Cold Water Cranking (Big Bag!)

[everythingthatswims]

Conditions were far from ideal today, but I'm home for spring break so I went for it anyway! Air temps started in the 30s and there was snow on the ground, but it did warm to low 50s by the end of the day. The main factor was the 15mph wind with 20+ gusts, and the fact that I was on an electric only lake.

 

Things started off pretty slow, the water was 44-45 degrees all day, I was hoping for closer to 50. I decided to crank rip rap alllll day since that would be (in my opinion) the highest percentage way to get bit in cold stained water. I started off with a 7-9' Spro Little John, I caught one after about an hour of cranking and I didn't even feel the bite, it was a chunky largemouth about 3lbs. Since that fish bit so soft, I decided to throw a wiggle wart instead because from what I can gather, it is further down on the temperature scale for cold water cranks. That was a good decision!

 

I ended up only landing 6 bass today, hooked 8. One largemouth on the little john, one spot on a football jig out deep, and 4 on the wiggle wart (3 lmb 1 spot). I had two fish come off on the wart, but in cold water when they are barely nipping at the bait, losing fish is just part of the game. They didn't feel big and I never saw them so that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

My best 5 went 18.8lbs with a 6.08lb kicker! Makes perfect sense for early prespawn in cold water, not many bites but the few that do it are good ones. I hate to think about what I could have put together if the whole lake wasn't white capping today

This fish is number 12 over 5lbs for me this year! The train has come off the rails and shows no sign of slowing down.

[A-Jay]

Killer Day

Congrats 

A-Jay

[LOZSteve]

Nice bag of fish, I have a wart tied on for this weekend hopefully produces down here as well. 

[Bluebasser86]

When they're barely nipping at a wart it's usually good to fish it like you're dragging a jig. You pull the bait slowly using just the rod, then crank up the slack and pull again. You have to weight them to suspend or very nearly suspend to do this. I've caught them in 38-39 degree water doing that. Helps those fish nipping at the bait catch up to it.

 

Great day on the water like usual!

[TOXIC]

Good job.  

[DogBone_384]

Congrats.  Virginia water temps in the 40’s?  Never would have thought that.....

[senile1]

That's a nice bag of Northerns with a mean kicker, especially in those temps.  Nice work once again!

[Smokinal]

Nice job ETS!

Do you mind me asking what color wart; and if it was a pre or post wart?

I have a few pre-rapala warts but am ascared to throw em.

[Bassin' Brad]

Great day on the water! Nice fish!

[everythingthatswims]

10 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

When they're barely nipping at a wart it's usually good to fish it like you're dragging a jig. You pull the bait slowly using just the rod, then crank up the slack and pull again. You have to weight them to suspend or very nearly suspend to do this. I've caught them in 38-39 degree water doing that. Helps those fish nipping at the bait catch up to it.

 

Great day on the water like usual!

Would have been worth a shot, but the winds and whitecaps were  blowing my aluminum boat around like a top! I caught three of them letting the wind reverse my boat down a stretch of rip rap while using the trolling motor to slow myself down because that was the only way to fish downwind!

1 hour ago, Smokinal said:

Nice job ETS!

Do you mind me asking what color wart; and if it was a pre or post wart?

I have a few pre-rapala warts but am ascared to throw em.

It's a blank from Japan according to the guy who painted it for me. It's a pretty natural dark brown craw color. Lures are made for fishing not to look at!

[Smokinal]

11 minutes ago, everythingthatswims said:

Lures are made for fishing not to look at!

lol...I know it! I gotta get past that part! Especially with some of my custom painted ones like yours!

[everythingthatswims]

4 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

Congrats.  Virginia water temps in the 40’s?  Never would have thought that.....

Yep I think that is pretty standard unless you're in the southern part of the state right now. I think temps broke 50 during the warm spell but they're back down again now.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Smokinal said:

lol...I know it! I gotta get past that part! Especially with some of my custom painted ones like yours!

I have a bunch of both pre rap and painted blanks. The one knocker blanks are a really good bait and you can fish them without worrying about losing them.

[Smokinal]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have a bunch of both pre rap and painted blanks. The one knocker blanks are a really good bait and you can fish them without worrying about losing them.

These?

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Storm_Original_Wiggle_Wart_Crankbaits/descpage-SWWDD.html

 

[Bluebasser86]

57 minutes ago, Smokinal said:

These?

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Storm_Original_Wiggle_Wart_Crankbaits/descpage-SWWDD.html

 

Not a fan of those. It's the blanks from companies like Predator that my buddy paints for me to match my pre rap baits. They work awesome and cost way less than a pre rap bait.

[Bluebasser86]

4 hours ago, Smokinal said:

These?

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Storm_Original_Wiggle_Wart_Crankbaits/descpage-SWWDD.html

 

This is one of the blanks that he painted for me. You can get them from lots of custom painters out there.

[Montanaro]

Dang nice man.  I was out wednesday on an aluminum boat w/ 45# TM...was not easy at all!  Caught my.bass off riprap as well.