Struggling in Maine!

[upchuck1383]

This is the first full season of having my own boat. Thus I am not very familiar with fish patterns for so soon after ice out. Any basic suggestions? We managed 2 trout today on wacky rigged senkos,lol. But not much else. My normal body of water is small,2 miles long max depth 35', very clear water. Temp 44 degrees.

Tried:

-Slow rolling spinner baits in 8-10' 

-wacky senkos various depths

-Jigs (probably not using them properly)

Thanks!

["hamma"]

clear water in Maine is staple, try a jerkbait to start, fish it slow, id prefer a original rapala, and a grub on a 1/4 oz jighead, again, fished slow,... that slow rolled spinnerbait will work,...  as the water warms pick up on the retrieve speed  and add a jig and pig to the arsenal.,.. really long casts are necessary on those clear water ponds.

these are what i start with up there

  good luck

[BronzeChaser]

I've lived in Maine my whole life and the fishing is, like most places, pretty slow in frigid water. Just after ice out a jerkbait is a must. Experiment with your cadence and don't be afraid to let it sit up to 30 seconds of you think you're around fish. Watch your line. With water temps into the mid 40's you should be able to catch them on crankbaits and jerkbaits fished at normal speeds. The fish here get sluggish in cold water but they are used to it, much like we get used to the cold. When reaction bites aren't working a jig, shakey head, wacky rig, ned rig, and drop shot should work. Fish in areas with hard bottom that get a lot of sunlight throughout the day. Try to find steep transitions so the fish can move from shallow to deep water easily, as this is something they do alot this time of year. Good luck

[Mainebass1984]

Shane J and I fished  in Maine yesterday. The water temp varied from 44-46 degrees. We had our best luck where we found the warmest water. Most of the fish were caught in 6-10 ft. A soft plastic swimbait accounted for most of my bass. We also caught fish on jigs, crankbaits, glide baits, and a red eye shad. We fished about 7 hours and landed 15 bass mostly smallmouth. Lunker largemouth was 4-2. We caught  6 smallies over 3 lbs the biggest 2 were 3-12 and 3-11.

What area in Maine are you fishing ?

[JG233]

I want to go fishing with Mainebass! 

[MainelyBASS]

Also if you're somewhat familiar with the lake, find the early season grass/weed flats adjacent to deep water. Throwing a jerkbait on the drop is a very successful approach that I stick to this time of year. If we have a streak of warm days, the fish will move up into the shallow water to feed. If we have a cold stretch the fish will move into the deeper part of the area, but I always start at the 1st drop off from shallow to deep.

[upchuck1383]

Thanks for all the advice. I don't have a lot of experience with jerkbaits, but I will add some to the arsenal. I think I am on the right track, but not being patient enough. We will see what happens this upcoming weekend!

[Jon Taylor]

I've done a lot of fishing on the saco river and at this time of year jigs and jerkbaits are key. In clear water I'll always go for a shad or goldwen shiner colored smithwick suspending rouge. I wrote an article you can check out. http://fiahingfever1.blogspot.com. I got this bass on the saco with a power craw on a shaky head. 

[je1946]

Other baits to try on very cold water. Blade baits and hair jigs.  Couple of different ways to fish hair jigs you can swim them close to the bottom or drag them slowly on the bottom,  don't hop them just drag them slowly and stop them every couple of feet, with the hair jig you can tip them with a small piece of gulp minnow, the bite will be very suttle they'll just pic it up.  Not many people fish hair jigs anymore, but in cold water they work well especially of smallies.  Colors I like black, black and yellow, black and brown.  I like the 1/8 to 3/8 oz use the smallest you can get away with.  12ft to 20 ft of water.  Good luck

[BassB8Caster]

I fish in western maine (Oxford hills area), mostly small ponds (50 to max 200 acres) out of my kayak. I just started bass fishing mid summer last year and did fairly well. this is my first spring. I try to read as much as possible and put it in action to improve as much as i can. i have been out once so far this year. It was the second day of the last warm spell we had (thursday March 31) so i was optimistic. I went to a small pond that i have never been to before. Weather turned a little on me and was very windy (about 55F). I fished from about 1030 to 430. I had 0 luck. tried jigs, chatterbait on bottom, susp jerkbait. Nothing. The wind killed me out on the main part of the pond (i stuck to a long outlet that had lots of submerged dead trees, bushes etc). The pond (like most i fish) was very shallow, maybe 10 feet deep max, dirty water, soft bottom with lots of vegetation (once it grows). I noticed water levels were very high (coming down though). Couldnt locate any of the fish. was nice to be out there but frustrating. 

I love fishing pads and weeds, but this early spring has me stumped. 

