Stuck in limbo...

[DitchPanda]

So like last year we had early ice out, had some good warming and now the weather is 50s for high and 30s for lows. My buddy told me the water temp locally is 47 and its been there for a while. I never really know what to do when faced with these conditions. I have ideas of what to do in colder and warmer water but this weird middle ground always messes me up. Do largemouth feed well in these temps as long as they are stable temps or is it to cold? Is 47 moving bait temp or slow down temp this long after ice out?

[MGF]

Similar situation...I haven't been going out. It's been real windy and, with night time temps down in the 30's, it's cold for most of the day. I never get much fishing done in the spring...it's one front after the other and the worst of it  seems tp come on my days off work. I had ice on the truck windshield when I left for work this morning. I had a parka on for most of the morning at work. I'm off now but feel like I had about enough of the great outdoors for one day. LOL

 

So now that we've established that I am not an expert at catching bass in the cold of spring I look forward to reading the responses. 

 

I have a mostly shallow weedy lake I've been wanting to get out on. Here's what I have tied on my rods now...1- a TR on braid and a heavy rod.  A rage structure bug is on it now. 2-A weightless stick worm could go wacky if the weeds aren't too thick. 3,- a swim jig. 4- a bladed jig. I usually only carry 4 rods.

 

A few other presentations are always in the back of my mind but I think everything is going to revolve around the weeds even in this lake.

[Swampdonkey fishing]

Crank baits

[cdlittle]

Same thing happened here in Chicago. Got real warm, up to 80 even, the fish were slamming pretty much anything. Then cold front moved in and they are locked down. Only thing I've been able to get bit on is suspending jerkbaits and slowly working a finesse jig.

[RDB]

1 hour ago, DitchPanda said:

I never really know what to do when faced with these conditions. I have ideas of what to do in colder and warmer water but this weird middle ground always messes me up. Do largemouth feed well in these temps as long as they are stable temps or is it to cold?

Do they feed well...yes.  As soon as the water starts warming, bass know what’s coming and will start their transitions and feed up.  Brandon Palaniuk talks about a concept of finding bass by season and he calls it the percentage triangle.  Basically identifying summering and wintering locations and connecting the dots to locate higher percentage areas during various seasonal transitions.

[Jaderose]

Weather in NOWEMO has been terrible this spring.  I have not been out yet.  It's either been too windy or too cold or too cold AND windy or raining.  Bleah.

[.ghoti.]

The only water I have here is cold chocolate milk. Haven't been out yet.

[MGF]

I just came from the river and it's low and clear...almost what it should be in late summer. We better get some rain or we won't have a river this year.

[E-rude dude]

If I wasn’t swamped with my house remodeling, I’d be throwing a tube, 1.5 square bill, 1/2oz rattle trap, and a 1/4oz jig right now.

Constant 47 degrees means they are spawning or setting up to spawn. Fish from noon til dark til the water hits mid 50’s.

[jimmyjoe]

I've been catching bass for a month now on spoons (could ya guess? ? ) low and slow, right after ice-out.. One week ago they started to hit spinnerbaits, low and slow. Today I got my first crankbait bass of the year on a Rapala CRR5, higher in the water column but still fairly slow.

   I remember other years, and this pattern seems to be fairly typical.          jj

[DitchPanda]

1 hour ago, E-rude dude said:

If I wasn’t swamped with my house remodeling, I’d be throwing a tube, 1.5 square bill, 1/2oz rattle trap, and a 1/4oz jig right now.

Constant 47 degrees means they are spawning or setting up to spawn. Fish from noon til dark til the water hits mid 50’s.

Pretty sure bass spawn in the 60-63 water temp.

[E-rude dude]

1 hour ago, DitchPanda said:

Pretty sure bass spawn in the 60-63 water temp.

Enjoy staying home til then

[DitchPanda]

8 minutes ago, E-rude dude said:

Enjoy staying home til then

Why would I stay home? 

[BigAngus752]

You won't know what they want until you go out and throw some stuff.  IF the temps have been stable and you have some sun try to find some rock or concrete and throw some movers. Rip rap and concrete boat ramps are great for me early in the season.  Look for any area that has something that holds heat or is warmer than other water.  If you can find a "pinch point" with rock or concrete you may be in for a good day.  

[HenryPF]

Crappie are spawning in the backyard as I can see them popping the surface which means to me, the bass are about 2-3 weeks behind here in Illinois at least in backyard, I travel north 1 hour and it usually starts after my spawn is finished.

 

Note: water in the backyard is only 7ft deep at the most.

[Black Hawk Basser]

Hey man, I'm in your neck of the woods.  I went out yesterday in the frigid temps and FWIW, I did pretty well with a shad rap.  I also got one on a ZMan TRD and one on a small jerk bait.  I was just sort of drifting around on my kayak in 8-10 FOW in a basin area.

[Deleted account]

I'll take that over what we had, which is water going from 50 to 60 like in a week. Now they are all about the romance, and I'm having to throw plastics. To the OP's question, I like reaction baits in the early spawn, cooler water period, JBs, lipless, squarebills (particular ones, not the back up and rise at 90 miles per hr summer ones) and chatterbaits mostly.

[DitchPanda]

9 hours ago, Pickle_Power said:

Hey man, I'm in your neck of the woods.  I went out yesterday in the frigid temps and FWIW, I did pretty well with a shad rap.  I also got one on a ZMan TRD and one on a small jerk bait.  I was just sort of drifting around on my kayak in 8-10 FOW in a basin area.

I went out yesterday...caught a decent fish on a finesse jig...also had a fish smoke a bladed jig thought it was a stud...turned out to be a stinky old drum

[scaleface]

I went out for the first time all year earlier this week . The low was right at freezing and the high was in the mid 50's . I dont know what the water temp  was but guess around 50 . The water high and muddy . Crushed the bass with spinnerbaits  in creeks and coves targeting flooded brush .

[softwateronly]

The cold snap has slowed down my fish as well.  Riding a 7" Scottsborough swimbait on a jig head worked real slow over the break from 12' to 18' (the line between visible bottom and not) gave me a 17ish lb bag yesterday.  Best day since the cold came back.  All the fish came after the sun broke through the cloud cover.  This time of year I have better success upsizing instead of downsizing, could be luck or it could be something...

 

scott

[Koz]

On 4/16/2021 at 1:02 PM, DitchPanda said:

I never really know what to do when faced with these conditions.

 I do. Move to the South.

[Boomstick]

It is hard when the water is pre-50. But the good news is 47 is getting near 50, so I would say pretend it's 50 and if that doesn't work, go to colder water lures.

 

I would say things like T-Rigs and Jigs should be fair game as should crankbaits (preferably a lipless) and jerkbaits. You could even try a popper. I usually go small, but the baitfish are still larger so maybe a 1/2oz popper would be a good idea.

 

Transition periods are always hard.

[throttleplate]

went crappie fishin yesterday and the water was 39 F and the bass were tearing up my crappie jig with an under spin and small grub on it with a steady reel.

Why with 39 F water at 3 feet were the bass so very active and this was bank fishing standing in the same spot.

[Bird]

We're way behind last year's water temps with wind and cold fronts.

I've had to really slow it down to catch anything. 

I watch the pond at the house and even the frogs are confused this year as they laid eggs and now hiding from the cold.

Most of the fish I've caught have been on a Ned rig.

[MN Fisher]

12 minutes ago, Bird said:

We're way behind last year's water temps with wind and cold fronts.

27 days to bass opener and 'Tonka is at 52 - but the next few days are going to be cold and they predict the water temp to drop back to 50 by Thursday. So even the lake is on a roller-coaster.