Your Starting Lineup

[DitchPanda]

Chatter bait

Jerk bait

Ned

[gulfcaptain]

So A-rig, damiki rig, dropshot, jerk bait, neko, and a underspin. That would be my starting point.  There would be a spoon in there somewhere as well just not to start. 

[gim]

29 minutes ago, GaryH said:

On the bright side turkey season is coming 

We're gonna need a warm month of March to melt all the snow by season A here in April.

[MN Fisher]

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

We're gonna need a warm month of March to melt all the snow by season A here in April.

I just want the ice off so I can put some crappie in the freezer before bass season opens.

[WRB]

Early pre spawn transition from winter cold water period.

Spend more time surveying the major points near the dam and any larger creek arms. The bass are looking for prey and moving up as the water column warms.

To me determining the depth to fish, the structure type and cover determines the lures to use.

Sitting in my warm comfortable chair I don’t have a clue what’s is going on in the lakes at central MO? So after launching the 1st item is your sonar and check out the ramp, the marina, the water temps and get a feel for what’s going on.

I am a jig fisherman and crawdads are on the pre spawn menu, so my 1st choice. After that keep a open mind and go fishing using you confidence lures putting the puzzle together.

Good. Luck, stay warm!

Tom

[jbrew73]

6 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

1 XXH 8' swimbait rod for glides up to 8 oz 

1 XH 7'9" swimbait rod for glides 1-4 oz

1 ML 6'9" jerkbait rod for jerkbaits

1 7'6" H rod for 1/2 oz - 1oz jigs

 

Go big or go home!!!!

[gim]

10 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

I just want the ice off so I can put some crappie in the freezer before bass season opens.

You could go out there right now and ice fish for some!

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

What makes it worse is that we’ve had an extremely mild winter, both temperature and snow-wise, but are getting our most winterlike weather this week. Nasty ice storm last night, temps dropping to single digits, and getting whacked with huge snow storm Monday into Tuesday.

Really struggling to contain my enthusiasm to get back out there, especially since my reels just arrived back from DVT. ?

I imagine you guys fishing for the first time like the launch of the Classic.....just rooster tails as far as the eye can see ?

[DogBone_384]

6 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I have a bit of a wait myself.

Come on out to Cape Cod. It’s wide open and there are very few tourists… we’ve got some good SMB waters. Right now blade baits are the ticket. Water temps are in the low 40’s.

 

I fished with @Saltysmalljaws last week and lost a 4# SMB but landed a 4_9 LMB….

 

As far as my starting lineup:

-  Jerkbait

-  Chatterbait

-  Some type of soft finesse bait

-  Square bill / crankbait

-  Keitech, Keitech, Keitech ….

 

 

 

[GaryH]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

We're gonna need a warm month of March to melt all the snow by season A here in April.

Ours is April 29th this year.

[JediAmoeba]

47 minutes ago, jbrew73 said:

Go big or go home!!!!

The spring is when you catch the big girls. No sense catching 2 pounders.

[MN Fisher]

16 minutes ago, JediAmoeba said:

No sense catching 2 pounders.

Bite your tongue - that's freezer-fare there.

 

(practices selective harvesting)

[Log Catcher]

I will probably start with either a crankbait or jerkbait depending on the water temp. Also have a spinnerbait and a Baby Brush Hog rigged up. If they don't work I will get out the spinning rods and throw a Senko and a shakyhead.

[WRB]

My current 5 rods & reels, 2 casting and 3 spinning are set up to back seat and catch local SoCal bass.

The custom ALX rod w/ Daiwa reel and 12 lb FC is used to catch big bass using jigs. I caught all my giant bass using hair jigs w/ pork trailers so this outfit is ideal for that purpose.

The 2nd bait caster is a universal MF rod w/ Shimano reel using 11 lb Armilo. I can use nearly every lure in my tackle bag with this combo.

