Warm weather but cold fishing

[TriStateBassin106]

Finally went out to the pond today after waiting for the warm spell to heat up the lake here in NJ. water temps for the most part were in the lower 50s (warmest part of the pond was the northern bank with a temperature of 53 degrees) after 4 hours I couldn't get anything to bite, water clarity is about 5 to 8 inches and I tried jerkbaits finesse jigs and the ned rig, is it too early for the bass to be shallow yet? What should I throw in this situation until the temps reach 55? what parts of my pond should I target? There's little to no cover except some small riprap and overhanging trees. 

 

[Swampdonkey fishing]

I would of honestly did the same thing I have no clue of what to use in that situation.

[jbsoonerfan]

That sounds like spinnerbait or chatterbait conditions to me.

[huZZah]

^^ This. I prefer Colorado blades.
 

And maybe a wacky rig but keep it from hitting bottom. I have some success that way with ponds when it’s cold. 

[nascar2428]

Hit the northwest corner if possible, during the warmest part of the day. Your lure selection should payoff.

[Koz]

You probably won;t start seeing a good bite until the night time air temperatures are above the water temperature and the water really starts to warm. After about a week of that happening is when I see the action pick up.

 

Until then, the metabolism of the bass is usually still slow. They feed infrequently during the week so you need to be at the right place at the right time to get a bite. They are still in energy conservation mode until then.

[Jigfishn10]

Mid-day when the sun is higher, it will give those rocks a chance to warm up a bit and the fish will come in. Football jigs and (name your favorite trailer here, as long as it a craw type) should work.

Surface temps will warm a little mid-late day. That doesn't mean a topwater bite, but a floating jerkbait or slug-go type soft plastic fished slowly may work.

And of course it's spring time fishing so go old school and toss out some lizards.

[DitchPanda]

53 is plenty warm and at that temp there should be some moving shallow. Sounds to me like water clarity is the issue...Ned and jerkbaits aren't in my experience very productive in dirty water. I'd target that area of rip rap with a square bill and it target laydowns with a Colorado blade spinner bait and a black blue jig with a chunk trailer.

[TriStateBassin106]

3 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

53 is plenty warm and at that temp there should be some moving shallow. Sounds to me like water clarity is the issue...Ned and jerkbaits aren't in my experience very productive in dirty water. I'd target that area of rip rap with a square bill and it target laydowns with a Colorado blade spinner bait and a black blue jig with a chunk trailer.

I've caught ned rig fish there before. Yoga pants and junebug colors. I think the problem is the metabolism is still very slow. 

[DitchPanda]

5 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

I've caught ned rig fish there before. Yoga pants and junebug colors. I think the problem is the metabolism is still very slow. 

Is the water clarity always like that? 5-8 inches is pretty dirty. I'm not sure the metabolism is the issue...our ice went out Wednesday...I went out Friday caught 2 bass and lost one on the Ned. Water temps in the area are still high 30s from what I've heard. We've had 50s during the day and 20s overnight.

[Team9nine]

Fish the shorelines with any type of extra shallow crank like a Baby 1- using a slow steady retrieve...been working good here under similar conditions. Windblown banks have been best.

 

[TriStateBassin106]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

Fish the shorelines with any type of extra shallow crank like a Baby 1- using a slow steady retrieve...been working good here under similar conditions. Windblown banks have been best.

 

That's almost the same water quality here in the summertime, runoff will come into the pond and make everything murky and green like, here's a pic of a snapping turtle that was creeping up on me last year with similar water conditions. 

2 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

Is the water clarity always like that? 5-8 inches is pretty dirty. I'm not sure the metabolism is the issue...our ice went out Wednesday...I went out Friday caught 2 bass and lost one on the Ned. Water temps in the area are still high 30s from what I've heard. We've had 50s during the day and 20s overnight.

This was the jerkbait color I was throwing, behind it you can see the water quality on the windiest side of the pond which I tried first, average temps was 52 degrees. 

[TriStateBassin106]

2 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Fish the shorelines with any type of extra shallow crank like a Baby 1- using a slow steady retrieve...been working good here under similar conditions. Windblown banks have been best.

 

Would KVD shallow cranks work? 

[Team9nine]

I’m sure it will work, but it might be somewhat limiting since it dives to 3 ft. Wake cranks like Manns 1- only dive to 1 ft, so you can run it pretty easily right up to the banks (parallel).

[TriStateBassin106]

On 3/13/2021 at 2:24 PM, Team9nine said:

I’m sure it will work, but it might be somewhat limiting since it dives to 3 ft. Wake cranks like Manns 1- only dive to 1 ft, so you can run it pretty easily right up to the banks (parallel).

Tried that today, kvd shallow and also threw around some finesse jigs. Water temps dropped down again to 50 degrees... I don't expect to catch a bass until April to be honest. 

On 3/13/2021 at 8:56 AM, DitchPanda said:

Is the water clarity always like that? 5-8 inches is pretty dirty. I'm not sure the metabolism is the issue...our ice went out Wednesday...I went out Friday caught 2 bass and lost one on the Ned. Water temps in the area are still high 30s from what I've heard. We've had 50s during the day and 20s overnight.

