Come Fish Lake X

[AMC23]

So as we all eagerly anticipate the springtime fishing, I got into a conversation with a buddy about this. So, you have a boat for sure --- 3 rods, 3 reels lined with what you want, and three specific baits to fish all day to catch fish on a lake that you have never been to. The season is say early spring (pre-spawn) since that is just around the corner. So what is your game plan?

My Picks:
-7' MH Diawa Light 'N Tough with Shimano Citica spooled with 20# fluoro
-6' 6" M St. Croix Premier with Shimano Citica spooled with 14# fluoro
-6'6" M Shimano spinning rod with Shimano Sahara spooled with 8# fluoro

Baits:
- 1/2 oz Green Pumpkin Buckeye jig with an Uncle Josh Pork Trailer
- Norman DD22 Crank in sour grape
- Black and blue senko rigged on Gamakatsu hook drop shot rig

[aikenyounggun]

I have a couple questions before I can answer this accurately. Are we fishing to win a tournament or going there to catch fish, and lots of them? And say i pick a senko, can i change colors and presentation (drop shot, texas, wacky)? Can i see the lake to gauge the color of the water and see how the water has been and what the temperature has been in the past week (weather)?

Besides that, this reminds me on a restricted Day on the Lake that Bassmaster does with the pros.

[AMC23]

The bassmaster day on a lake started the conversation.... here are the specifics.... say you can't change colors but you can change tactics. Say t-rig to wacky etc. Early spring so lets go with 58 degree water temp and and stained water (1 - 2 foot visibility). No unusual weather patters. I mean no cold fronts or storms recently or in the forecast. Just out on a lake to catch fish (not tournie fishing) but also want to catch some quality fish.

[Bender]

6'6" Crucial M with Chronarch Mg50 - 20# PP & 10# fluro leader
6'10" Fenwich Elite-Tech Drop Shot with Stradic - 7# FC Sniper
6' Fenwick HMX Medium - Curado E7 - 50# PP

Pointer 100 in Ghost Minnow color
3" Nemesis Goby in KLK color
Sammy in Perch color

The jerkbait is the hardest choice for me, there are so many. But that color works everywhere and it's a middle of the road size. The topwater is also hard to choose from that or a different rod with a Pop-Max, but that time of year the spook/sammy takes it for me. Only problem is in real life on this day I'll probably have 10-15 rods laying all over the place. (and still only really use those 3, maybe a trap too)

[Bassboss]

ANY rod? Does it have to be one we have!

1:
7' Daiwa Zillion Rod, Daiwa Zillion 7:1 reel. 15lb flouro

2:
6'6" Gloomis spinnerbait bait rod, with a Revo Premier 6.4:1. 17lb mono

3:
6'6" Daiwa Pixy Rod, with a Daiwa Liberto Pixy. 8lb Flouro


1:
1/4oz Tungsten weight, 3/0 wide gape gammy hook, with a 7.5" Powerbait worm. BLACK

2:
White spinnerbait, 4 1/2 willow blade.

