First Day Out On The Water This Year

[iceman11]

So went out for the first time this year today. Came back with a couple of questions........

 

1. How do you fish a rage craw. I had it texas rigged and was working it on a MH spinning rod doing everything I could think of from SLOW fishing it to fishing it fast and bouncing it. Is this just the wrong time of year to fish it or what? 
2. I was fishing a lake thats water level is drastically lower than it was last year. I was basically standing probably 20 feet from where the shore was last year. Is there any adjustments to make?
3. Fished a texas rig in general for the most part of the day. I was using rage craws, power bait worms and other soft plastics. Did not get a nibble the whole day. I was making cast out about 20-30 yds in a 180 casting pattern from shore. I was looking for structure and didn't find much the entire day. I was fishing them anyway I could think of. What adjustments to make? 

Just to give you guys some idea of what conditions were like. It was roughly 50ish degrees cloudy and what I would call murky water. 

[fish4five]

I'll try and answer your questions the best that I can, but I'm definitely not an expert. Guessing at water temp just from the air temp you gave I'm guessing 40-60 degrees. Given those conditions I'd be fishing two baits. One being jig with a pork craw trailer orchatter bait of some kind if the water is really murky both worked very slow. Second would be a husky jerk with long pauses between jerks. Soft plastics will be better once the water reaches the mid 50's Hope this helps some. Tight lines and God bless.

[cdaggett]

Where do you live? Ive recently fished the last couple of days with no avail. I was fishing with a dude that pulled out 3 of them in 15 minutes dragging a jig on the bottom with a trailer. Both the jig and trailer were black and blue. I did the same thing on 2 different bodies of water and didnt catch a single thing. If it's cold where you are (40 degrees and below) than it will be difficult for you to catch them...

[iceman11]

Where do you live? Ive recently fished the last couple of days with no avail. I was fishing with a dude that pulled out 3 of them in 15 minutes dragging a jig on the bottom with a trailer. Both the jig and trailer were black and blue. I did the same thing on 2 different bodies of water and didnt catch a single thing. If it's cold where you are (40 degrees and below) than it will be difficult for you to catch them...

I live in the north Missouri. Yeah I had a lot better luck yesterday caught 4 with a Crank

[Shane J]

You were probably not doing anything wrong with your Tx rigs, but it sounds like you were not in front of the fish. It's still pretty cold, and the fish might not be up shallow yet.

[Bankbeater]

See if you can find some sort of drop off.  Look for something steep where the water goes from shallow to deep pretty fast.  A lot of times they will move vertical in the water to avoid using a lot of energy.

[iceman11]

See if you can find some sort of drop off.  Look for something steep where the water goes from shallow to deep pretty fast.  A lot of times they will move vertical in the water to avoid using a lot of energy.

Thats what I have been looking for. I am having a hard time of finding a map of this lake. One thing I will say that this lake has no shortage of structure. Trees are all over in it. From what I have been hearing about it too is that part of it is a flooded cow pasture/farm land. So, I am thinking that there has to be some terraces through parts of it.