a small snack like a Lipless crankbait that zips past them (try a yo-yo) they will just grab if you put it in front of them. Find the spot and keep casting it.

2 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Winter fish stack up in spots and when the water warms they stack up on the warm spots. They are hungry and also reactive so a small snack like a Lipless crankbait that zips past them (try a yo-yo) they will just grab if you put it in front of them. Find the spot and keep casting it.

Thank you! I’ll Give that a shot in spring. I love throwing them. Just not overly successful lol.

I wish I still had ponds like we used to have. Those were ponds where my dad knew the owners for years and had fished them for years. True farm ponds, surrounded by cattle or other agriculture. Very fertile. Usually 1’ visibility most of the year. Grassy in the summer but spring mostly clear except for what survived the winter. Most were in the 1-3 acre size and bottomed out at 15-20’. The second biggest bass I’ve ever seen caught came from one. Back to back casts my dad caught an 8+ and a 5+ from the same laydown. My 5+ PB came from another one of those ponds.

I’m right there with you! Been bass fishing 27 years and it’s still always exciting. This year I’ll have tournaments on 3 bodies of water I’ve never been to and 1 I haven’t been on in 20 years so it’ll be a humble learning curve I’m sure. Hopefully will be able to prefish them. That’s always exciting!

1 hour ago, casts_by_fly said:

Lipless crankbait that zips past them (try a yo-yo) they will just grab if you put it in front of them. Find the spot and keep casting it.

Well, then, I need to have a lipless crankbait tied on when I launch this spring and I catch one, to cast back to the same area.

Forget about using it as a follow up bait. Just tie one on and go fishing. Great for covering water and getting a reaction bite. For me, they are best when there is sparse grass- just enough to catch a piece here or there but not so much you’re getting it every cast. That means early season in most of the lakes here- up to mid April for me. After that the grass is usually grown in so much that it’s not efficient to throw anymore and swapping to a bladed jig is better. I see a bladed jig and a lipless as similar baits in a lot of use cases. Light to medium grass (less rock for me and definitely not wood), 0-10’ ideally, searching style either because the bass are active and moving or you’re just trying to put it right in front of one (reaction). Because of when the grass grows here in NJ and how thick it gets so quickly, a bladed jig tends to be a better choice for me most of the time, but when the cover is right and the fish are eating a lipless it’s a great bite to get on. They cast a mile in the wind, you can feel them on the least sensitive rod in your locker, you can fish them in inches of water or 10’ of water just the same, and they are snack sized to bass.

I don’t know how you north people can stand it. I only go to go twice in January and it’s killing me. I can’t imagine having to wait another month or two to wet a line. We are covered with the nasty white stuff but it may go away this week. I plan to check out the roads and Stockton lake on Thursday to see about launching on Friday. I learned the hard way to not pull a boat on icy roads.

It’s wild to me how different every year in NC is with regard to the spring transition.

Last year the lakes had ice on them practically until April 1st - this year we had a cold winter but water mostly stayed wet until the last couple weeks and now everything is frozen over but it looks like a week or so and we will be back in the 50s every day.

Makes it hard to know when to get out there exactly but my experience has been that if the water was frozen and then it’s not - that’s enough warming up for big bass to get all sorts of shallow!

Hoping it’s sooner than later for all of us and that the change to spring weather sticks!

@Pat Brown

NC has been erratic last couple of years.......wild weather.

I was apart of an relief effort last year after major flooding.

We took all kinds of equipment and tools with us with plans to stay a week.

Everyone got sent home from well below average temperature.

Portable shower houses were froze shut and drywall mud froze solid.

It was disappointing.

This year looks similar regarding temps.

Hope the fishing rewards y'all this spring.

5 hours ago, Bird said:

I was apart of an relief effort last year after major flooding.

We took all kinds of equipment and tools with us with plans to stay a week.

Thank you for doing that, even though you were sent home.

@Swamp Girl

Thanks.

It was very disappointing to say the least.

I was proud of all the local volunteers who took off work to make the drive down.

The flooding effected the bottom sheet of drywall in the town we were to work in so I was confident with the size of our crew we could put several families back in their homes in a weeks time.

Frigid temps had other ideas 😔

28 minutes ago, Bird said:

@Swamp Girl

Thanks.

It was very disappointing to say the least.

I was proud of all the local volunteers who took off work to make the drive down.

The flooding effected the bottom sheet of drywall in the town we were to work in so I was confident with the size of our crew we could put several families back in their homes in a weeks time.

Frigid temps had other ideas 😔

My son lives in lake lure and worked in chimney rock. It was realy bad there. Thanks for what yall did.

Looking like a late Spring this year with the cold we've been getting. Last several years I was getting out on open water in early March but not looking likely this year. But yes the "chase" of figuring it out is what makes it so fun. The mystery of it is what's addicting.

I don’t even know if I’m going to be fishing till June at this point. What’s fishing? What’s a fish? Who fishes?

On 2/3/2026 at 12:12 PM, MassYak85 said:

But yes the "chase" of figuring it out is what makes it so fun. The mystery of it is what's addicting.

Heck, yeah. Because my pond is five minutes away and my canoe is sitting in the water, it's easy-peasy for me to fish for an hour. Time and again, even though the weather was pert near the same, I'd paddle straight to where I'd caught them 12 or 24 hours ago and they'd be gone.

It's a game of hide and seek where the hiding bass are constantly moving.

Joe, a little advice: Keep exploring new ponds. I've quit fishing half a dozen ponds in my area because I now prefer other ponds I'd found.

With the recent weather events here in the south I feel like I may never see the lake again. I wish it would at least warm up enough to be able to get the boat out of the driveway. I can fish in the cold unless I can't get to the water. lol