After ice out where are you fishin for lgm bass?

Also, what baits & techniques are you using?

I fish deep, clear strip mines. I will be throwing Carolina Rigged plastics (zoom lizards,10" worms,beavers) at deep structure most of the time. I will also be throwing jigs and jerkbaits at points. Once the vegetation grows i will be throwing swim jigs into said vegetation. This is my favorite time of the year to throw hard jerk baits like the x-rap,and Xcalibur XS4. I have good luck this time of year throwing a Red Eye shad, plus i can cover a lot of water.

I fish a small, clear, upland resevoir.  Ice out has been the best time for me on the big fish, as I am still a newbie.  I have been fishing jigs/craws and c-rigs/beavers or kreatures on deeper structure.  I fish them very slowly.  This year I am going to try some suspending crank baits and see how they do.

Around my area in northeast Indiana I fish lakes with some current that usually open up a bit sooner than most in the area ( Most lakes here are natural lakes with very little current). Slow-rollling a spinnerbait, lipless crank, and fishing a jerkbait is how I'll most likely be kicking off this season.  It's not too far out and I can't wait!

JP

I'll be fishing up and down my canal for a few weeks. Spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits, and jerkbaits produce well.

Falcon

At ice out I generally fish the deeper structure winter haunts.  Catch alot of big fish like this, generally on some type of t-rig or jig.  The clearer the water the deeper I generally fish at ice out... but who knows.  I have caught LMB off of 2ft deep stumps when half the lake was still frozen.   Confused yet??  Let the fish tell ya whats up.

After ice out on my lake I go fairly shallow (2-6 feet). Dark bottoms, weeds, close to spawning grounds. Those fish are cold and hungry, they will go to the warmest water. Cloudy and/or windy days I throw a reaction bait like a flat sided crank, suspending jerkbait, lip less crank, sunny calm days I target cover with jigs/plastics etc...

You got options.  Every year, the first or second trip of the year, it seems like I catch 1 or 2 big fish very shallow (1-2 ft) on a rattle bait.  That being said, I will catch more fish fishing deeper, using a suspending pointer or a shad rap.

I know guys who, the first few trips of the year will take six jig rods, and that's it.  There will be a chompers on one and the other five will have different colors of the 5/16 Eakins jig.

The main thing is to just get out.  For me, that is probably a month away.