What size lures for cold water bass?

[Slayem9]

Locally, the water temp is 48 and the level high from too much rain.

What size lures would you use for transition bass (those going from ice-out conditions to prespawn)?

What style lures would you use?

Jerkbaits are a no-brainer for me.

[jglassguy]

Jig n pig

[Scott]

I would use a jig n pig also.

[ryan7261]

Cold Water Bassin

Unless you live in the warmer climates of the country, February brings a fever to anyone's heart and body who fishes for a hobby. Preparation and knowledge will increase your chances of engaging an early season bass in battle. Keep in mind some of the basic tenets of nature. We have a built in blast furnace to ward of cold. When our bodily thermostat sees a need for more heat, fat and food is sent to the ovens of the digestive system. Discomfort may be felt, but the body stays at a normal constant. Bass and other cold blooded species aren't so fortunate. Amphibians and reptiles opt for hibernation. Bass, as do all fish, must resort to a subdued lifestyle while waiting out Old Man Winter Fat is consumed, but in a reduced fashion. Movement is maintained, but not with the summertime sharpness and snap. Lethargy overtakes aggressiveness in the aquatic domain of the bass. Anglers must adjust their methods and tactics to reflect the late winter and early spring activities of bass. The cold water angler must be deliberate and methodical in his approach. Before ever making a cast, have a gameplan under your belt. Put all other thoughts aside and think like a bass. What will you need to survive? Where are the best places to take up residency while battling the cold of the early season? Which foods are easily found and caught in the bone chilling waters? The needs are simple for a bass. He needs food, shelter and protection. Step one of your gameplan is concentrate on the simple facts and solve them. Heat is a big problem when facing month after month of cold. Bass are attracted to a warmer area. This could be slightly more radiant part of the lake or a patch of water in his predominant locale which heats up first. Places to try first are the northern sections of the lake. These take the southern flow of sunlight for the longest period of time. It is best to concentrate on areas where this glow hits the longest. This goes double if a small cove nestles against a northern shore. The water has twice the chance of gaining a few degrees. The jutting sides of the bay block wind from robbing the radiant heat. Runoff water may or may not be helpful. If a southern wind has brought warm rains, the runoff will have a positive effect at increasing a bass' appetite. If the rain is a hard, driving deluge from the north, it will only lower the temperatures and decrease the hunger drive. When searching prime early season habitat, try and locate waters where the area is free from shade. Steep bluffs block sun. Heavy tree limbs will filter light even without leaves. Houses, dams and other manmade structure usually impair the sun's radiation. Find and fish places with a dark background. Such sections will gather warmth and pull in a bass. Black is best for attracting heat. Some lakes have bottoms which will attract and hold heat better than others. A mucky bottom will bring bass into action faster than a sandy one. The organic matter gathers in heat faster. The heat then generates action in the imbedded microbes. They go into action, reducing the dead matter back to its basic elements. Such bodily action by miniscule animal life tend to raise water temperature. Search out sections of the lake that are normally flooded with plantlife later in the year. These sections will be used by bass early in the year for many of the reasons already discussed. Aquatic weeds grow best in organic soil. Ant gardener knows vegetables and flowers thrive in heavy humus. Water plants are no different. Sandy shoals offer little in the way of nutrition. Submerged shrubs flourish in much the same manner as the household cousins. They need organic matter to blossom forth. Dark, mucky bottoms will give them their daily dose of all the necessary vitamins and minerals important for growth. These budding backdrops for nature offer bass many options. They provide the extra added temperarure. The absorption rate is high in these thermal hothouses.

[ryan7261]