 

[Mainebass1984]

1 hour ago, BassB8Caster said:

I fish in western maine (Oxford hills area), mostly small ponds (50 to max 200 acres) out of my kayak. I just started bass fishing mid summer last year and did fairly well. this is my first spring. I try to read as much as possible and put it in action to improve as much as i can. i have been out once so far this year. It was the second day of the last warm spell we had (thursday March 31) so i was optimistic. I went to a small pond that i have never been to before. Weather turned a little on me and was very windy (about 55F). I fished from about 1030 to 430. I had 0 luck. tried jigs, chatterbait on bottom, susp jerkbait. Nothing. The wind killed me out on the main part of the pond (i stuck to a long outlet that had lots of submerged dead trees, bushes etc). The pond (like most i fish) was very shallow, maybe 10 feet deep max, dirty water, soft bottom with lots of vegetation (once it grows). I noticed water levels were very high (coming down though). Couldnt locate any of the fish. was nice to be out there but frustrating. 

I love fishing pads and weeds, but this early spring has me stumped. 

 

Western Maine has some great bass fishing. I grew up there and still fish there from time to time. The fishing should really turn up after the next warm spell.

[BassB8Caster]

5 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

Western Maine has some great bass fishing. I grew up there and still fish there from time to time. The fishing should really turn up after the next warm spell.

Yeah I love the fishing here. 20 minutes and I can be at 6 to 10 different ponds and lakes. 

[Mainebass1984]

12 hours ago, BassB8Caster said:

Yeah I love the fishing here. 20 minutes and I can be at 6 to 10 different ponds and lakes. 

I grew up near Fryeburg. The amount of water available to fish is great. There are some lunkers around as well. Plenty of tournaments to fish too.

 

[fishingfan25]

Not sure if you're into swimbaits but its hard to beat a 6 inch huddleston slow rolled on the bottom. Just barely moving the bait with the reel handle. (I prefer real prey baits though)

[MikeOGNR]

1 hour ago, fishingfan25 said:

Not sure if you're into swimbaits but its hard to beat a 6 inch huddleston slow rolled on the bottom. Just barely moving the bait with the reel handle. (I prefer real prey baits though)

Also Chiming into the swimbaits topic. I personally just got into swimbaiting last year, my favorites being the keitech fat swing impact shad and the yum money minnow. Now I know these aren't the biggest you can buy, but I haven't had to money to upgrade to the bigger ones, but the concept still applies if you cast your swimbait out just covering a lot of water and slowly reel it back im talking like 1 crank per second really slow it down even slower than that possibly you'll get on some fish. This series of videos covers it pretty well with the swimbaits in the cold water temps just goes to show they can be caught. That's the technique I use to cover water another thing i'll do this time of year is throw a jig and drag it near any structure real slow. Catching on? Slow is the name of the game even in 40 degree water temps the slower the better.

 

Heres the video on the swimbaits

 

[BassB8Caster]

4 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

I grew up near Fryeburg. The amount of water available to fish is great. There are some lunkers around as well. Plenty of tournaments to fish too.

 

Yeah there are. so far ive caught lots of 4lb lmb and a fatty 4lb smally. Hoping to top the 5lb mark this year. Havent done any tournaments. There are even more this year than last. There are some i could do out of my kayak, and i dont have any connections with a boat for the other tournaments. Mostly trying to improve and learn. 

[Mainebass1984]

4 hours ago, fishingfan25 said:

Not sure if you're into swimbaits but its hard to beat a 6 inch huddleston slow rolled on the bottom. Just barely moving the bait with the reel handle. (I prefer real prey baits though)

Keitech swimbaits are awesome. I have heard the new rage swimmers will be pretty similar but more durable. Hudds work well. I need to get a couple more.

 

29 minutes ago, BassB8Caster said:

Yeah there are. so far ive caught lots of 4lb lmb and a fatty 4lb smally. Hoping to top the 5lb mark this year. Havent done any tournaments. There are even more this year than last. There are some i could do out of my kayak, and i dont have any connections with a boat for the other tournaments. Mostly trying to improve and learn. 

 I am sure you will get over the 5 lb mark soon. Spring is an excellent time for big fish. Real big fish. It should be picking up very soon. After this cold spell once we have 2 or 3 days in a row of 50 degrees or more then the fishing should be picking up big time.

[MikeOGNR]

2 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

Keitech swimbaits are awesome. I have heard the new rage swimmers will be pretty similar but more durable. Hudds work well. I need to get a couple more.

 

 I am sure you will get over the 5 lb mark soon. Spring is an excellent time for big fish. Real big fish. It should be picking up very soon. After this cold spell once we have 2 or 3 days in a row of 50 degrees or more then the fishing should be picking up big time.

