CDMTJager

Ordered some Jackal blade baits from TWH as I was shocked to find I didn't own a single blade bait and I already have more than enough hard sided jerkbaits. Lakes near my home are now ice free but its freezing rain and snow today so tomorrow is supposed to be dry and in the mid 40's and lake temps are 33-35* so I will see what I can do. Thanks to all for the help and advice.

Question about a Ned rig. Never fished a Ned rig. I do have a all the Ned Rig tackle and soft plastics just haven't tried a Ned Rig yet mostly because my lakes have very little to no weed free hard bottom left accessible from shore by early may, in short the lakes I do 90% of my fishing average depth from shore is under 10" and weed up very quickly after May1st. Am I correct in thinking a Ned Rig is meant to be fished in a mostly weed free hard bottom, and not a very good choice for moderate to heavy weeds? I am reasonably confident my most fished lakes bottoms will be relatively weed free from ice out till early to late May depending on temps.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One heck of a response to my request for help. Thankfully I have 90% of what was suggested. I will try a few different lures per outing till I find something that works. Great bunch of anglers here.

Got a good stretch of early warm weather by me as in up in the high 40s and not getting below 32-30* at night so expecting my local lakes shorelines to be ice free in no more than a week 10 days max. Never fished for bass right after ice out and really have no idea or experience on what lures to try when water temps are low 40's to high 40's so if those who are use to fishing colder water temps no warmer then 50* could suggest what have been their 3 to 5 most successful lures I greatly appreciate it. Lakes I will be fishing most have more soft bottom than hard.

In soft plastics KILLED the bass with 5-5.25" flukes in White Ice/Ghost Shad, Watermelon red-flake pearl/watermelon blue flake, In soft plastic worms or creature/beaver baits, Okeechobee Craw, watermelon candy, black sapphire/blue-black sparkle flake In my chatterbaits early spring ASAP after ice out blue-black sparkle flake with a fire red trailer beginning of respawn and rest of the year in chatterbaits was white/chartreuse, white/blk/blu/chartreuse with a white ice trailer or bluegill color with a bluegill trailer In my duel Colorado spinnerbaits was black/blue with a black/blue or fire red trailer early before prespawn and rest of year colors very similar to my chatterbaits with same color trailers. I actually did so well day in and day out on these three lures types I just didn't bother to try out fishing a wacky rig or other lure types I had planned on last year. I caught 90%+ of my bass on weedles rigged flukes, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, other T-rigged soft plastics and as soon as cover was available a weedles frog, absolutely killed them on the frog. Oddly though, best frog fishing day after day regardless of all else always began the instant the sun dropped beneath the tree tops to cast shadows and was red hot until all light vanished then the bite went cold. No idea why this was but it was like this 8/10 evenings. In MY experiences which after 44 years fishing now mirrors Tom Manns statement in his book on soft plastic worm fishing I read in the mid 1980's when he said (IIRC) 90% of fishing lure colors are designed to/and are better at catching fisherman more than fish. Or words to that effect.

I will share what worked extremely well for me last year while fishing from shore and wading. The cover I can reach from shore or wading in the lakes I do 90% of my fishing in is a mix of concrete thick weeds and lily pads. I learned best area to catch bass consistently were areas the weeds were still below the surface located between sections of lily pads. Also open pocket in the lily pads and long outside edges of lily pads were VERY productive. Only lure that worked here was obviously weedless soft plastics. The soft plastic that worked best was a jerk bait like a 5" Zoom Super Fluke or a 5.5" Hog Farmer Spunk Shad. I used a size 3500 spinning reel and a 7'3" MH/FA rod. I spooled it up with 20lb 8 strand hi-vis SuffX 832. I chose an 8 strand braid as I felt should be more fixable and hopefully would allow me farther casts and better lure action VS a 4 strand braid. For a leader I used 12lb Yo-Zuri copolymer and connected it to the braid using a size 0 or 1 stainless swivel. I have been using Yo-Zuri copolymer for at least 5 possibly 6 years now as my only non braided fishing line and are 100% happy with it in every possible way. After an entire season of using 20lb Suffex 832 on my spinning reel I feel confident recommending it for this application and I can not say enough good about Yo-Zuri hybrid copolymer.

Hit the local creeks for salmon and steelhead. I use to live for it, but got away from it last 5-6 years because so few off days and good bass lakes are a short walk or few minuets drive from home and the creeks are30 or more minuets from home. New department new same job, but now my job gives me 14 days off a month I will get back at it. I have $1k in rods and reels and OMG$ tied up in spinners and other lures sitting in my basement collecting dust dedicated to salmon and steelhead fishing. Forgot to add Promise to myself to start bass fishing ASAP after ice out any day it will remain above freezing. Last year I started fishing 2nd week of March first time ever and did very well and a few not all but a larger lakes by my house had been ice free for at least three weeks by that point.

See if you have any smaller fisheries where launching a boat is just not possible but a kayak is. I have a surprising number of such bodies of water near my home I never knew about till I did some research and several small rivers/big creek with little to no boat access and often to shallow for boats but not big bass and pike that I fished last year first time with my kayak and did so well I was shocked. You WILL BE shocked how small of a hole in a big creek will hold some pretty big bass or one or two pike. I found one such lake while deer and turkey scouting a public land hunting spot that was completely surrounded by thick woods and vegetation I had no idea was on the property. Google earth can be your best fishing friend.

You show me a consistently successful pro bass fisherman and Ill show you a man today with $10k-$20k or more invested in fish finding electronics, transducers etc. In my opinion a decent side looking down looking fish finder is a must have if fishing large bodies of water that have built in topo's of the lake so you can use that to hopefully narrow your search somewhat. I'm not saying as a purely amature and weekend angle you need to spend $5k on electronics but I certainly budget $500-$1k if I had a boat and access to nearby large good fisheries. If I were to go fish a big body of water talking 1000s of acres strange to me, if I had no electronics at all I wouldn't expect much successful fishing after they have completely spawned out and especially during bad fishing weather.

You boat angles got it made.

You want to see a computer screen FULL to max with fraudulent websites? do a search for: "gun powder and primers in stock" Two years ago I literally stopped looking for on line powder for reloading. I have enough bullets and primers for my great grand kids to reload but 3-4 years ago was a little light on a few of my favorite gun powders. Still to this day can not find H4198 ANYWHERE. The internet is literally DROWNING in Fraudulent websites. Unless I have bought from them before I don't buy unless I put their address through at least two fraud check websites.

Thanks for the info. Ill just have to take a ride to the zoo AKA my local walmart.

Must be in store only not on their WS

$250 for sunglasses? I only paid $260 for my no line bifocals with anti scratch, anti-glare ANSI rated lenses. How much farther do they allow you to see into the water VS less costly sunglasses? I started wearing UV protection clip on sunglasses at all times out of the house 20 years ago when my optometrist told me UV was the NO#1 cause of cataracts.

Thanks to all for so many responses. I actually have >90% of the colors suggested so I am well outfitted. Last year the color I used on <70% cloudy days in my local lakes that worked VERY well was a A 5" Zoom SF in Watermelon Red Pearl Swim baits it was a toss up between Ghost Shad and Bluegill Flash. And yes I tried a large number of different colors in both lure types till I found one that worked consistently. I asked because I just was wondering if there was a color that might work better than what I had been using or had tried. What surprised me was in the three lakes I fish most the Zoom Super Fluke and the BPS/Cabela's 5.25" Shady Shad hands down out fished my swim baits and this was all year regardless of all other factors or conditions.