Where do bass go after a cold spring day?

[EGbassing]

I'm going fishing in a small pond today, (55 degrees at the time I'm going to get there) but it was only 45 for the high yesterday, which is much colder than the average high temperature recently. Will the bass still be active? And how should I fish for them? I would usually fish a frog because of all the shallow cover, but I'm wondering if they're deeper because of the weather. 

[sully420]

Maby fish a jig on the bottom or slowroll a chatter bait. Then try the frog late in the day where the sun warmed the water the most ie west side of the pond.

[EGbassing]

2 minutes ago, sully420 said:

Maby fish a jig on the bottom or slowroll a chatter bait. Then try the frog late in the day where the sun warmed the water the most ie west side of the pond.

Thanks. How do you find the west side of the pond? Using a compass, or what?

[sully420]

Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If you can fish the whole pond. Top water gets good for me in the spring late in the day after the sun has warmed the water a bit.

[the reel ess]

Let us know how you did. Conventional wisdom says that if they had been shallow (like, really shallow) they would head back to deeper water until some warmer weather comes along. They wouldn't go back to the deepest part of the pond, but the closest "deeper water" to the spawning flats. And it might seem that they're just gone, but more likely, they got lockjaw. We got the same weather pattern here and it was a cold front, small warming trend, then another colder front.

[frogflogger]

They may just get dormant and tough to get to bite - in a pond a situation made for a 1/32 oz ned rig and some patience.

[Deleted account]

19 hours ago, EGbassing said:

Thanks. How do you find the west side of the pond? Using a compass, or what?

Yes a compass will work, or pull it up on line, up is North, down is South, left is West, right is East. Its also a good way to figure out what the wind is doing on an unfamiliar spot (winds are labeled per their direction of origin)

 

Oh, and I don't know if it holds up further south, but here, one cold day may make them a bit lethargic (not always) but usually they don't move around much, I find that they tend to hug the bottom, and won't be as willing to chase a bait up. YMMV.

[BCline]

On 4/8/2018 at 1:58 PM, EGbassing said:

Thanks. How do you find the west side of the pond? Using a compass, or what?

Really?!?!

[Deleted account]

28 minutes ago, BCline said:

Really?!?!

Yeah, it's bad. But you can no longer point out ignorance as a bad thing, just encourage, smile, and hand out the participation trophies, gluten free snacks, and flat earth maps...

[BCline]

32 minutes ago, reason said:

Yeah, it's bad. But you can no longer point out ignorance as a bad thing, just encourage, smile, and hand out the participation trophies, gluten free snacks, and flat earth maps...

I agree with the trophies and snacks, but handing out maps will be a waste.  Within the next few years there will be no one left alive who can read them.

[EGbassing]

1 hour ago, BCline said:

Really?!?!

I was just confused, because somebody told me to "fish the west bank, (whichever bank the wind was blowing towards)" 

[the reel ess]

I'd fish the north bank (located by compass or Google Maps). That's the one getting the most sun in a day. Is that correct?

[EGbassing]

1 hour ago, reason said:

Yeah, it's bad. But you can no longer point out ignorance as a bad thing, just encourage, smile, and hand out the participation trophies, gluten free snacks, and flat earth maps...

As I said to BCline, I was confused, as someone told me to "fish the west bank, (whichever bank the wind was blowing towards)" or something like that. 

[scaleface]

On 4/8/2018 at 10:31 AM, EGbassing said:

I'm going fishing in a small pond today,

They cant go far .  The  question is hard to answer but you ought to be able  to fish it all relatively fast .

[EGbassing]

Just now, scaleface said:

They cant go far .  The  question is hard to answer but you ought to be able  to fish it all relatively fast .

Thanks, I ended up watching a bass smack my lure from the side without getting hooked. (Less than a foot off the shore) The exact same thing happened to me last week, in the same spot...  

[BCline]

I can understand the confusion.  The west bank of a pond will always be the western side.  If you also have a west wind, then the wind will be at your back.  If you fish the west bank of a pond with an east wind, then the wind will be in your face.