This is my water clarity, pretty much stained. 

On 3/13/2021 at 8:02 AM, Koz said:

You probably won;t start seeing a good bite until the night time air temperatures are above the water temperature and the water really starts to warm. After about a week of that happening is when I see the action pick up.

 

Until then, the metabolism of the bass is usually still slow. They feed infrequently during the week so you need to be at the right place at the right time to get a bite. They are still in energy conservation mode until then.

When would that usually happen? April? I live in Northern NJ so I know it's different for regions. 

[Koz]

20 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Tried that today, kvd shallow and also threw around some finesse jigs. Water temps dropped down again to 50 degrees... I don't expect to catch a bass until April to be honest. 

This is my water clarity, pretty much stained. 

When would that usually happen? April? I live in Northern NJ so I know it's different for regions. 

I'm in Georgia now and it wasn't until the last 3 or 4 days that the night time air temperatures were greater than the water temperature. And just this past weekend we had a bass tournament with 250 boats out on the lake and all the anglers that stayed at my hotel said it was rough going.

 

Back where I used to live in SC we'd be two weeks into good fishing by now. So you just might be right about not seeing decent fishing until April. It's been decades since I live up north so I don't recall when things used to pick up there.

 

But here's the rub - if you don't fish regularly and wait until mid or the end of April you might miss the great pre-spawn fishing entirely and then be in the middle of the 2-3 post spawn slow don in bass fishing.

[TriStateBassin106]

9 minutes ago, Koz said:

I'm in Georgia now and it wasn't until the last 3 or 4 days that the night time air temperatures were greater than the water temperature. And just this past weekend we had a bass tournament with 250 boats out on the lake and all the anglers that stayed at my hotel said it was rough going.

 

Back where I used to live in SC we'd be two weeks into good fishing by now. So you just might be right about not seeing decent fishing until April. It's been decades since I live up north so I don't recall when things used to pick up there.

 

But here's the rub - if you don't fish regularly and wait until mid or the end of April you might miss the great pre-spawn fishing entirely and then be in the middle of the 2-3 post spawn slow don in bass fishing.

It's my first entire spring of bass fishing. Last year the spring fishing was canceled because of covid and the year before I started late (late may) I always wanted to catch spring bass before, even if it's 1 bass only in March I'll feel happy. 

[Team9nine]

59 minutes ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

This is my water clarity, pretty much stained. 

That's some pretty fishable water clarity, and your surface temps are more than warm enough. I start catching them here when you can still throw up onto ice sheets and pull the bait off into open water. They like to sit right at that edge and hit on the fall 

[DitchPanda]

That looks like alot more then 5-8 inches clarity to me. Ned and jerk bait should work well in that clarity. I also wouldn't hesitate to throw a spinner bait or even a swim jig with a subtle trailer at that temp.

[TriStateBassin106]

37 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

That looks like alot more then 5-8 inches clarity to me. Ned and jerk bait should work well in that clarity. I also wouldn't hesitate to throw a spinner bait or even a swim jig with a subtle trailer at that temp.

I tried spinnerbaits today, it's heavily stained though and some sides of the pond are a little bit more murky than the others, the windy side in my jerkbait pic was much more dirty. This was the "less dirty" side, for my pond being a pressured fish bowl with a fountain i'm surprised the water clarity can be "good" at times. 

[TriStateBassin106]

52 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

That looks like alot more then 5-8 inches clarity to me. Ned and jerk bait should work well in that clarity. I also wouldn't hesitate to throw a spinner bait or even a swim jig with a subtle trailer at that temp.

What jerkbait colors would you throw for that kind of stain? 

[DitchPanda]

Honestly in stained water the only color jerk bait I have luck on is bone. Maybe @Bluebasser86 will chime in with some advice....I've seen him throw some interesting jerk bait colors.

[huZZah]

I have more luck with any variation of white than anything green pumpkin. Pearl, bone, clear, shadow, etc. All my water is dirty dirty dirty. 

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, TriStateBassin106 said:

Tried that today, kvd shallow and also threw around some finesse jigs. Water temps dropped down again to 50 degrees... I don't expect to catch a bass until April to be honest. 

This is my water clarity, pretty much stained. 

When would that usually happen? April? I live in Northern NJ so I know it's different for regions. 

That water would be considered ultra clear down here

[Bluebasser86]

That's what Ned refers to as "Kansas Clear", when it's clear enough you can see the head of the trolling motor in the water, that's about the best water clarity you can ask for IMO.

 

All good baits have been suggested. I like jerkbaits in white/bone, gold if it's cloudy, clown if you want something a little brighter. Traps in red craw colors or gold are good. Spinnerbaits with Colorado or Indiana blades, I keep color selection simple with spinnerbaits and fish some combination of white/chartreuse. Bladed jigs in a variety of colors, lately it's been the fire craw color. Your water temps are almost exactly what I'm seeing here. It was 50-51.8 Saturday, this picture was from Saturday. Came out of some dead grass in about 1.5' of water and blasted the frog like the 2 others I missed did.