8: Shaky head finesse worm 6" with, 1/8 oz shaky head.

~~~~~~~~

Cool topic btw!

[AMC23]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by Bassboss

ANY rod? Does it have to be one we have!

LOL... I thought about that and I went with the Diawa Light N' Tough which I do not have but will be buying (I hope) at this years BPS Classic. So no, it can be any rod that you want.

[Bassboss]

[QUOTE=AMC23;280396]

LOL... I thought about that and I went with the Diawa Light N' Tough which I do not have but will be buying (I hope) at this years BPS Classic. So no, it can be any rod that you want.

Cool, I wanna go to the one buy is this year too, I've never gone to one before. Where are you located?

Ok, Good!

[muddy]

All I use are 7 ft Daiwa Pyrocons, presently and ABU Round Reels, so 3 of those, thats easy enough.
3 baits

1. Light jig head, with a Brush Bug trailer; Working any points/drop offs close to a known spawning ground, looking for staged fish

2. Rapala Jointed #11; Deadly pre spawn bait for me especially if there are cruisers up and around big rocks

3. 4 inch Alluring Trick Stick, wacky rigged>>> a very slow dead stick approach at this time of the year, again over water that has rocks or wood submerged, and some activity shows up on the screen

all my plastics are brown, green or black; shades depend whats on sale, beyond that I dont think color/scent is as improtant as Depth in the water Coloumn and Size of the Bait

Finding them is always primary, because if the are not there you can't catch them, pre spawn is nutty , you can fuish 3 days in a row, in the same weather pattern and only one day will they be really aggressive. A good way for me to cut water out , especially where there was ice out, is to look for the warmest part of the lake on the day you are fishing, and mid day to 4pm being my favorite times,.

[AMC23]

Cool, I wanna go to the one buy is this year too, I've never gone to one before. Where are you located?

I think this year I will be going to the BPS in Rossford, Ohio. And then heading up to Dundee, MI and go to Cabelas... It is going to be a great time... just me and the monkey and other bass fishing nuts like myself!

[JB]

I think we've all gone through this one, ya wait forever and a day to get out and fish that first time in spring, ya pick a warm sunny day and most of us start out fishing way to fast for the water temp. If the waters upper forties or low fifties I'd think your pig n jig or senko would be a good place to start.
I'd start with a jerk bait and small crank baits in the shallows on a bank that warms up first(north bank east or west sides).
As we well know, in theory we can pick the lures, after the first hour conditions will tell you dif if no bites, ya start using other techniques.
I'm not to hung up on what tackle you bring, I carry high priced gear like the rest of us, and would rather think about where and when type thinking on migration .

Any of the ideas mentioned in the other posts would work given any day on what the fish want, I've caught big spring fish on spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and traps, jigs. Other lures to have is the worm and small crank baits, it depends on if you get out on ice out or several weeks later IMO.

[TN_Bassin]

If only allowed three rods I would take these three-

1-7ft XH Carrot Stix W/a Revo Premier spooled with 15lb Seaguar Abraz-X

2-6.6ft M St. Croix Mojo Bass W/a Revo premier spooled with 15lb Trilene Big Game

3-6ft MH G-Loomis GL3 spinning rod W/a Shimano Saros spooled with 10lb Seaguar Abraz-x

If only allowed three baits-

1-1/4oz Black/Blue Bitsy Flip w/a Flippin Blue zoom swim chunk.

2-Lucky Craft Pointer-100sp in either Pearl or Chartruse Shad color

3-1/4oz Spot Remover Shakey Head with either a Black Zoom Finesse Worm or a Green Pumpkin one.

Saying this I can definitley say that these choices will probably change come Spring time. I went off of what my go to Early Spring rods were last year.

[aikenyounggun]

Well first rods aint a huge thing with me, but hey, I'll work with what I got.

Revo STX times 2 (15 lb, 12lb big game mono), and my old Abu garcia spinnin reel (10lb big game)

7'2" G-Loomis, MH
6'6 Berkley Bionix
6'6 old lightning rod

3 Baits: 1) Zoom trick worm, junebug, for C-rig, shakey head, texas rig/wacky worm if needed 2) Blue and Chrome Rattle-trap, 1/2 oz
3) brown Buckeye mop jig

zoom trick worm can do a bunch of different jobs, so can the berkley bionix (its my pond rod, haha) .. Loomis for jig/C-rig, bionix is fillin in, spinnin reel for wacky/shaky

[BassAddict]

7' H St. Croix Legend 17 lb XPS fluorocarbon
7' MH Harmonics 20 lb Berkley Big Game
7' MH Harmonics 20 lb Berkley Big Game

t-rig babybrushhog
3/8 oz. black buzzbait
3/8 oz. chart/white Terminator spinnerbait

[lilmule]

Diawa spinning outfit-100 pointer in ghost shad-10 pd mono
Kistler-frog n slop special-special altered cool water buzzbait-called a DBBB-45 lb Power pro braid
[IMG][/IMG]
Carrot stix-20 pd power pro braid-sinko-green-pumkin w/red fleck

[screwballl]

location or at least region would make a big difference... some northern states with more reservoirs, clear water and rocky bottoms would need very different presentation and lures then many of the heavier vegetation, sand bottom clear water here in the deep south...

for anywhere within several hours of here, I would stick with watermelon flake or similarly colored senkos fished both wacky and texas rigged for various pre-spawn openings

[nofearengineer]

Frankly, if I'm allowed only 3 rods and 3 lures...Sir, I refuse to show up.

[AMC23]

Frankly, if I'm allowed only 3 rods and 3 lures...Sir, I refuse to show up.

Lol... well said. As far as location I didn't really have anything in mind. I fish a lot of stained water unless I go up north into Michigan. On a different note, that is a great looking buzzbait. What brand is that? I googled cool water buzzbait dbbb but didn't find anything...

[basstech]

I concur with JB. I for one don't do the only three baits scenario simply because that is not a realistic situation I would ever find my self in. Depending on water temps, clarity/light penetration. I let those things determine what presentation to use first. I've also caught lot's of nice bass on Buzz baits early in the spring when water temps or low to mid '50's, and a couple of other soft plastics.