They also offer another needed commodity for the daily needs of an early season bass. Budding plants provide oxygen in depleted waters. If there had been a heavy ice and snow cap, the lake my be depleted in available oxygen. The tender shoots of new growth not only give bass a breath of fresh air, but call in smaller critters as well. This serves another solution to the need list of a cold water bass. Food must be available and it must be of the variety a sluggish bass can overcome. Forget about frogs and other amphibians. It is too early for them to emerge. They are still buried, allowing their skins to provide oxygen for their metabolism. Bass need a quick boost in the belly. They need a prey that can be easily tracked and overtaken without a tremendous outlay of energy. These murky bottomed bays are fertile hunting grounds. Minnows gather about in the tender leaves. They nibble on succulent sections of buds and inhale the the fresh supply of oxygen. Many of them are weakened by months of hardship. Little bodies don't hold up well to the ice. Gizzard shad are a prime example. They often swim about near the surface, dazed and quivering. Daces and darters need the high levels of available oxygen. Crayfish use such places to hunt for food also. Later in the spring, when the amphibians do start to emerge, they will wiggle from their mucky cocoons, sluggishly filling their lungs with gulps at the surface. Such areas are prime bass waters in the icy period of early spring. Now that food has been found and warmth located, bass has to be on the watch for predators. This time of year limits predation to the water. Bass seldom have to watch for enemies from above during the early spring months. They are less cautious of an angler sneaking about. This gives the fishermen a trump card to play. The bass are lulled into a false sense of security from months of seclusion under a blanket of white. After locating your prime areas, go to step two of your gameplan. Methodically fish only sections where bass are active. Limit your work to water less than 12 feet deep. There probably are a passel of bass deeper. There may be many times more in the depths than in the shallows. But these offshore swimmers are less likely to be active. Fish in the shallows are more likely to be aggressive. They are more willing to attack a lure. Cold water bassin is a time to play the odds. Lures should reflect your gameplan strategy. They should closely imitate cold water morsels. Small minnow type lures, jigs, and spinnerbaits are prime probers of cold water. The thin bodied minnow bait is the most overlooked early season lure. The A.C. Shiner, Rapala, and Rebel minnow are perfect examples of early bassin tools. These tiny darters closely resemble a struggling shad or dace wriggling about. The beauty of the lure is the ability to slowly work them in one area. Here again, you are playing the odds and matching the bait to the need. Sharp twitches of the rod tip will bounce them in place. Sensual ripples are sent out to tempt a sluggish fish into action. The bass has plenty of time to react. He knows the crippled meal won't get away and he can take his good old time getting to it. In order to lengthen the time the bait can be kept in one place, file a notch on the bottom section of the eye. Tie a nonslipping knot, such as the Trilene model, against the ring. This will force the bait to bounce downward. It can be worked around a stump or rock for several minutes on each cast. The jig is most widely recognized cold water lure. These slugs of lead can be cast in just about any weather condition and turn heads their way. Cold waters call for a few minor adjustments. A thin strip of pork should be added. If you are going to use a chunk, such as Uncle Josh's No.11 size, trim off the fat. This will give them more bounce in the water. Pork strips and lizzards are popular cold water additions to the aft section. The midsection is a bit different. If the jig has hair or rubber legs, try to cut it into different lengths. This will permit each appendage more area to undulate. Clip these to various sizes with a set of fingernail cutters. Hook the strip on and try it out in the bath tub. You will be amazed at all the action sent out with a very slow retrieve. The third choice of cold water bassin baits is the spinner. Most anglers are familiar with the safety pinned variety. Many overlook the traditional in-line type. Mepps makes a fine array of this form. They seem to offer a morsel of just the right appearance. These can be enhanced with an inch or two of pork strip to add a little more calling power. Add this to the bottom tine on the treble hook to keep the bait from revolving. Don't leave out the safety pinned spinner however. These are still big bass getters in the cold waters of early spring. Team up a fine wire, large blade, small body, rubber skirt, pork trailer, and a careful, sluggish retrieve and you have a winning combination. Keep all these tips in mind and formulate your own cure for cold water bassin. You won't be disappointed!

[hookonfish]

i've had luck with lipless crankbaits and finesse worms and i've even had luck with a spinnerbait. i'm mostly a power fishermen

[Infisherman1]

Zilla, you've got to stop posting all these articles. Â*Or is it that you've got so much free time stuck in the snow that you've got nothing better to do than to type pages worth of replies? Â* Anyways, try and shorten it.I'm just plain too lazy to read the entire thing. Â*;D
BTW, love your avatar.