The Keitechs are BOSSSSSSS they catch sloppy pigs of all kinds. Wish they would carry them at retail stores so I could pick up more as I tend to get the baits torn up a lot. Also looking into upping the size of the swimbaits I throw not Hudd size but somewhere along the 1/2oz-1oz size the keitechs are nice but I feel as though I need something with a little bit more profile to cover a lot more water. Would love to get into throwing hudds and all but I just don't have the funds for the gear although I thought about just using a big saltwater rod and a BPS pro qualifier there on sale right now for 65 bucks. Any thoughts?

[MikeOGNR]

Also can't go wrong with dragging a jig slow just. Here's a good article describing the process I like the fact he covers that you should be dragging the jig on the bottom where is opposed to the summer where pitching and flipping is the name of the game casting and dragging is the technique in the winter. https://www.bassmaster.com/tips/jigs-take-chill-out-winter

[Mainebass1984]

4 hours ago, MikeOGNR said:

The Keitechs are BOSSSSSSS they catch sloppy pigs of all kinds. Wish they would carry them at retail stores so I could pick up more as I tend to get the baits torn up a lot. Also looking into upping the size of the swimbaits I throw not Hudd size but somewhere along the 1/2oz-1oz size the keitechs are nice but I feel as though I need something with a little bit more profile to cover a lot more water. Would love to get into throwing hudds and all but I just don't have the funds for the gear although I thought about just using a big saltwater rod and a BPS pro qualifier there on sale right now for 65 bucks. Any thoughts?

Dick's usually has a good selection of Keitechs. I prefer to fish the 4.8" size. What size are you fishing and how are you riggin it ?

In a perfect world you would match up your lure weight to what the rod is rated for. When I fish a hudd I am using a rod that is rated for baits up to 1.5 ounces. I also fish a s waver on the same rod with no issues.

It is hard to beat a jig this time of year though. My biggest fish this year has been on a jig. My biggest fish each of the last 4 years has been on a jig. Got to love a jig !

[DogBone_384]

On April 3, 2016 at 11:09 AM, JG233 said:

I want to go fishing with Mainebass! 

X2 - he's dialed in for sure

[MikeOGNR]

15 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

Dick's usually has a good selection of Keitechs. I prefer to fish the 4.8" size. What size are you fishing and how are you riggin it ?

In a perfect world you would match up your lure weight to what the rod is rated for. When I fish a hudd I am using a rod that is rated for baits up to 1.5 ounces. I also fish a s waver on the same rod with no issues.

It is hard to beat a jig this time of year though. My biggest fish this year has been on a jig. My biggest fish each of the last 4 years has been on a jig. Got to love a jig !

I'm all about that jig life too swim jigs especially, how big of a Huddleston you throwing on that rod? 

15 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

Dick's usually has a good selection of Keitechs. I prefer to fish the 4.8" size. What size are you fishing and how are you riggin it ?

In a perfect world you would match up your lure weight to what the rod is rated for. When I fish a hudd I am using a rod that is rated for baits up to 1.5 ounces. I also fish a s waver on the same rod with no issues.

It is hard to beat a jig this time of year though. My biggest fish this year has been on a jig. My biggest fish each of the last 4 years has been on a jig. Got to love a jig !

I'm fishing the 4.8 in with a 3/0 Gamakatzu swimbait hook I think the weight was 3/16 it does the job, but I went and just picked up 3 packs of basstrix swimbaits in 6in and 7in sizes with 5/0-6/0 swimbait hooks see if I can get on a swimbait bite. 

[Mainebass1984]

 68 Special ROF 12 

I think it weighs 2 1/4 oz.

Id like to hear how the basstrix swimbaits work for you.

[MikeOGNR]

5 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

 68 Special ROF 12 

I think it weighs 2 1/4 oz.

Id like to hear how the basstrix swimbaits work for you.

A buddy of mine throws them a lot he says there a lot better then the yum money minnows. So I figured Id give them a shot. I really wanna cast a hudd though that slow tail action instead of the thumper probably get on some pigs this year. 

5 hours ago, Mainebass1984 said:

Ca  68 Special ROF 12 

I think it weighs 2 1/4 oz.

Id like to hear how the basstrix swimbaits work for you.

What kinda reel just a normal size low profile? Or something bigger like a Cardiff style reel. 

[Mainebass1984]

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 5:27 PM, MikeOGNR said:

A buddy of mine throws them a lot he says there a lot better then the yum money minnows. So I figured Id give them a shot. I really wanna cast a hudd though that slow tail action instead of the thumper probably get on some pigs this year. 

What kinda reel just a normal size low profile? Or something bigger like a Cardiff style reel. 

 I am fishing it either with a Shimano Citica or a Curado.

 

Anyone fishing Maine this weekend ?