What would you do?

[Forestlaker]

Central Minnesota spring time

Cloudy, wind NW 5-10 clearing by afternoon

Moderate cold front moving in

700 am

800 acre lake, two shallow bays, two reed banks,

docks, not a lot of mid lake structure

Water temp 62 degrees

Water clarity 2.5 feet

First time on the lake

Boats in the water electronics are on idling away from the landing. No wife no kids all day to fish.

Where do you start and what do you throw?

[Deitz Dittrich]

To be totally honest, this has way too many variables... Like you say what the water temp is now.. but what was it the day before and how cold did it get the night before. If its first thing in the morning and you are getting a 62 degree water temp. Then my guess is that the fish are in full swing of the spawn.

If this were the case, a white tube may be all that is needed for the whole day.

If it was a warm night and the day before was a warm one.. then its possible that you are just getting the first part of the spawn and will see many cruisers.. soft plastic and hard jefkbaits would be the start of the day and as fish pulled more shallow you could work into a swimming worm or a tube.

If it was post spawn and a cold front brought the temp back down to 62, then fishing the breaks with the jerks again may be the way to attack.

Also, it would be nice to know where the 2 bays are.. if the bays were in the northern part of the lake they would deffinatly be worth a shot, and more valuable than if they were in the southern half of the pond.

Fish will often spawn in the north/eastern part of the lake first.. If the fish are done there, you can work your way south on the lake to maybe find more active fish.

FYI-most often if a cold front is moving in, you will get a north/east wind.

Got a topo of the lake?

FYI for stained water my fave color of soft plastic jerk bait is Funky Chicken.

[BigMike]

Huh... should have some good answers on this question. If this was my first time on the lake I would definitely be looking for a topo map. You say there are two shallow bays and reed banks. Given the conditions you mention, I would probably head to the shallow bays and look for the points, channels and breaks just outside or leading into the bays. I would work a jerkbait or a t-rigged worm through these sections first. The other consideration I would really look for are the first docks heading into the bays. If the docks stop along a shoreline I would be sure to work the last dock as well. If I'm not finding any fish in the typical staging areas, and as the temp begins to rise, I would push deeper into the bays & flats in search of spawning bass. A couple of great lures for spring bass are, t-rigged worms, tubes, jerkbaits (soft & hard) and creature baits.

You also mentioned two reed banks. I may give these consideration depending on where they are located in comparison to the bays. If they are in the bays, I would spend a little bit of time flipping & pitching to them with a creature bait.

And as DD said, it all depends on the location of the bay... the bays on the north end of the lakes spawn a bit earlier than the ones on the south shores, however being that this is only a 800 acre lake, the water temps may be very similar across the lake (north or south).

I'm just curious... is this a real lake or just "hypothetical"

[Juice]

HEy Deitz- how do you normally rig up that "funky chicken" soft jerkbait? Do you use it weightless or you use it T-rigged?

Refering back to the question: I would probably look at the north side of the lake 1st and look for some structure and any weeds. Then if i did pull something out of there i would make notes on why that fish was there. Whether it was bedded or just cruising around. My weapon of choice would be plastics like worms and lizards. Either weightless or T-rigged.

[BigMike]

Quote:

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HEy Deitz- how do you normally rig up that "funky chicken" soft jerkbait? Do you use it weightless or you use it T-rigged?

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I know you asked Deitz this question, but I would go out on a limb and say he probably rigs it tex-posed (with an Extra Wide Gap hook) with a bullet weight up front. Then again, I could be entirely wrong.

I LOVE soft jerkbaits, they are very versatile! I always rig them tex-posed with an Extra Wide Gap hook (I wish I had a picture for you, but I'm at work right now ). You can use them weightless and twitch them across (or just underneath) the surface of the water and they make a great reaction type bait (this is my most prefered method but usually only in warm months) or you can put a bullet weight (just like texas rigs) and glide/twitch them through weeds & cover.

