Cold, Clear, Golf Course.

[Fishhook12]

I plan to fish a golf course here soon, the water is very cold and very clear. Fishing is only allowed from sunrise to 9am, so it tends to be very cold. The highest temp for the last few days the temp has only gotten to 40 degrees.  Any advise on what depth to fish, what to fish? Thanks for the advice.

[xbacksideslider]

A few years ago, we caught catfish on chicken livers at a local SoCal golf course at night.

[CoBass]

In cold, clear water this time of year I'd probably start with a suspending jerk bait. Experiment with your retrieve and vary the length of your pauses until you find the magic combo of pauses/twitches. You're lucky to be able to legally fish golf course ponds. Around here there isn't a single course that won't have you ticketed or arrested for trespassing if they see you on their water with a fishing rod. 

[PABASS]

I have access to several golf-courses some are public land, and others I just called and asked.  If your ponds are anything like mine they are filled with vegetation in summer and right now is the best time to fish them, jigs, suspending jerkbaits, tube baits.  Start with the N/W side of the pond, find any laydowns or rocks, fish it with the jig, fish around laydowns and rocks with the jerkbait, fish the jerkbait slow as mentioned to find active bass and focus with the jig when you find them.  I will tell you in my area all the fish have been in the same area about the size of a king bed in three of the ponds I fished these past weeks.  They were near deep water with a living tree on the bank in about 2-6' of water.

[PondBoss]

Suspending jerkbait for sure needs to be in your arsenal.  (I like to throw both hard and soft)  My other bait would be a squarebill crank, pick your favorite brand and color.  Work it in a very fast erratic action, I use a lot of rod action when the water is cold to really make the bait jump all over.  3rd rod would be a finesse technique to toss to a missed strike on your speed baits.  Maybe a wacky rigged senko, or a weightless soft jerkbait.  If your fish are like the ones in my golf course ponds they are suspended in about 3-6 feet of water over over grass in about 10 feet of water.  Good luck, let us know how you did.

[Crestliner2008]

Even though the water is cold, start looking for drop offs close by spots you believe they'll be using for spawn. The light factor starts moving them shallower this time of the year. Probably a more potent factor than water temperature. The jerkbait can be a very valuable tool this time of the years. Bring along some bladed, vibration jigs as well as some spinnerbaits. Good luck!

[Bankbeater]

I'd start off with a weightless fluke.