spring smallmouth baits

[Bass2124]

Up north, the water temps are in the high 40's/low 50's through out the lake that I fish.  It is a very shallow tanic water colored lake with average depths in the 10-20 ft range and the deepest part is 35 ft.  I went fishing this past Sunday and the temps hit 70 and it is supposed to hit 70 again this Thusday.  My son and I caught 2 fish in 10 hours, bookend catches as he caught his with a fluke within the first 15 minutes and I caught mine with a jerkbait 10 hours later with 15 minutes of day light left.  I threw jigs, hair jigs, lipless cranks, carolina rigged lizzards, Biffle bugs, shakyhead worm and spinnerbaits and struck out.  I am a river fisherman and do not get a chance to fish the lakes much, especially this early, but this lake is a 100 bass a day lake at times in the summer.  I am guessing that the temp will be in the solid 50-55 range on Thursday.  I am terrible at reading my electronics as everything looks like a fish to me so I thought I was fishing the right spots.  I know that the smallies are schooling this time of year but I would like some advice on locations.  I tried the shallows 2-4 ft thinking they might move up to the warmer waters with the sun out, but both of our catches were in the 6-8 ft range.  I should have stayed put but I went to my summer time honey holes and got skunked.  Any suggestions?  The baits are what I am supposed to be using according to what I have read.  Springtime fishing is all new to me as I normally don't start until June as in the past I have focused on springtime salmon and brook trout.       

[FryDog62]

I'm up North too and my guess is that the fish are still in the deeper areas and just starting to migrate inwards.  Remember things warm up faster in rivers than in lakes...  

[Further North]

Looks for the breaks between shallows and deep water.

Add bonus points for there being spawning areas in the shallows.

[Turkey sandwich]

Learning how to set your electronics for the conditions can help with reading them better.  It's some simple reading before you get on the water, and it can help save headaches.  I'm in PA and fish mostly up north and there are a few things that'll effect where fish are moving to on your lake.  They should be moving to pre-spawn, but that only means transitioning from stable colder/deeper/low current waters towards spawning grounds.  Here's what I would consider:

- smallmouth aren't typically the dominant predators in lakes and often spawn deeper if there's a sizeable largemouth population, and sometimes slightly later if there is a large walleye population.  This might be why you're getting bit in 8-10" of water right now and not in 3-6".

- Transition areas are typically ledges or points with shallower water access.  Not all ledges are equal and not all shallower flats are equal.  The spawning flats should ideally have some sort of cover (even if it's light cover, remember, it's all relative to the lake you're fishing), be it rocks, vegetation, submerged trees, dock pilings, etc.. The ledges should have something to attract forage (remember, big bass have feed bags on right now), so weed lines, rocks, etc can play a role.  

- Match the hatch.  If you get on a good bite, smallies might eat anything, but right now a huge part of their diet in most waters is small to medium sized crayfish.  The colors vary with every body of water, so while bright red might be great for me in PA, watermelon red, or blue/orange might match your local waters better.  If you have a shad run, they might be schooling and smashing shad.  On the middle Delaware and Susquehanna flats right now shad are everywhere.  

 

Good of luck on the water this weekend!  Hopefully if you don't catch 50 fish, you at least make up for it with a few in the 4-6lb range.

[Neil McCauley]

<50 F is still too cold imo. Should be much better this weekend.

[J Francho]

It certainly turns on above 50°, but certainly isn't a deal breaker.  Here's one of the better fish from a banner day at the Take A Soldier Fishing on Oneida lake, a few years ago.  Water temps were in the mid 40s.  Camera crew actually got the whole thing on film  Pretty cool.

 

Anyway, we threw rattle traps, hair jigs, and senkos that day.

[Gonzer]

Blade baits and jigging spoons can be effective for hard baits. Dropshot and dragging tube jigs for plastics. They will still be in deeper water at that temperature. 

[bowhunter63]

Down here in Missouri Baby Rage craws and swim jigs are on now.

[Turkey sandwich]

We boat ef several on Bitsy bugs w/ Bitsy craw trailers in the 3-4 pound range  two weeks ago.  You can't underestimate the pre-spawn crayfish bite!