Why having lockjaws in April/May?

[Eddie101]

For the past two weeks here in MD, I caught one small bass. I threw everything but the kitchen sink, and they're not being cooperative. Any ideas as to what I should be throwing instead? I tried; lizard, caffeine shad, spinner bait, chatter bait and Baby minus 1 but the end result is a big fat ZERO. Any input/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Best, Ed

[TriStateBassin106]

Welcome to Bassresource for starters, I'm in the same boat with you I got double skunked on the past two outings but managed to lose 2 this past Sunday. A bedding female picked up my beaver but ripped the claws off, do you fish pressured bodies of water? what's the water clarity and temperature been like? My best advice since I'm dealing with the same issue right now is slow down and go finesse. Here in NJ/NY water temp is at a solid 50 and at my pond here the bass are starting to cruise a bit and find beds. Have the fish been doing that down there? since MD is a bit below I would imagine it would be slightly warmer in water temp? 

[Scott F]

29 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Welcome to Bassresource for starters, I'm in the same boat with you I got double skunked on the past two outings but managed to lose 2 this past Sunday. A bedding female picked up my beaver but ripped the claws off, do you fish pressured bodies of water? what's the water clarity and temperature been like? My best advice since I'm dealing with the same issue right now is slow down and go finesse. Here in NJ/NY water temp is at a solid 50 and at my pond here the bass are starting to cruise a bit and find beds. Have the fish been doing that down there? since MD is a bit below I would imagine it would be slightly warmer in water temp? 

Beds in 50 degree water? That would be unusual.

[Bird]

The problem in the east is significant drop in water temps, over 10* drop in our lakes.

[WRB]

Just looking at April fresh water bass fishing reports for Maryland the fishing is rated as good. Not knowing where in Maryland makes it difficult to suggest what may help. Coastal tidal river areas are very different then eastern mountain areas for example.

Smallmouth start the move to spawn around 58 degrees, Largemouth around 62 degrees on average. The spawn is in stages of pre, bedding, post that last weeks and varies in each body of water.

My guess is most bass in Maryland are in some stage of the spawn cycle.

Tom

 

[Eddie101]

3 hours ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Welcome to Bassresource for starters, I'm in the same boat with you I got double skunked on the past two outings but managed to lose 2 this past Sunday. A bedding female picked up my beaver but ripped the claws off, do you fish pressured bodies of water? what's the water clarity and temperature been like? My best advice since I'm dealing with the same issue right now is slow down and go finesse. Here in NJ/NY water temp is at a solid 50 and at my pond here the bass are starting to cruise a bit and find beds. Have the fish been doing that down there? since MD is a bit below I would imagine it would be slightly warmer in water temp? 

Thank you for the warm welcome! I mostly fish on Potomac river, local lakes and ponds. Just came back from a local lake called Clapper, and I used Fin-S-fish - because nothing was working - which I rarely use, and caught a fish! My problem is I've always been a big bait = big fish guy, and I need to ditch that silly idea in some days when nothing is happening. Water temp here is about 50 degrees as well, and not sure if they're finished with their respective bedding. I though they typically do that in April time frame? I've no idea, and hope you experts can teach me some basics first before we move onto more advance stuff.   Many blessings!

[DitchPanda]

The spawn in my experience isn't really a certain month type of real it's more water temp related. And 50 is not where largemouth spawn more low to mid 60 range. Length of day does seem to matter to in getting fish moving predawn but the actual spawn has always been temp based from what I've seen. For example my local ponds have been low to mid 60s recently...2 weeks ago I was catching lots of 3 to 4lb nice fish...Last few times it's been only small males.

[roadwarrior]

 

[plawren53202]

I agree with the suggestions to slow down and go finesse. The baits listed in your original post are all moving baits--spinnerbait, chatterbait, crankbait, other than the lizard, which is a soft plastic but is a more aggressive soft plastic. I would suggest trying something you can go small and slow: Ned rig would be at the top of my list, followed closely by a trick worm on a shaky head, wacky rigged Senko, or a drop shot. Also might give some thought to trying a jig, fished slow dragged on the bottom, and you might want to consider a finesse jig or a mini like a Bitsy Bug. 

[JediAmoeba]

It isn't just the swing in water temps but the amount of precipitation that has been dumped messing with the water clarity and the stability of the temperatures. 

 

Overall it has been a rough spring but they are still feeding - you just have to hit it at the right time of day. 

[Eddie101]

Thank you

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

 

Thank you, sir! Mighty kind of you. I'm looking forward to learn some new ideas/techniques!

[frogflogger]

The fish are not going without food - that's what makes this sport so much fun.

[Eddie101]

On 5/6/2020 at 7:39 AM, roadwarrior said:

 

Hi RR, due to pandemic crisis I'm still waiting on a delivery of original Ika from the Tackle Warehouse, and it's been over a week already. Got frustrated, and found Ika imitation on eBay instead which looked very good. Anyway, I ordered'em on Monday, found them on my door step today, and I'm stoked! Anyway, my question is - since it's blowing wind like crazy out there for the past three-four days - how do you control/watch your line in windy days? Thank you!

[roadwarrior]

Shorter casts.