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Old 03-29-07, 10:24 AM   #1
Snake2715
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Default Some Early Spring Help Requested

Hey everyone,

I will try to be complete and to the point here.

Last year I missed the spawn period and basically I want in on the action. I am in Mid Michigan and fish a few bodies of water. The closest two are a stream, and a state park lake.

The state park lake is 410 acre man made. It has a range of fish:
Lake Ovid has proven to be a very popular fishing lake with a wide variety of fish such as muskie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, bluegill, sunfish, crappie, rock bass, perch, catfish and bullheads.

It ranges from depths of about 14-16 feet. Their is a contour map here:

http://www.michigandnr.com/publicati...ContourMap.pdf

I do have a few boat options but for the next week or two I will be fishing from shore.

I have been out 3 times so far for about 1-3 hours each. The latest being last night. I have had bites the most recent two outings and didn't turn up any fish.

The water temp as of last Saturday was about 45 degrees. Its somewhat stained I haven't been able to get a guess on visibility as its been windy the last couple of outings and rained on and off enough to keep the water from clearing up.

My few bits have come maybe around 7-8 pm (just getting dusk) and seem to be around brush or weedy areas on plastics.

My questions are as follows...

A) Am I too early at this point?
B) I have been eager to jump right in fishing plastics should I be fishing spinners or the like during the next couple weeks instead?
C) Are certain times of day or evening better right now?
D) How do I know when the spawning occurs or has started? Or are there even an sure tell signs of this?

Thanks for any response.
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Old 03-29-07, 11:44 AM   #2
Jolly
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A.) From you location I would say you guys are still at least 2 weeks away from the spawn, likely more. Here in NW Texas, we are just starting to see a few fish on beds. By the full moon on monday they should be on here. So, yes, I think you are a bit early to be fishing for beds.
B.) You can always catch fish on soft plastics so not necessarily. However, since your fish seem to be in pre-spawn, I would be fishing something with a little more action. I generally fish a suspending rattlin' rogue jerkbait, a weightless fluke, or a small carolina rigged tiki stik fished pretty quickly, when the fish are staging as they likely are now, there. Look for structure like rocks and trees in the water. Little cuts in the bank with rocks are great places for spawning. Now that you know where they will likely spawn, fish out past those areas in the deeper structure, like 8 - 12 feet. Fish the mouths of coves in these staging areas looking for the same, especially in the lake you fish. For the river: does it have current, how wide and how deep?
C.) Since the water is cold right now, the fish will become more active as the day warms making the hottest part of the day the best time.
D.) Usually moon phase and water temp are good indicators of spawn. Also physical characteristics like fish with bloody tails and obvious beds are an easy, less scientific way of identifying the spawn. Water temps need to be in the 60's (usually) for the fish to begin spawning but usually in mid 60's for the spawn to really be on. If you have access to a temp gauge then use it. The full moon on May 1 will be a good estimate for the spawn up there likely. Might be a little late not sure. However in the next month they will be spawning there.

I would go every day that I can fish the above mentioned places, get you a good pair of polarized sunglasses and look for bass cruising around looking for places to spawn and finally look for fish on beds. Beds are obvious because they are generally 12 - 18" across cleared out areas on rocky shorelines that are protected by trees, rocks or grass. Once the fish are on beds, sight fishing is on and then their is no sure fire way to catch em. Sometimes you have to throw alot of lures at them to catch them, and sometimes the first thing in their bed will catch them, just depends upon the fish (in my experience). However a jig or drop shotted senko are always a good choice when site fishing.

I hope that answers some of your questions. Hopefully, others will fill in what I may have left out.

Good luck and tight lines!

Jolly
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Old 03-29-07, 12:16 PM   #3
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Thank you very much Jolly this gets me started!
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Old 03-29-07, 01:10 PM   #4
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I'm with Jolly on the timing-the last few weeks most of the action is in the afternoon after the water has warmed up a little. With water that cold slow is the ticket. Jigs, shakey heads and suspend jerkbaits will produce, just spend a lot of time letting the bait sit. The fish will be sluggish, so don't work a bait too fast. As the water warms you will start to see small bass cruising the shallows-these are males looking for a place to build a nest. The bigger fish, the females, will be in deeper water near the spawning areas. When you see the smaller bass cruising fish deeper with spinnerbaits and lipless cranbaits. The females will be actively feeding, and fast moving baits will produce.
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Old 03-30-07, 08:41 AM   #5
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Ok,

So I had a few minutes (read half hour) on the way home last night.. I started witht he senko and switched to a spoon actually and pulled in two like this:

Maybe 5-6 inches total....



But hey its better than nothing.

Thanks everyone I am excited to get out there again and try some deeper waters.
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Old 03-31-07, 12:06 PM   #6
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I agree with Jolly and Reb. Good advice there. I would add just a couple things. Here in NW Indiana, the spawn usually takes place in mid may. Give or take a couple weeks depending on the water temp. The cold fronts up here can be severe and really mess things up. Slow as they said is the key for now. Long pauses between jerks of a suspending jerk bait are recommended most days. Sometimes as long as 30 second pauses will work best. Just experiment. There are days when a quicker retrieve will work well too, like after a few days of 70 degree weather. I have been having great success lately working a chatterbait slowly. I've been casting towards deeper water near shallow cover and crawling it back with slight tugs for action. It's a slow presentation worked deeper with good bait action. Might give it a try. I tip my chatterbait with a split tail trailor. I've had my best success with a white chatterbait and chartruese trailor.
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Old 03-31-07, 09:52 PM   #7
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we dont fish when we see bass on beds or gaurding it..we go elsewhere on lake where bass are NOT spawning..
you should leave those bass alone ,its right thing to do..
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Old 04-01-07, 01:19 AM   #8
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lol ...the fish well be fine just put them BACK !!
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