Fishing for pre-spawn wisdom

[Swamp Girl]

@T-Billy

 

I already have everything you suggested, so I'm set. I hope.

 

I am considering the outriggers.  

[AlabamaSpothunter]

11 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

The lake I fish 95% of the time never gets close to freezing, maybe down around 50°, so this could be a local thing, but I wholeheartedly concur with those saying get after it earlier than you think or you'll be reading about others that did. For me, I think all of the winter months are the best time to catch bigger bass. Way BITD, I had carpal tunnel surgery for my wrist, and tendonitis surgery on my elbow at the same time so I would be laid up for three months. Surgery took place the first day after New Years Day that the doctor was operating. 

 

After a three weeks the stitches came out of the hand and I just wore a brace to somewhat immobilize it while not rehabbing it. I also took the time to go out fishing a LOT with a friend that was able to go in his boat. Since I was not able to cast, we started trolling these large 'plugs' on leadcore line. We had out best success dragging them across main lake points and letting out enough leadcore to get the plug to drag the bottom at 25'. The plug is over 11" long and when it caused a ruckus, that's when we needed to pay attention. There was a five day mid-week period in the middle of February where we caught a 10 lb bass on each of those five days (among others). 

 

We only caught one bass that weighed less than 5 lbs and it weighed 1-1/4 lbs. Every bass we caught was on the front hook and we hooked up much more frequently as the plug was dragging and bouncing on the bottom as opposed to swimming in open water. The second pic shows the condition of the lip from dragging the bottom. I have more that are much more scuffed up than that. Most people don't think of this bait as anything other than a shallow swimming or wake bait.

 

I feel that just because they hammer a bait, it doesn't necessarily mean they were looking for a meal.

 

Most people around here feel like February is the worst month of the year to catch any fish, let alone big fish. . . . Perhaps. . . .

Down here February is regarded as the best month to catch your PB, but the majority I know including myself were caught during the summer months.    

 

I hurt my shoulder going nuts with a new big Swimbait/Arig setup in the early Fall, I started to troll, and stroll somethings for the first time in my life, and I think I might have learned more from trolling/strolling than any other single thing since starting back.   

 

Trolling/Strolling is every bit as much of a skill as casting, have no idea how the stigma got so bad around it.   I listened to a interview with the SM WR holder, and he was a master troller.   Seems like many of the old school big Bass legends were trollers.   

 

 

7 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

@T-Billy

 

I already have everything you suggested, so I'm set. I hope.

 

I am considering the outriggers.  

I think the outrigger suggestion would be fantastic.

 

Some learning curve I'd imagine like how you would net or land fish, but once it warms up they'd come off.     I've seen some with just a single outrigger, maybe something like this would work, and you could fight the fish to non outrigger side.    THIS IS SPARTAN ?

 

Better to fish with them, then not be fishing at all.....I get your concern, I almost took a swim a few weeks back foolishly trying to get a lure.....I sat down and pondered what the consequences would have been, and given it was 48d water with 55d air temps....I'm thinking a cold for sure.   Unlike you in a canoe though, the jon boat would have been vastly easier to get back in and haul tail to the dock. 

[roadwarrior]

 

 

<-----------------February, either side of noon.

[Swamp Girl]

56 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

THIS IS SPARTAN ?

 

Gosh, ^this^ made me smile wide. 

 

I have paddled thousands of miles without tipping. I've also paddled big water in December without tipping. The thing that bugs me about outriggers is that they're one more thing to carry. They'd also create a lot of drag and especially in weeds.

 

Like I posted earlier, I have a wet suit top and boots now and I'll have survival gear strapped to my body, i.e. fleece bottoms, waterproof matches, fire starters, an emergency blanket, etc. Plus, I can hug the shorelines, limiting my time in the water. And I can avoid the bogs until its warmer. The bogs are more dangerous because their shorelines are deep, sucking mud. 

[Woody B]

I'm not an expert on pre spawn, or any other time of year.   However it's my belief that most of the time the bass don't know what stage they're in.   Doing research, and having a plan is good , but keep an open mind.  If what you're doing isn't working try something else.  

 

Mike Tyson said "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"  Don't be afraid to change your plan.   

[Swamp Girl]

You're wise, Woody.