[profishermenkid16]

Sam ,I caught a few today here in NY , so its the same conditions except it was flood stage high here today.I fished a black/bluejig/ blue sapphire zoom super chunk jr trailer. (Big surprise : ) I caught 5 bass, but super slow was the presentation for the day.The jig was always sitting still when they hit it.P N J

[jglassguy]

Hey congrates png,, do you ever cut the pork down for more flexiblity? take the chunk and cut about have way back, then take about half the width off the end towards the legs, old trick you probably already know but I do stuff like that on my tackle that saves time out on the water

[profishermenkid16]

JB, I do when I want Â*to customize for a certain drop rate, but also a bigger profile looking bait.I never thin the chunk body thickness, because I skin hook my jigs hook through the center of the body like you thread a worm on a hook, instead of punching the hook through the top and out through the bottom side, like a pork baits are cut.The reason is they can spin and get in the way of the point penetrating the fishes mouth on the hookset. If you skin hook through the chunks center and back out ,it cannot spin anound on the hook to foul the hookset.I hope this makes some sort of sense to you, I have difficulty explaining things sometimes. P N J

[Rob Mak]

i prefure larger baits with a slower presention


no pnj you are just diffacult to begain with period.

zooker

[BassNva]

sam,in that temp...take my word for it...a 4"watermelon zoom lizard..t-rig.peg the sinker about 18" above the bait.or use a light c-rig..1/8oz weight.cast to brush piles and blowdowns in shallow water..i mean shallow 1 to 2 ft...as close to brush as you can get ..also try to skip it under overhanging trees..better if your in a cove with the wind blowing in and the water is a little stirred up.
hit the side that gets the sun 1st.
i was in that situation today...3 guys beside me caught fish in a tourney.they each had 1 fish.i caught 7...only 4 were keepers and they were small bucks.but it was enough to take 2nd.1st place had a4.13.
i won a tourney last year early spring the same way.
and sam...shhhhhhhhh..don't tell anyone.
forgot to mention....drag it a little(6"or so).let it sit.
water temps were 48 to 51 today.
another thing...jeez!....make sure there's a dropoff,even if a foot or 2.

[Slayem9]

Slower presentation, smaller bait. You know! Hogwash!!!!!!!!!

We expect a small bag and maybe nothing. I am going to go with the large 6" swimbaits. That's right. Give the big fish what they want and what they need for this time of year. The hell with the small stuff Go with the 6" 3/4oz or 1 oz Jighead. These fish, especially the large Bucketmouths want to feed like an Anaconda!!!! These fish do not want to exert themselves for a 4 or 5 inch smaller worm or senko.They see this stuff all the time. These large fish want to grab something worth while, to move for and feed less.

Think about it. How many large fish have been caught through the ice on 5 inch baitfish and I mean bass as well as the toothy critters. They are looking for the larger stuff. This is what I will be throwing for the most part.

(The quote is from an acqaintance that makes swimbaits and has a website for all the lures he sells.)

In spring, I have thrown large #5 tandem spinnerbaits, Rat L Traps, 4" Krocodile Spoons and 5" jerkbaits and caught 2-7 lb mamas, but the majority of fish bit smaller grubs, tubes and spoons.

Yesterday I cast a 4" Husky Jerk, lipless cranks and many smaller lures, but caught bass and pickerel on smaller stuff as well as 30 panfish.

Granted, larger fish may go for the larger meal, but they may also hit the tiny grubs and tubes, maybe more so. (My partner got a 4lb LM on a 2" grub yesterday.) Right place, right time, in my opinion.

Casting large swimbaits will result in a lot of casting practice and maybe no fish versus more fish and maybe a few lunkers. Casting large swimbaits will result in a lot of casting practice and maybe no fish versus more fish and maybe a few lunkers. Swimbaits require quite a bit of swim-speed to induce tail action and in 40-45 degree water, fish don't want to swim very far or for long for any large, bulky bait that's moving that fast. It seems that the smaller the fish, the faster the retrieve that they will allow.

I've heard pork is better than plastic in 45 degree water.
True?

Sam

[mblk181]

I'm still blindly slow falling a weightless zoom speed worm body in watermelon/red texposed on a 2/0 offset shank worm hook.....the body only, minus the tail. Some I cut at 4 inches in length, the others are a little longer, having been cut at the flat hooktail itself. After the fall, I let it set up to 30 seconds before lifting to feel for fish. Re-falling one time after the initial lift and resting for 15 or so seconds...after the second lift, reeling in and re-casting.

They cast like bullets, skip well under limb and dock and can be wacky rigged as well.