The spinning finesse rods are 2 Victory 7’1 MF and 7’3” MXF both with Shimano reels. These are used to simply catch bass with finesse soft plastics and Senko’s.

The 5th spinning combo is a back or dedicated slip shot rod my son used, Phenix split shot rod w/ Shimano reel.

That’s it 5 combo’s and2 small tackle bags and  it’s all I need today.

I ask whom ever Inam fishing with what lake and known current bite. Based on that info stock my tackle bags accordingly.

I always have my hair jigs and add pork trailers appropriate for the lake. Add a few other jigs depending on the lake.

Soft plastics include Roboworms, custom hand pours, Yamamoto Senko’s and Flick Shake 4.8.

Hard baits a few medium divers, Jerk baits, top waters and structure spoons. May add Scrounger depending on the lake.

Very simple and confident wherever I am fishing.

Tom

 

[papajoe222]

I mainly target the upper water column when searching for ice-out bass.

#1 choice for that is a suspending jerkbait. If the fish appear to be actively feeding I may switch to a soft plastic swim bait, or a lighter blade bait that I can work slowly and still keep up high. 

If it happens that they're still holding on the bottom, it's jig time. Small profile and little or no action on the trailer.  I'll drop down to a 3/8oz. Arkie or football jig with the skirt trimmed short and add a chunk trailer. The other thing I may try is a crank that's rated to run much deeper than the water I'm fishing. That way I can crawl it along and maintain bottom contact.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

51 minutes ago, WRB said:

My current 5 rods & reels, 2 casting and 3 spinning are set up to back seat and catch local SoCal bass.

The custom ALX rod w/ Daiwa reel and 12 lb FC is used to catch big bass using jigs. I caught all my giant bass using hair jigs w/ pork trailers so this outfit is ideal for that purpose.

The 2nd bait caster is a universal MF rod w/ Shimano reel using 11 lb Armilo. I can use nearly every lure in my tackle bag with this combo.

The spinning finesse rods are 2 Victory 7’1 MF and 7’3” MXF both with Shimano reels. These are used to simply catch bass with finesse soft plastics and Senko’s.

The 5th spinning combo is a back or dedicated slip shot rod my son used, Phenix split shot rod w/ Shimano reel.

That’s it 5 combo’s and2 small tackle bags and  it’s all I need today.

I ask whom ever Inam fishing with what lake and known current bite. Based on that info stock my tackle bags accordingly.

I always have my hair jigs and add pork trailers appropriate for the lake. Add a few other jigs depending on the lake.

Soft plastics include Roboworms, custom hand pours, Yamamoto Senko’s and Flick Shake 4.8.

Hard baits a few medium divers, Jerk baits, top waters and structure spoons. May add Scrounger depending on the lake.

Very simple and confident wherever I am fishing.

Tom

 

Did you keep the Jigs that you caught your avatar giants with?   I know I would have, they'd be in cool shadow box ?

[WRB]

Yes, kept the jigs and I have my mold to make the same jig. Also kept enough custom pork trailers and hair jigs to keep me busy several years and still fish them.

Tom

 

[Pat Brown]

When the water temp went down to 40° I caught fish on living rubber jigs with low action trailers, drop shots with little worms, spinnerbait and lipless crankbait.  The jig was was my best producer this winter but being around fish seemed to be the most important thing.  Good luck with ice out!

[Bankbeater]

I've already been out a couple of times this year to some smaller ponds.  They still have a lot of dead vegetation around the bank, which really limited my bait selection.

Swim jig.

Vibrating jig.

Spinnerbait.

Texas rig.

[Kelvin]

No off season here.   Been fishing practically nonstop weekly since this is the best time of year to go. 

 

Starters on deck.

 

Jerkbait. Vision Jr, Nishine Erie 95.  Vision 110 +1.   LC Staysee 90.

Small jerkbait.  Duo Realis 77 sp and 85.  Ito Shiner. 

