Best search bait for early spring?

[juicebass]

Hey guys,

Looking for some good search bait options for early spring!

 

Water temp will be VERY cold, Like 45 degrees or so, and i will be fishing from the bank. I would like to use something that i can cover a lot of water to locate bass. Last spring it was very slow to catch em, and i'm thinkin maybe it was my bait/presentation.. fishing is mostly largies but smallies as well.

Last sping I mostly used spinner baits and Vibrating jigs.. are there any better options? i feel like the jerkbait is good once bass are located but it can be slow to fan cast areas while moving quickly to find fish..

 

thanks!

[A-Jay]

I think what you're going to find out is that there are very few effective ways to speed up early season, cold water bass fishing.

 

With the water that cold, the bass's reaction time is pretty slow, so if you're presentation isn't moving at least that slow, (or even slower), you may find the same results you had last spring.

 

I'll say a jerkbait & a tube are a great 1 - 2 punch for early season results. 

 

Jerkbait stays a little higher in the water column and the tube allows you to cover the bottom quite well.

Mr Zona has some info too . . . .

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

[RoLo]

 

I'm being totally frank when I say, the best search tool i know is an accurate contour chart.

I consider all my lures 'search baits', but some search slower than others   

 

Roger

[A-Jay]

7 minutes ago, RoLo said:

 

I'm being totally frank when I say, the best search tool i know is an accurate contour chart.

I consider all my lures as 'search baits', but some search slower than others   

 

Roger

 

Agreed Roger ~

I'll also say that any effectiveness of my submission above is dependent on getting a passing grade in that type of "Homework".

And the Bass will tell me what that grade may actually be . . . . . . .

A-Jay

 

[Smokinal]

Ya, about that "covering water" thing. Forget that for a minute. There are times where that can be a good tool but other times, like in 45 degre water, where it can backfire. You can buzz all the baits you want past fish, covering water, but if they want a slower presentation, you won't get bit. For the start of my season, after ice out, in water 42-48 degrees, nothing will beat a jerkbait fished slowly with a twitch here and there. Having said that, I have had some great days in 45 degree water on a red craw trap. So if the jerkbait think isn't your bag, and you want to throw more of a moving bait, I'd try a red trap (rattletrap or other lipless version).

Now, spring, cold water can make them very finicky so try different retrieves with that trap. Try a straight retrieve, a faster, burning retrieve and also a yo-yo where you will let your trap fall to the bottom or just over it and rip it up in a yo-yo fasion.

Another early moving bait I've had good luck with is a Keitech or similar swimbait on a slow retrieve. But if none of these are working on that particular day, I'd slow down and jerk it.

[jbw252]

Smokinal nailed this.  Important tactics for early season fishing with jerkbaits are fishing it deep with painfully long pauses on your retrieve.  I personally like using a lipless crankbait.  

[Deleted account]

7 hours ago, juicebass said:

Hey guys,

Looking for some good search bait options for early spring!

 

Water temp will be VERY cold, Like 45 degrees or so, and i will be fishing from the bank. I would like to use something that i can cover a lot of water to locate bass. Last spring it was very slow to catch em, and i'm thinkin maybe it was my bait/presentation.. fishing is mostly largies but smallies as well.

Last sping I mostly used spinner baits and Vibrating jigs.. are there any better options? i feel like the jerkbait is good once bass are located but it can be slow to fan cast areas while moving quickly to find fish..

 

thanks!

 

Depending on the cover and conditions in 45 degree water, I usually have a finesse spinnerbait, swim jig, squarebill and liplless tied on, as well as maybe an inline spinner and jerkbait. (of course I'm watching the temp the whole time) The plan is usually to find some fish willing to bite these lures, and then go over the area with a slower presentation, a t-rigged smallish craw with as small a sinker as I can get away with usually works well for that.

[Catt]

Down here!

 

 

[JDNKC]

Jerkbait or lipless crank.  I have had a ton of luck with jerkbaits in the spring.

[smalljaw67]

Listen to Smokinal, he summed it up perfectly. A lipless crank or jerkbait is your best bet, tubes and hair jigs work but there are times, especially at that temperature, that the fish are looking at minnow forage higher in the water column because they are thermal shocked so they can't move too well, and that is why a jerkbait works so well. Covering water isn't really a problem with a jerkbait, it is a visual bait and the fish can see and detect it from quite a distance and if you don't have clear enough water the lipless crank will be the better weapon.

[MittenMouth]

23 hours ago, Smokinal said:

But if none of these are working on that particular day, I'd slow down and jerk it.

[Angry John]

The only lure that has not been mentioned that I love in cold water is a rapala shad rap.  It is a killer cold water bait but depending on the bank your on may or maynot be a good tool.

[CTBassin860]

Jerkbaits and a Lipless crank.Can't go wrong

[BobbyBBass]

You can't beat a jerk bait, But a swimbait , hair jig and tube works very well I started using the float and fly the last couple of years with great results not the most exciting way to fish but it works..

[BassThumb]

3-4" swimbaits on 1/16oz ballhead jigs. The best lure I've found in 40-some-degree water. 

[ww2farmer]

For largemouth, a lipless crank.

 

For smallmouth a silver buddy.

 

 

[everythingthatswims]

Red craw color lipless