Northern first bass guess

[Swamp Girl]

If you live in a place of snow and ice, what's your best guess for your first 2025 bass? I'm guessing March 20th, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't happen until March 30th. It'll likely happen at my pond. The boardwalk now extends to open water and there's a shallow bay there, so I can stand on the platform and cast. I don't think I'll launch that early in the spring because I don't want to tip and die. 

 

I just don't know if bass prowl that bay in the early spring. One advantage I'll have is that I can cast on a windy day. Because I'll be casting from shore, the wind won't be a problem and I can cast when the wind is blowing into the bay. 

[Susky River Rat]

I had mine on Martin Luther king day through the ice!

[Swamp Girl]

1 minute ago, Susky River Rat said:

I had mine on Martin Luther king day through the ice!

 

That's a sneaky Pete bass!

[Jar11591]

Hard to imagine open water before April around me. It’s been a frigid winter. Lakes have been frozen solid since December and this month is just snow upon snow upon more snow. April 15th is my optimistic guess. 

[MIbassyaker]

I'm limited by free time as much as a ice. I'll get my first opportunity in two weeks, but the lakes will probably still be locked up (mid-late march seems more likely for ice-out this year).  I may be able to find some open spots on the river bank.  Catching one will be a low-probability event, though.

After that, I'm probably looking at weekend of April 19-20 at the earliest for actually getting on the water.

[Swamp Girl]

7 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Hard to imagine open water before April around me. It’s been a frigid winter. Lakes have been frozen solid since December and this month is just snow upon snow upon more snow. April 15th is my optimistic guess. 

 

Yikes! I'm north of you, which has me wondering if my guess isn't way too optimistic. 

[MIbassyaker]

Just now, Swamp Girl said:

 

Yikes! I'm north of you, which has me wondering if my guess isn't way too optimistic. 

 

Yeah, but I expect your temperatures get some coastal moderation. 

[MediumMouthBass]

Water here usually is frozen until 12pm on sunny days through late Feb-March and opens completely around the end of March or April.

 

This spring will probably be mid March-late March open water afternoons and be open 24/7 by April like usual.

 

Yes, its a cold frigid winter, but its also very warm too.

The other day it was in the 20's the next almost 50's, now back to 20's and tomorrow will be another almost 50's, then another week of 20's.

[DogBone_384]

I snuck mine in on New Years Day, right before mother nature returned real winter back to SE Massachusetts.  It was a 1 1/2 pound SMB.

I ‘cheated’ and made my own 8” open water on February 4th and pulled up a 5_2 LMB. Not bad since I didn’t catch a 5er in ‘24.

 

I'll take a stab at my next open water bass will be March 8th.

[Jar11591]

14 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Yikes! I'm north of you, which has me wondering if my guess isn't way too optimistic. 

Are you in a coastal area? That may help speed things along. I’m a long way from the ocean so we rarely get an early ice out. 

[Swamp Girl]

8 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Are you in a coastal area? That may help speed things along. I’m a long way from the ocean so we rarely get an early ice out. 

 

Pretty close. My pond is about six miles from the ocean. Fingers crossed for soft water sooner rather than later!

[Fried Lemons]

Tomorrow hopefully

[Swamp Girl]

3 minutes ago, Fried Lemons said:

Tomorrow hopefully

 

Fingers crossed, Buddy! So, you have open water or are you fishing one of those power plant lakes?

[Fried Lemons]

38 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Fingers crossed, Buddy! So, you have open water or are you fishing one of those power plant lakes?

Most of the lakes around here have been frozen for a few weeks, they have been slowly thawing out. With the rain and the high of 61 tomorrow there should be open water on most of the lakes. 

[The Baron]

With the cold temps and another 2ft. of snow forecast for tomorrow 😠 I'm not getting my hopes up until mid-April.  Planning to pickup the new boat that first week of April 1 and take it over to the installer for a Garmin UHD2 and a Garmin Force install.  So if the weather cooperates, maybe the maiden voyage will be April 5/6 and with any luck my son and I will both catch our first of 2025.  If it's still cold, I'll push all that ahead a week.

[Smokinal]

I'll be out the first weekend after ice-out...whenever that is.

I've got a pretty consistant pattern that gives us 40-60 fish mornings for about 2 weeks after ice-out.

[FishTax]

I'm still trying in NC but we have more bad weather coming this week. Been a yuck winter here. Currently very cold rain, tomorrow back to 60, then teens later this week. Classic NC weather

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Smokinal said:

I'll be out the first weekend after ice-out...whenever that is.

I've got a pretty consistant pattern that gives us 40-60 fish mornings for about 2 weeks after ice-out.

 

Whoa! Care to share?

[gim]

I'll clearly be the last one here, thus far.

 

May 10 because the season doesn't open until that date.

[MN Fisher]

58 minutes ago, gim said:

I'll clearly be the last one here, thus far.

 

May 10 because the season doesn't open until that date.

Nope - cause I don't fish weekends, so my first chance would be the 12th 😛

[WaskaCrank12]

As part of the Minnesota crew along with @gim and @MN Fisher it will be May 10th at the earliest - we are in the deep freeze right now - this past week we had multiple days with negative temps (it was minus 24 on Wednesday) and the forecast is for negative/single digits for the next week - not much snow cover here so the ice on the local lake is very thick/deep

[TriStateBassin106]

I live in Northern New Jersey so this could be anywhere from when the ice is out at 40 degrees to the verge of prespawn around 50 degrees water temps. Last year I didn't catch my first bass until April 3rd and the year before it was in the beginning of march, it honestly just depends when the weather is right and the fish come alive again sorta 

4 hours ago, Smokinal said:

I'll be out the first weekend after ice-out...whenever that is.

I've got a pretty consistant pattern that gives us 40-60 fish mornings for about 2 weeks after ice-out.

Please share and details about your pattern, I always struggle with water temps in the 40s 

[Swamp Girl]

6 hours ago, Smokinal said:

I'll be out the first weekend after ice-out...whenever that is.

I've got a pretty consistant pattern that gives us 40-60 fish mornings for about 2 weeks after ice-out.

 

Here are my spring totals for last year, taking me into early May, at which point I started catching 40-75 bass per morning, but you averaging 40-60 fish per morning way surpasses my cold water catches:

 

1, 3, 2, 11, 3, 14, 6, 13, 15, 11

 

So, what's your tactic? I'm not looking for the names of lakes and ponds, but merely what lure(s) you throw and where you throw it/them. I'd love to see your bass pics too. 

[cody_ia]

im in iowa. last year my 1st bass was caught on march 4th. im guessing about the same this year. just after ice out. 

[RLinNH]

Sometime after April 15th would be my guess.😒