The reason why I said that Deitz probably rigs them with a weight is that I get most of my spring time bites on a slower and deeper lure presentation. As I mentioned, soft jerkbaits are great surface lures and you WILL get a lot of topwater or surface strikes on these baits, but this type of presentatin is a lot more common in the summer & fall months. If bass are bedding, most often they won't leave the bed to strike something... it has to come through their "territory". And if they are pre or post spawn, most likely bass are holding to deeper cover and you'll want to get your baits down there.

A couple of other rigging options that I really like is to use a small bullshot peg weight (bullet shaped peg weight) on these lures. If I'm going for deeper water I will peg a 1/8-1/4oz weight, for a surface/topwater presentation I'll go weightless or 1/16-1/32oz. This allows me to twitch and have the bait fall slowly nose first between twitches.

The last one I have is for mimicing a fleeing minnow - hopping across the surface. Instead of rigging the hook eye through the nose of the bait, hook it about 1-1.5 inches back weightless and as you twitch the bait, the lure will hop out of the water and mimic a fleeing minnow.

Just some thoughts on working soft jerkbaits... Deitz, anything else you want to add?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Not Bad BM...

The answer deals more about where the fish are. If they are shallow I will fish them weightless. I often will use a 4/0 Mustad Ultra Lock hook. Which by most standards is a pretty heavy hook, I couldnt tell you exactly how much it weighs but I would guess its twice as heavy as a Gamakatsu hook. Usually if I do weight one of these baits, I will either go with a light bull shot sinker like Big Mike mentioned, and then crimp it up the line about 18"... Or most often I will weight the hook. By weighting the hook it keeps the action of the lure the way it was intended, where if you weight the nose of the bait it cahnges the action of the bait completely. By then weighting the hook you still get the great soft jerk bait action.. You can weight the hook with lead tape, or I usually just use a rubber core sinker and remove the rubber and crimp it on the hook.

[Forestlaker]

Thanks for the discussion. The lake is hypothetical. I was looking for some ideas on some typical early season conditons on some stained water lakes near where I live. Examples Coon, North Center, Green lake. A lot of times right around the spawn bass can be in a pretty negative mood. On lakes with low visibility how hard is it for bass to locate a slowly presented soft plastic? Would it be better to use a flashy, noisy presentation (spinnerbait, jerkbait, rattlebait)? Where do you find the balance between a bait they can locate easily or a slow presentation that fits the fishes mood better?

[Deitz Dittrich]

F-Laker, I love fishing North and South Center.. probably my fave water system in the state... Then again , I live across the street from south center.. so that helps..

To be honest with you.. Bass can find a "slowly presented soft plastic" just fine.. they can see under water much easier than we can.. they have to. They also rely quite a bit on thier lateral line. Even an unweighted soft plastic jerkbait kicks off an amazing ammount of underwater vibrations!

Good luck this spring!

[GullGuide]

If I've never been on the lake before, I'll start by hitting the most obvious structure which is the reed beds.

I will look for active fish by either throwing a spinnerbait or a buzzbait. Yea, some will say a buzzbait is best in the summer, but I have done very well on them from the first week of the season all the way to ice-up. I'm looking for aggressive fish here.

Then, as the day goes on and the water warms I would then start fishing the bays and concentrate on the vegitation such as pads or coontail.

Like Dietz said, there are way too many variables to nail it down further.

Good luck!

[ikeslayer]

DD you say that you would use the white tube. I am rookie tell me why you are using such a lure in the spring? Just a curious question. Thanks fellas

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ike, when fishing shallow fish, I like to use a color I can see... that way when it disapears, SET THE HOOK... white is one of the easiest to see in the water.. Also, fish have proven it to a color they will hit as well... Give it a try!

[jackfish]

I would look to areas that are potential spawning areas. Depending on how late in the spring you are fishing, the fish are most likely in pre-spawn and hungry. I find as the day progresses and the sun comes out the fish are closer to the banks. Particularly the smaller males. Go a little deeper for the females. Some of the best baits I use are insect imitators like small hair jigs twister tails and smaller tubes. I think the fish are still a little sluggish but hungry and will gobble up a dragon fly nymph or mayfly larve faster than anything. Just my opinion, try it. Make adjustments as the fish react.

Jackfish