[scaleface]

1 minute ago, EGbassing said:

Thanks, I ended up watching a bass smack my lure from the side without getting hooked. (Less than a foot off the shore) The exact same thing happened to me last week, in the same spot...  

  No one can really tell you how to catch those bass but you were close  . Either those bass followed your lure or they were there when the lure came by . You'll just have to figure it out . Sounds like they hit near the surface   , maybe a shallow , suspending jerk bait ? 

[BCline]

By the Way, how did you do?

[EGbassing]

Just now, scaleface said:

  No one can really tell you how to catch those bass but you were close  . Either those bass followed your lure or they were there when the lure came by . You'll just have to figure it out . Sounds like they hit near the surface   , maybe a shallow , suspending jerk bait ? 

Yeah, I've been thinking about a jerkbait but I haven't found one that would be shallow enough for the pond I fish. I was fishing a 4' - 6' diving crankbait yesterday and it was snagging leaves/weeds/sticks even on my slowest retrieve. 

[scaleface]

1 minute ago, EGbassing said:

Yeah, I've been thinking about a jerkbait but I haven't found one that would be shallow enough for the pond I fish. I was fishing a 4' - 6' diving crankbait yesterday and it was snagging leaves/weeds/sticks even on my slowest retrieve. 

Hold the rod  tip high to keep them shallower .

[EGbassing]

1 minute ago, BCline said:

By the Way, how did you do?

I ended up fishing a frog most of the time and didn't get any strikes. I saw something swimming behind it for a few seconds once though...

1 minute ago, scaleface said:

Hold the rod  tip high to keep them shallower .

I tried that, but it was still hitting the bottom every time. I'm guessing it's about 3' to 4' deep in the middle.

5 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Hold the rod  tip high to keep them shallower .

Oh, sorry, I thought you were referring to crankbaits. 

[scaleface]

5 minutes ago, EGbassing said:

 

I tried that, but it was still hitting the bottom every time. I'm guessing it's about 3' to 4' deep in the middle.

What  lure ?

[EGbassing]

2 minutes ago, scaleface said:

What  lure ?

See above reply. I think we commented at the same time so my reply was first.  

[Koz]

Try a couple of different sized spinnerbaits. First throw them parallel to the shore starting a foot or so out, then 5 feet out, then 10 feet out. Both sides. Then cast 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees from the shoreline, again both sides.

 

When I do this I can see if anything is hitting along the shore or if the bass are following in from deeper water.

 

There was a time when spinnerbaits were just about the last thing out of my tackle bag, but in the last year I've had a lot of luck with them and caught 5-6 pounders on them. I fish the medium and larger sized spinnerbaits (white/gray and white/chartreuse and white/pumpkin).

 

Instead of throwing a small spinnerbait I'll throw a white or black beetlespin. I never caught anything big on those (1-2 pounds) but it's another lure that lets me know if there's bass, crappie, or bluegill in the area.

[EGbassing]

1 minute ago, Koz said:

Try a couple of different sized spinnerbaits. First throw them parallel to the shore starting a foot or so out, then 5 feet out, then 10 feet out. Both sides. Then cast 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees from the shoreline, again both sides.

 

When I do this I can see if anything is hitting along the shore or if the bass are following in from deeper water.

 

There was a time when spinnerbaits were just about the last thing out of my tackle bag, but in the last year I've had a lot of luck with them and caught 5-6 pounders on them. I fish the medium and larger sized spinnerbaits (white/gray and white/chartreuse and white/pumpkin).

 

Instead of throwing a small spinnerbait I'll throw a white or black beetlespin. I never caught anything big on those (1-2 pounds) but it's another lure that lets me know if there's bass, crappie, or bluegill in the area.

Thanks. I was literally tying a spinnerbait on while reading this, so I'll try that technique out today.  Also, how do you generally fish willow leaf spinnerbaits when it's about 65 degrees?