Shallow running wake bait.  Hybrid Hunter Jr Damiki Slim Jack and LC jointed pointer

Spinnerbait (can be worked through lily pads and edges alike)

Weightless worm  (usually a senko)

Zman Turbo Fatty.  (Burning it up top through weeds)

Megabass Pop Max or Evergreen Shower Blows.

OSP bent minnow 86 in gold or translucent.

 

Lures that got benched.

 

Chatterbait (everyone and their mother throws one and as a result the highly pressured bass turn away from it....experience and livescope is showing that happens)

 

Whopper Plopper.  Heavy and gets bogged down with vegetation.  Stopped working 2 years ago.

 

Jigs.  Not my forte.  The kind of fishing that makes me want to stick my head in the oven.  Slow, plodding, bore you to tears.   Hate this kind of fishing even though its effective.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cbump]

31 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

Chatterbait (everyone and their mother throws one and as a result the highly pressured bass turn away from it....experience and livescope is showing that happens)

 

You don’t think everyone and their mother throws spinnerbait and has for a lot longer than chatterbaits?

[Kelvin]

19 minutes ago, Cbump said:

 

You don’t think everyone and their mother throws spinnerbait and has for a lot longer than chatterbaits?

 

No doubt they have seen a spinnerbait but the bass have heard and felt the vibration about 10K casted jackahammers in a given month and gotten burned by them enough to get conditioned to it.  Therein lies the key difference.  There is insane pressure here (temp right now is 78F) from year round anglers.  

 

Case in point:  Watching what the pros were doing before the MLF tourny on practice day at lake O spoke volumes.  Saw 20+ boats fishing in the area.  No one was throwing a chatterbait during practice.  Not one.  They were flipping and pitching and searching.  They weren't using chatterbaits despite the wind howling at 15 to 20+ all day. 

 

Livescope is obliterating the myths filling old timers heads. 

[Cbump]

18 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

 

No doubt they have seen a spinnerbait but the bass have heard and felt the vibration about 10K casted jackahammers in a given month and gotten burned by them enough to get conditioned to it.  Therein lies the key difference.  There is insane pressure here (temp right now is 78F) from year round anglers.  

 

Case in point:  Watching what the pros were doing before the MLF tourny on practice day at lake O spoke volumes.  Saw 20+ boats fishing in the area.  No one was throwing a chatterbait during practice.  Not one.  They were flipping and pitching and searching.  They weren't using chatterbaits despite the wind howling at 15 to 20+ all day. 

 

Livescope is obliterating the myths filling old timers heads. 

How about the week prior on Big O when the MLF tackle warehouse pro tournament was won on jackhammer and 8 of the top 10 threw It exclusively? 
I tend to believe the elites, fishing a week later of warming waters, were flipping more to spawn/bed fish where the week prior they were still more in prespawn chasing and eating heavily. 

Edit: I thought you meant the Elites who were doing more pitching. The MLF pro tourney on Big O was absolutely won with jackhammer. I watched every minute of that tournament. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

Chatterbait (everyone and their mother throws one and as a result the highly pressured bass turn away from it....experience and livescope is showing that happens)

I think many bass anglers here have replaced their spinnerbait usage with a chatterbait.  Granted, we do not have the pressure on many lakes you do down south, but I think the spinnerbait has made a resurgence in fishing success here because it got replaced by the chatterbait.  Bass can get conditioned not only to overall pressure, but also to one specific type of lure.

 

In my area, topwater fishing has all but completely failed for years now.  I used to hammer fish on a buzz bait and a frog.  Those lures rarely even produce a bite for me anymore and I am quite positive its a result of people over using topwater lures plus increased water clarity.

 

 

[Mike L]

They were fishing in totally different areas. 
The area where they were bunched up had less than 4 fow with submerged and topped out grass. 

The winner spent most of his time in the river where it gets to 10-20 deep. 
 

 

 

Mike