Ok here's the scenario, It's within a couple weeks after ice out in New York and you're on this 80 acre lake. You don't have any electronics(fishfinders,etc.) It's a nice day about 55 degrees with little wind.

Where would you target and what would you use?

I'm just wondering what other anglers would be trying in this situation and I'm sure it will help a lot of other people that have similar lakes with some little coves, flats, dropoffs, etc. I know I'd be throwing a jig, jerkbait, red eye shad, shakey head but personally I wouldn't know what areas would produce best this early after ice out.

it's hard to know distances without a scale, but I would say to the east side of that north point, where it goes from 10-20 feet, looks like the drop offs there will be nice, goes from 10-50 feet in a pretty short distance. The fish will still be a lil deeper in the colder water, (deeper water will be warmer right now) so without any other details I would start at that area.  I would try something slow, like a jig or a texas rigged plastic worked very slowly.  The fish will be sluggish, and won't want to use any more energy than is necessary to stay alive.  Slow presentations will be best.

3rd warm day with south wind fish north west shore and points.

Kelley

3rd warm day with south wind fish north west shore and points.

Kelley

you would recommend fishing the shore this time of year?  I'd bet almost anything there's nothing to be had on the shore this time of year.  The fish are still in deeper water.

Hmm, man without seeing what was on the shore and knowing if there was a creek channel, this is tough. Given your conditions, i would start at the point where it drops 50' to 20' (the middle upper part of the picture). Then, i would fish the point where it goes from 20' to 10' (middle-middle portion). After fishing all edges of that point, i would then fish the lowest point on the map where it gradually goes from 10' to 30'. Since the whole lake looks like a nice drop off, it is too hard to tell what portions of the bank will be nice. Once the weather gets warmer i'd of course venture off to the shallow. But for this prespawn, if you don't know a lake that well, and it's cold, by hitting all three points (fishing around the ten foot region, not shore line) i think you have a chance. Fish painfully slow. Good luck

If its really right after ice out, the bass may not be up shallow quite yet.... i would stick deff to a drop off, using a heavy football jig so that you have the ability to reach the floor.

By sticking to a drop off, you can locate at what depth fish are holding, since drop offs give you a rapid change in depth, which allows your to cover more of the water column without having to move from place to place to try different dpeths.

But yess, the bass will be sluggish... jigging and finessing will be key. You will most likely get bit by enticing the bass into eating rather than an anger strike you often recieve from a more eratic moving bait.... sloooow your presentation down.

If you are really having a hard time locating the bass, i would suggest even that you use a floating rig, down a drop off. I know it soounds crazy but many times i have went to town using this presentation when i just couldnt find where fish were holding. The floatin rig can be used so that your descent of your bait can tell your EXACTLY where fish may be suspended, rather than a football jig that just rushes straight to the bottom. It will demand that you fish slowly, and patiently and may eat up time, but can help you land at least a few fish, while answering where in the water column bass are.

Like shimmy said, to the left of that 50 foot hole, where it goes from 10 to 20 to 50 would be a great place to start. you can hopefully at least find the depth at which the fish are holding, and then move to similar depths you find you get bit the most.

Good Luck

I'd start on the big points deep, and work in shallower until I found some fish. They should be moving into the pockets inside the points. I'd start out with a jig and susp. jerkbait.

What lake is it, it looks like it came out of the DEC book

id fish that whole flat area that goes from 10-20 ft. Myabe try a deep diving crank bait fished really slow.

I'll take a stab, from 1200 miles away (although I did live in NY for a long while):

You never really know til you get there, and sometimes it takes a few trips to sort things out -at least for me. Dunno where in NY you are either. Could be an Adirondack SM lake, or a southern tier largemouth pit in farm country. If it's a downstate Catskill-ish LM lake kinda looks that way -with rocks and veges, you could have some deeper fish.

Some general parameters for assessing/eliminating water:

Clarity -tells you how deep bass habitat exists.

Prey tells you where, and often when, bass must spend their time.

Cover -Cover can make or break locations. Often the greater the diversity the better. Weeds tend to produce the most food, but a mix is often best, if it exists.

Substrate -like cover produces food, creates edges, and is critical during the spawn.

General bass habitat:

Much of the lake looks too deep for bass. However there are some possible elements that could support a deeper bass fishery, if they exist: High clarity, little cover, pelagic prey. If it's a clear, rocky SM lake, esp up north, nearly the whole lake are could be used. If it's a turbid, well fertilized, farmland lake, it could only have bass shallow due to oxygen issues, and no vegetation, deep.

Clarity is a good general indicator of bass' depth and cover/structure use. High clarity bass can go deeper and stray from cover/structure further esp with SM. Low clarity and bass will remain shallower and stick closer to cover/structure, esp with LM.

If there's few or no pelagic preyfishes, and there is vegetation, I'd consider the shallows as the majority of bass habitat. If clarity is low but there is pelagic prey, like gizzard shad (south), or yellow perch (north) you could have away-from-shore fishing but it will be remain higher in the water column.

Spring habitat:

I generally (from 1200miles away) like the looks of the shallow flats. They would warm first, esp the N side, and esp the NW as it likely receives the most early season sun. It's possible large numbers of bass move into that NW cove area very early, even before ice-out. I'd look for channels, potholes, cover areas, in that cove particularly in the NW of it. If it's got bluegills I'd even look right tight to shorelines looking for clusters of heat-soaking gills. Wind will play a role too, in daily heating. The shallow cove areas are worth looking at esp if they're wind protected.

Other spots to check are the S coves and NE cove for the same stuff.

Any or all of these areas might be used year round, again depending on clarity, cover, and prey. Realize there is a general movement into "deeper" water after the spawn. How deep is what you'll need to assess as you get there.

Wintering habitat:

D4u2s0t identified a classic wintering location. It may not pan out of course but the steep drop along that N ridge/point looks really interesting.

Another might be the E side of the S point, if there's a good drop there somewhere with some change like clay to rock, or muck to gravel, or Another area might be the drop along the outside the NE cove on the E shore (opposite D4's spot). Still another might be the funnel at the mouth of the W cove/basin. Again, these areas would need /be best to have something special to hold, or better, to concentrate the fish.

Now I'm pointing out classic deep water winter holds but it's possible that there are shallow fish all year. Depends on what the lake offers the fish. If it's a shallow fishery and there's good cover in the shallow zones then many bass may not leave the shallows, or would be quick to return after the mid/late winter habitat squeeze.

Let us know what you find.

Great stuff Paul!

This lake is in Southern part of NY and there's no smallmouths here, just LM, pickerel, bluegills, perch. Thanks a lot for all the opinions and info guys! Very much appreciated. I have fished this lake late last summer a couple times and both times it was a little tough fishing but the size of the bass were worth it as most were 2.5 lbs or better. That big flat on the western north side has some weedbeds you can see so I will def be hitting that area. The upper part of the NW cove has a very small stream running into it which looks like you called out perfectly. Thanks to everyone for the info and help and I'll let you know how I do when I fish it most likely towards the end of this week!

experment. find structure and cover you feel comfortable fishing. cover the whole lake. thats what i would do. fish every spot and techinque til you find sumthing that works and you feel comfortable doing. in tournaments do everyone go to one spot and use the same technique? heck no. they do what they feel comfortable doing. so thats what any angler should do. find a combination you are confident in and i gurantee you will catch fish