Fishing after ice melts

[Red_King814]

We've been having crazy weather up in Erie and we had some thick ice and now it's melting and were in the 50's obviously water temps are gonna be down still but anyone have tips for fishing after the ice melts.

_Tight lines_

[Fishes in trees]

Back in the day when I was a meat fishing bank guy, I didn't know about lipless cranks.   Walking the banks asap after ice out, a 3" curly tail grub was the ticket - not low and slow but keeping it moving and covering the water.   For me, this worked right at the start of spring and not so much after spring had sprung, so to speak.  At this time in my fishing career, my go to bait was a Brewer Slider with a 4"Brewer worm, low and slow, rubbing it against anything that was there, but not necessarily stopping on anything.

These days, a favorite early spring tactic is targeting shallow grass beds that will be to thick to fish in a month.   I throw a half ounce Berkley Frenzy lipless crank and just cover the water.   Every spring I get 2 or 3  5 lb + fish doing this.   2 to 4 pm seems to be the magic time for this as I've never had much luck pre-noon doing this.

Really, you're just planning way ahead, right?   Will your ice be melted before April?

[RipzLipz]

In addition to the above....

jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, jig & craw, umbrella rig, swimbaits are all good choices. Obviously with the water temps being low, retrieves need to be on the slower side unless the fish tell you differently. If you're near any warm water discharges, you might find fish stacked near the discharge areas this time of year.

[Red_King814]

16 hours ago, Fishes in trees said:

Back in the day when I was a meat fishing bank guy, I didn't know about lipless cranks.   Walking the banks asap after ice out, a 3" curly tail grub was the ticket - not low and slow but keeping it moving and covering the water.   For me, this worked right at the start of spring and not so much after spring had sprung, so to speak.  At this time in my fishing career, my go to bait was a Brewer Slider with a 4"Brewer worm, low and slow, rubbing it against anything that was there, but not necessarily stopping on anything.

These days, a favorite early spring tactic is targeting shallow grass beds that will be to thick to fish in a month.   I throw a half ounce Berkley Frenzy lipless crank and just cover the water.   Every spring I get 2 or 3  5 lb + fish doing this.   2 to 4 pm seems to be the magic time for this as I've never had much luck pre-noon doing this.

Really, you're just planning way ahead, right?   Will your ice be melted before April?

Thank you! No our ice will actually be melted with in a week already! Here in Erie we've have had some unseasonably warm weather! Was out ice fishing yesterday with a lot of others because this is first and last ice already!

[countryboy65]

keitech swing impact fat on a underspin worked for me yesterday a couple days after ice melt.  Jigged it over and through deep brush piles.