[Way north bass guy]

Up here in Ontario where I am, our bass season isn’t open till after they spawn, but we still get quite a few incidental bass while fishing for pike in the spring. Like others have mentioned, they move fast when the ice goes, as we don’t have a super long growing season anyway, so they take advantage of any heat that they can get. I’ve caught quite a few real big bass in just inches of water, right after the ice leaves, while I’m casting for spawning pike. In my neck of the woods, pretty much anytime you find any sort of creek, small river or other runoff coming into a back bay, you can pretty much guarantee that there’ll be big bass up there cruising, looking for anything that’s washed down, even within a day or two of the ice going. I’ve seen some absolute monster bass up shallow, cruising right beside the big pike. 

[Swamp Girl]

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

Don't those things freeze out in the winter?

 

Shallow lakes here often have winter kill because there is a lack of oxygen after months of being covered in snow and ice.

 

That's a good question and a reasonable assumption. I can only answer, having lived in northwestern Wisconsin for 30 years, that coastal Maine is much warmer and that likely keep the bass alive. Right now, in January, the lakes only have thin ice when they have any ice at all.

[WRB]

The season period I know best is pre spawn.

Largemouth bass vs Smallmouth bass varies about 3 degrees in water temperature at the depth the bass are located at.

Surface water temperature don’t affect bass behavior!

Largemouth bass I know best and Florida strain better then Northern strain. Florida strain are far more sensitive to water temperature changes  then Northern strain.

My water temperature target for pre spawn LMB is 55 degrees based on over 50 years catching big female bass.

When you see females cruising the spawning flats you know they are about 2 weeks from spawning. Prior to that time those bass those bass are staged on secondary and major points waiting for the water temperatures to stabilize.

The 1st pre spawn prey source isn’t bait fish but is crawdads that emerge from cold water burrows in clay banks. The crawdads are high protein and easy meals vs faster bait fish. Think jigs and bottom soft soft plastics. 

Tom

 

[Kyle S]

12 hours ago, T-Billy said:

Sure. Sometimes. I didn't see a Texas rig listed in your lineup. I HIGHLY recommend picking up a 100ct bulk bag of Big Bite Baits, Yo Momma's, some 3/0 VMC flippin hooks ( The regular ones not the HD's), some medium size rubber bobber stops, and some 1/4 and 3/8 tungsten weights. I prefer the smaller 3.5" Yo Momma. They list it as 3" but it's 3.5" long, and it flat catches 'em, big and small alike.

Edit to add: Some Zoom Mag II worms, and some trick worms are must haves too IMO. I fish those on as light a weight as I can, 1/8 most often. 

I'm interested in those Yo Mama's... where's the best place to pick up the 100 packs of em @T-Billy? Thanks!

[T-Billy]

4 hours ago, Kyle S said:

I'm interested in those Yo Mama's... where's the best place to pick up the 100 packs of em @T-Billy? Thanks!

I buy em direct from BBB.

[VolFan]

There’s a couple guys on a Swimbait forum that I frequent that have great success  in water over 40 degrees fishing big wake baits slowly near shallow rocky banks with deep water nearby. One of them is actually in Maine (or possibly Massachusetts).  Rising water temps are key. Mostly they fished the evening/night after warm afternoons. Slow wakes with long pauses - the take is usually a sip more akin to a trout taking a dry fly than a violent strike. Occasionally you’ll get a pig walleye this way too if they’re around. I did this in DC on the Potomac and it worked great there too. My best bait was a Mini Slammer in black but YMMV. This not a numbers or small fish technique.

[king fisher]

8 hours ago, WRB said:

The season period I know best is pre spawn.

Largemouth bass vs Smallmouth bass varies about 3 degrees in water temperature at the depth the bass are located at.

Surface water temperature don’t affect bass behavior!

Largemouth bass I know best and Florida strain better then Northern strain. Florida strain are far more sensitive to water temperature changes  then Northern strain.

My water temperature target for pre spawn LMB is 55 degrees based on over 50 years catching big female bass.

When you see females cruising the spawning flats you know they are about 2 weeks from spawning. Prior to that time those bass those bass are staged on secondary and major points waiting for the water temperatures to stabilize.

The 1st pre spawn prey source isn’t bait fish but is crawdads that emerge from cold water burrows in clay banks. The crawdads are high protein and easy meals vs faster bait fish. Think jigs and bottom soft soft plastics. 

Tom

 

After reading this, I was wondering if you think the pre spawn bass like the 55 degree water temp. or if the key is the crawdads start coming out of their holes, when the water temp. hits 55 degrees.  On a lake with another bait source that is more vulnerable at a different temp., would that change what temp the pre spawn fishing is best?  Your experience indicates the preferred temp. is 55 degrees, so as far as when an angler should fish, it doesn't really mater which comes first, the chicken or the egg, but I am interested in what you think.

