An early spring?

[Preytorien]

Our lakes in central Indiana (so far) haven't gotten much ice on them this winter. I know we still have a couple more months to go, but historically January and February are our bad weather months, and we've barely dipped into the 30's for very long this month so far. Every lake, pond, and river I've seen have no ice. 

 

That said, how does it affect the fishing when the lake never totally freezes over / gets cold enough to freeze? Will the fish start adopting pre-spawn patterns earlier than usual?

[fishballer06]

The spawn can be different in every body of water, so perhaps someone is more of an expert on this than me. 

 

However, no/little ice can mean a longer growing season for the fish, and around here, it usually means a weedier fishing season than normal. 

[Scarborough817]

i'm hoping it's soon i'm going nuts but i would bet it wont be until mid to late march for me

[The Bassman]

If experience holds true our spring will come just as it typically does.  These January teasers are just cruel jokes.  We'll probably be shoveling this rain in a couple of weeks.  I can remember one exception, though.  In 2012 spring came very early and was followed with unprecedented heat and drought. Typically our bass start fanning nests in late April.

[Team9nine]

2 hours ago, Preytorien said:

That said, how does it affect the fishing when the lake never totally freezes over / gets cold enough to freeze? Will the fish start adopting pre-spawn patterns earlier than usual?

 

Don't count on it. Here's the thing - we already went into winter mode with many lakes getting 5" of ice or more during the severe cold period in December. That was enough to put all our fish into their usual winter patterns. Combine that with short daylight hours, low sun angles, etc., and fish will stay in that mode even if we get a brief warm spell. 

 

We actually refroze solid again before this current warm spell, thereby solidifying this pattern. Don't expect much of an early pre-spawn based on present conditions. Instead, watch for what happens at the end of Feb and first of March for signs of an early bite. Even then, we're probably only talking a swing of 10 days or so at best. 

 

-T9

[A-Jay]

Perhaps think of the basses current and potential location as well as seasonal patterns as being predicated on water temps and to some extent, the length of daylight.  Short days & cold water often has fish deep (often called 'wintering holes').  Warmer & longer days may have bass moving shallower or at least thinking about it.  

 

If & when a lake is ice covered, the light still gets through but the temps obviously stay low.  Without the ice & warmer temp, the bass may still be in & around the same locals, but it would be a whole lot more comfortable while you're out trying to get a few . . .

 

Iced up long or ice out early,  the pre-spawn / spawn routine seems to happen around the same time every year - some years the catching is a little better than others.

 

A-Jay

[IndianaFinesse]

I've actually been able to get out ice fishing seven or eight times this year, and i live in the same general area as you I believe.  Had five inches of ice the week before Christmas, which then melted enough to open water fish for a couple days just before new years eve.  Then the lakes froze over again, hitting about 3.5 inches of ice this this time last week. Now we have open water again.  Notice a pattern?  This is just going to freeze up again in 2-3 weeks if it follows the usual mid winter weather trend.

 

Oh, and the bass are definitely in winter mode right now, I was catching a few through the ice and just after the ice melted in 15-25 feet of water, on small 1/16 ounce hair jigs and tiny panfish jigs tipped with a wax worm.

["hamma"]

The bass will stay in winter mode til winter ends. Ive seen these winters before, and even winters when cape cod ponds and lakes got no ice at all,....

 The bass stay in the winter haunts till the weather breaks for good. I believe it has something to do with the days light duration, and moon's phases, Ive been on cape ponds fishing in relatively warm weather stints for a mid winter and the fish are locked in the winter mode. They dont move up until its time,..you may find a few stragglers looking for a shallow meal, but the mass of them are diligent.

[everythingthatswims]

Day length and angle of the sun tell the fish a whole lot unfortunately

[Oregon Native]

All good info.  Around here the warmer waters have a ton of shad up shallow.  And yes the fish are right there.  White bass have been crazy.