Cold Water Bass
and we ain’t talking ice fishing here!
By Wayne Ek
Well, it’s March 14th and the high was only 21 degrees. Hopefully
we will see a change in the weather patterns and get some of those 50 or
60-degree days. Unless we see a quick turn around in this weather pattern and
have a number of warmer days it could be a cold-water opener. In the past while
speaking with Dean Beck, from the DNR Fisheries Office, he indicated that it was
entirely possible that we could find bass still in the spawning cycle at the
time of our opener.
If this turns out to be a cold-water opener, then I suggest you target smaller
bodies of water in the area. Look for smaller lakes that have stained water,
either naturally or caused by excessive run-off. Then move shallow and fish hard
structure, like docks, trees and large rocks.
I am constantly amazed how shallow bass are willing to move in dirty water. Last
year I spent 2 weekends fishing bass tournaments down on Lake Okoboji in Iowa.
During the course of the two tournaments the water temperature yo-yoed between
44 and 51 degrees. At this point I would like to be able to say we patterned the
fish and placed in the money on both tournaments, we didn’t. However, we did
catch plenty of fish, most just under the minimum 15-inch length limit. During
the pre-fish and both tournaments most of the fish we caught came from muddy
water in the east lakes. Those fish where holding in less than a foot of water,
on the back of docks or shallow brush piles. Even with the water temperatures
that low, dirty water bass seem to go extremely shallow.
So for our opener I suggest that you look for some stained water and slow down
your presentation, go to something like a jig and pig. In that cold water last
week, we fished 1/8 ounce Strike King Bitsy Bug’s (blue/black) with a Zoom Super
Chunk (black) plastic trailer. I’ve had fantastic success in clear water with
the Bitsy Bug just out of the package, but in muddy water you’ve got to have a
rattle. The Bitsy Bug doesn’t have a built-in rattle, but at most tackle stores
you can pick-up add on rattles, that just slide on over the hook. We also slow
rolled white spinner baits with some success.
If the water stays as cold as it is now I’ll look at trying some do-nothing
rigs. I’ve been using Senko’s from Yamamoto Custom Baits. I usually rig them
Texas style, but in cold water I’m thinking wacky rigging may be more
productive. Last year I started using Lindy’s 7 strand weed-less hooks (walleye
size) on the Senko’s, instead of a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. With the smaller hook the
Senko seemed to hold up better and not break apart after one fish. For stained
water I like the 5” 9-Series Senko in black / red fleck or fire tiger, if I can
find them. No matter what type of presentation you elect to toss, if the water
stays cold, slow down and make multiple casts at your targets.
And if Dean Beck from Fisheries is right, we could find bedding fish on the
opener. Those fish will be very vulnerable to over harvest; even catch and
release could be rough on a fishery if a number of people target the same fish,
especially on a small body of water. So if you find bedding fish, go easy on
them, we have all year to chase them.
Good luck on the bass opener and I hope to see you on the water.
Wayne Ek,
Agape Fishing Guides
classicbass.com Field Staff
