Spring Northeast Coldfront Report

[Fish the Mitt]

It was a high of 47 degrees today. Wind out of the north/northwest at 5-15mph with gusts near 20mph. There was a  little snow and a little sleet - but damnit, I wanted to fish. So I did.

I'm relatively new to fishing out of a kayak so I wasn't completely sure what to expect today. After spending the day with the GF, doing a little shopping, I was able to get to the water at about 6:30pm. After spending 30mins getting one helluva backlash on my new Abu baitcaster, I decided I should probably launch my kayak (and play with my BC later). 

My gameplan going into this trip wasn't to far off from what I normally do. Michigan bass right now are pre-spawn/spawn (more pre). Hitting the bedding flats/flats during the evening hours with the yak has been my go to for much of the last two weeks. Tonight, it wouldn't change much. I did back off at certain points and fish a little deeper than usual due to the 3 day coldfront we've had but both proved to be good calls. 

I started with and pretty much stuck with a Z-Man PZ Chatterbait w/ Keitech Easy Shiner trailer. Positioning my kayak to throw parallel to the bank as I slow rolled that bladed jig with an occasional burn - only jerking to free myself from any submerged vegetation. I mainly focused on water column depth ranging from 2-8ft with an occasional toss to deeper waters - letting the chatterbait sink and jigging it back (fall on slack line, reel slack, lift rod, repeat). Caught a few with that. 10 total LMB in 2hrs. 8 on the shorter depths and 2 deeper. I also had 2 get off.

The wind was pretty brutal but I've learned to position myself intelligently on my launch so I could use the wind to my advantage - and barely having to paddle and still make it around the lake.

 

Below is the lake I most frequently fish:
Red - Spawning flats
Blue - Little cuts with plenty of cover. Essentially a must hit when I'm on the water.

I also, caught my PB for this year tonight. 20" @ 3.25lbs

Again, just my quick report



 

[desmobob]

Good for you for getting out there today.  I just did not want to fish bad enough to battle that wind, especially with the strong cold front that also moved in.  Glad you were able to make it pay off!

Tight lines,

Bob

[Fish the Mitt]

Just now, desmobob said:

Good for you for getting out there today.  I just did not want to fish bad enough to battle that wind, especially with the strong cold front that also moved in.  Glad you were able to make it pay off!

Tight lines,

Bob

It was definitely rough at first but calmed a bit the later it got!

[buzzed bait]

10 fish in 2 hours sounds like a nice evening to me man!  nice job!

[Fish the Mitt]

20 minutes ago, buzzed bait said:

10 fish in 2 hours sounds like a nice evening to me man!  nice job!

12 hits, 10 lands = Pretty successful evening. Still working on targeting the big females but I'll get there. Generally, if it were earlier, I would have fished a little deeper and worked my way shallow as evening progressed. However, with most of my fishing being done at evening times, I've been focusing on bedding males, an occasional female, and then any females moving shallow to feed. It's a pretty solid plan and was worked well on the lakes I fish around here. Literally, the only variation is the trailer. Sometimes they want the swimbait and sometimes they want a variation of craws.