[WRB]

Pre spawn is a specific seasonal period about a month before the spawn. Prior to that it’s the winter colder water period that big females are hunting what is available to gain protein needed to fatten and that usual larger mature baitfish. Late winter transition to pre spawn is the ideal time for swimbaits.

The thought that pre spawn starts with egg development during the summer eliminates Summer, Fall and Winter as significant behavioral periods.

Tom

 

[Swamp Girl]

12 hours ago, WRB said:

The season period I know best is pre spawn.

Largemouth bass vs Smallmouth bass varies about 3 degrees in water temperature at the depth the bass are located at.

Surface water temperature don’t affect bass behavior!

Largemouth bass I know best and Florida strain better then Northern strain. Florida strain are far more sensitive to water temperature changes  then Northern strain.

My water temperature target for pre spawn LMB is 55 degrees based on over 50 years catching big female bass.

When you see females cruising the spawning flats you know they are about 2 weeks from spawning. Prior to that time those bass those bass are staged on secondary and major points waiting for the water temperatures to stabilize.

The 1st pre spawn prey source isn’t bait fish but is crawdads that emerge from cold water burrows in clay banks. The crawdads are high protein and easy meals vs faster bait fish. Think jigs and bottom soft soft plastics. 

Tom

 

 

Tom, I bought a ray gun thermometer that you point at the water to take the temperature. Is that useless? I ask because you wrote that surface temperature doesn't affect bass behavior. What depth does then? Would it be the temperature right above the bottom? What if they're suspending?

[WRB]

When you catch a bass note the depth it was in then take it’s body temp with the ray gun and that is the water temp depth zone they prefer.

Tom

 

[Catt]

FYI: Bass do not swim around with a thermometer in hand!

 

There's way more than temperature involved in this whole pre-spawn/spawn process.

[Catt]

Water temperatures of 55° or higher we are talking spawn...bass on beds.

 

Pre-spawn starts long before 55°

 

[RDB]

4 hours ago, Catt said:

Pre-spawn starts long before 55°

???

 

When the days lengthen and the water starts to warm, bass know what’s up.  Just because that early pre-spawn transition may take place further away from their spawning flats doesn’t mean the process hasn’t begun.  By the time you see the females near the beds, odds are they will be moving up in short order.  It is also a mistake to think that just because the water temp is ___ degrees and there are bass on beds, that means that pre-spawn is over.  After that first larger wave of bass move up, you will be able to find bass in all 3 phases and will continue to do so until the last bass move up.  
 

All opinions are mine and may not be shared by the staff or members of Bass Resource ?.  See what I did there?

 

[padlin]

23 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

 

That's a good question and a reasonable assumption. I can only answer, having lived in northwestern Wisconsin for 30 years, that coastal Maine is much warmer and that likely keep the bass alive. Right now, in January, the lakes only have thin ice when they have any ice at all.

 If you see any ice fisherman out while you’re scouting, they’d know how thick the ice gets. Around here a normal winter would be 2-3’, max. Plenty of wiggle room for fish in the shallow pond I frequent.

 

this winter there is almost none, so far.

 

[WRB]

When you see females cruising Pre Spawn is over.

Slow me 1 reference to Pre Spawn before 1974 when 1st did my seminar The Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar using that term!

Tom

 

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, WRB said:

When you see females cruising pre spawn is over.

Slow me 1 reference to pre spawn before 1974 when 1st did my seminar using that term!

Tom

 

 

So, the term began with you? Cool! BTW, I will never doubt anyone with a bass photo like yours.

[WRB]

WYes as far as I know and shared my Cosmic Clock with Al Linder, the reason wrote a few article for In-Fisherman magazine; Rare Chance for a World Record and Horizontal Jigging.

Bass fishing terms get redefined constantly, one reason it’s so difficult to communicate.

Thank you,

Tom

PS, if interested PM you email will send you copies.

[Catt]

9 hours ago, RDB said:

All opinions are mine and may not be shared by the staff or members of Bass Resource ?.  See what I did there?

 

Nuthin that hasn't already been discussed here before.

 

 

Some of y'all need to read early research done by Clarence Bowling Texas Parks & Wildlife biologist.

 

Other publications on times are eerily simalor to Poor Richard's Almanack, which Benjamin Franklin began publishing on December 28, 1732.

 

[RDB]

I would let it go…BRJ has spoken.

 

Edit:  FWIW…my favorite time to hunt is pre rut (not my term).