Bass opener

[waltinader]

What kind of structure and depth do you look for on bass opener. Do some people like to fish shallow, deep and find them suspended, what are your favorite spots to fish for early season bass. Any help would be great.

[bassman186]

Well Waltinader let me be the first to welcome you to FishingMinnesota.com here you will find all kinds of help for any type of outdoors activity. To answer your question, I personally have found early season to be difficult, my fish have all come from shallow water docks and rock points.

I'm sure Deitz will chime in and help you out more than I could!

~Matt Jung

[cheektowaga]

Last year we found them fairly shallow 2-4 feet deep, but that was a northern MN lake with a storm blowing through. Did pretty well on spinnerbaits that weekend, once the storm passed and things cleared up the bass went a little deeper, out of the flat area and we did better on cranks. My advice: find a lake that's not too big but that offers a lot of different structures if you're unsure of where to fish. Then, depending on the weather patterns, you can spend some time in search mode and concentrate efforts/presentations afterwards. I can't wait!

[ikeslayer]

Welcome, the fruit of this HSOforum alone will be worth some hours fishing you have done a good thing by signing up. But to answer your question last year i fished up by park Rapids for the opener and we couldn't go wrong however inline spinners and crawfish imitation cranks proved to be best. But her farther south i too have had limited sucess. Looking forward to what some other guys say.

[Deitz Dittrich]

waltinader, Welcome to FishingMinnesota.com, join in on the many pages of threads!.. Its great to have you on board.

Bassman-thanks for the vote of confidence!

As for the question, it really will depend on what the weather does between now and then. Should it warm up we could hit the spawn this year in many parts of the state. Often times we end up fishing post-spawn which can be tough.

Generally I do best on opening day on inside weedlines. Most weeds will only grow in water deeper than 2-3 feet leaving an inside weedline between that 3 foot depth and shore. Some lakes it can even be a tad deeper but I would say 3 foot is pretty close. I do best throwing weightless plastics.

Now, if we continue to have this bitter cold weather and such, then the fish will be pre-spawn. If thats the case pull back to points and flats leading to spawning areas.. if this is the case we will catch them pretty good. Keep in mind that the bass usually will start their spawn anywhere from a surface temp of 60-65 degrees depending on the lake...

Best of luck!

[JPSavage]

I live in the Nevis area , and, of course , have many lakes to fish.....I have found that patterns from lake to lake can vary dramaticaly.....If your not on to em on one lake , don't assume the same applies on another lake....It seems they are in or near shallow water related to points, and other key structure areas.....Be versatile with lure choices until you find a pattern and your home free.......Good luck to all!

[megger8]

This is my opener and I'm having a hard time containing my excitement. A lot will depend if the weather decides to warm up or not. The warmer the water the shallower the bass will be. I find that the cabbage beds in approx 8' of water that border your shallower weeds produces the most fish. Remember to work slow baits with the water still being pretty chilly. I'm a huge power slug person. Can't go wrong with those! Good luck to you

[Lunker]

Deitz had my main tactic nailed down. Shallow, with plastics. Another thing I may lok for(when I have opener up north anyways) is shallow inlets and outlets from the lake with some weedgrowth that I can move up into and fish. Last couple years most of the fish were up in these and in the mouth, with very few fish active around the rest of the lake. Do well with white tube jigs, and an assortment of other plastics.

[bassman186]

megger8;

I noticed you are from Chaska, We'll have to get out Bass fishing this year sometime!

~Matt Jung

[ThunderCat]

If you wanna catch bass guaranteed then fish docks and lily pads. I think bass fishing is prolly easiest fish to catch besides sunnies. Just put on some polarized glasses and find some weeds and start fishing man.

[megger8]

Would love to bassman186 - pretty sure that you live pretty close to me too. Leave me an email if you want to hook up

[megger8]

Gotta love those plastics huh? You have a favorite? I love those power slugs