Cold water shore fishing questions

[Frank19]

Until I get a chance to get my jon boat back out in a week or two I'll have to fish the local reservoir from the shore.  The water here in southern NY is still very cold (approx 43*-47*).  What would you guys recommend as far as lure/presentation goes?  I've tried a jig without too much luck but the 1/2 oz I've been using might be a little too big this early in the season.  Any suggestions?

BTW, as far as the reservoir itself goes, it's not extremely large, the whole thing is weedy come summer time and it's only about 12' deep at its deepest point.  The shoreline I am fishing is about 1/8 mile long and has mostly fallen trees as cover.  

[Popeye]

T or Wacky rigged Senkos and jigs w/4" tubes would be my choice.

[roadwarrior]

Soft plastics, weightless & weedless. Specifically, Senko and Fat Ika.

I think a spinnerbait is another option. Generally, I would stay away

from trble hooks, without a boat they have a tendency of finding a

new home.   :

[Frank19]

Haha very true.  I hate not having my boat.  Had to climb out on a fallen tree the other day to retrieve a jig that had gotten stuck on a stump  >.  

Follow up question though...do you think a spinnerbait would be to quick of a presentation for water that cold?  Obviously you have to retrieve it fairly quickly just to keep it off the bottom.  

[roadwarrior]

Maybe it's too early for a spinnerbait bite in your neck of the woods, but once it warms up this is a lure that can be fished through a lot of trouble! Another thought is fishing a GYCB Kreature, weightless and weedless through the timber:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1180909581

8-)

[Frank19]

I should give a kreature bait a shot.  That's one thing I haven't tried there.  The only other problem is that this is a particularly windy lake.  The other day fishing from the shore I got hit with tons of wind in my face making fishing anything weightless virtually impossible.  I guess in that case my only real option would be a jig of some sort.

[SimonDM17]

Try the mann's baby 1-.  It's a shallow running crank (won't go deeper than a foot), rattles loud, wide wobble, and can be slowed down/stop-and-goed for some really nice early season action.  Heavy enough to cast into the wind, and you can run it along the sides of and over barely submerged cover.

If you're worried about hanging up, it might be worth trying a zoom super fluke fished weightless--they're pretty heavy, and easy to cast.  Or you could pick up a weighted hook in size 4/0 and use that.  Try twitching it over and through the branches.  A t-rig with a pegged 1/8 or 1/4 weight could work really well too--creature bait, worm, tube, craw...

[basser89]

I've caught a few in the past couple of weeks on a 1/2oz jig and a 5" swimbait. Surface temps were in the mid to upper 40's. Tubes and trick worms and Senkos would be my other options.

I agree with RW on being a little early for the spinnerbait bite. My experience has been once the temps hit 50, it's time to have a spinnerbait tied on always!

[roadwarrior]

Skirt forward or up towards your line on a 4/0 EWG Offset Worm Hook. In shallow water, fish the Kreature weightless and weedless. For more depth, a 1/8 oz barrel or bullet weight will work fine and I usually use a bead, but that is not really necessary.

8-)

[Frank19]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I ordered a pack of the Yamamoto Kreature baits last night.  Can't wait to give them a whirl.  

P.S.

Sorry RW, I see you already answered my last post before I deleted it.  I didn't want to duplicate info and I went back and re-read that whole thread you sent me above and it answered my rigging question.  Thanks again for the info though.

[Davis]

I'm going to try some plastics today. Water temps are around 42 and I wasn't getting hit on traps at all this weekend. Also tried a jerkbait with no luck. Guess I'll give the Ikas a whirl after work.

[Grey Wolf]

I caught four yesterday on a shallow diving crank bait.

[Davis]

I caught four yesterday on a shallow diving crank bait.

Really? I'll give that a go too. When I went to my local 20 acre pond there was still some ice around the east end edges. So I'm guessing the pond melted just earlier in the week. Going tonight.

[Grey Wolf]

I caught four yesterday on a shallow diving crank bait.

Really? I'll give that a go too. When I went to my local 20 acre pond there was still some ice around the east end edges. So I'm guessing the pond melted just earlier in the week. Going tonight.

Yeah , I was kinda surprised. The cranks dove

1-2 ft. The bass just exploded on them. I caught them between 12 and 1 pm.

[Davis]

I have seen no fish activity at all so far on the spots that I have fished. Not even bluegills or pumpkinseeds. How long do fish usually stay deep after ice-out?

[Grey Wolf]

I saw gill and carp swimming around , we have had a few days of fity degree weather until yesterday and it hit 65 , the bass I caught seemed cold to the touch but like I said they were agressive.

[Shakes]

Whatever you fish, fish it slow. Those kreature baits are nice. T-rigged with a light weight to make it fall slow. Be patient.

Good luck.

[Davis]

Nothing again yesterday. Tried a Rapala DT-4 really slow and also a Fat Ika VERY SLOW. I did some some minnows grouped around shore but no gills or bass yet to be seen. Maybe next week they will start to move up. Water temps are still pretty cold. I'm fishing on shore by the way.

[Frank19]

I'm going to give it another shot after work today.  Yesterday was the first day this year that the air temperature reached into the 60's.  Today is supposed to be about that warm as well.  We'll see if that changes how they react.  

I left most of my poles at home this time and I'm only bringing two light spinning rods with me and a bunch of soft plastics.  I think part of my problem was changing my techniques too often and throwing too many different things without giving any one method a real chance.  

I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back.

[Davis]

I'm going to give it another shot after work today. Yesterday was the first day this year that the air temperature reached into the 60's. Today is supposed to be about that warm as well. We'll see if that changes how they react.

I left most of my poles at home this time and I'm only bringing two light spinning rods with me and a bunch of soft plastics. I think part of my problem was changing my techniques too often and throwing too many different things without giving any one method a real chance.

I'll let you all know how it goes when I get back.

Good luck!

[Frank19]

Well I give up...water just must be too cold right now.  I fished about 400' worth of shoreline for just under three hours and not even so much as a bite.  Fished two different colored Senkos for the first hour and a half, then tried a twin tailed hula grub for a while and then back to the Senkos.  Everything I used I fished very SLOW.

The water was extremely clear and very cold to the touch (I didn't have a thermometer with me).  I watched the shoreline closely the whole way and didn't even see one fish of any size.  Oh well...I'll just have to give the water a week or two to start warming up a bit more.  

[pk]

The ice has been off a local pond I fish often for two weeks now.  

Two weeks ago when the pond was still half ice I caught bass on a berkley 7" power worm rigged weightless.  This was when the shoreline was the only warm open water and I was getting the strike on the down fall with this bait.

The past week or so the bass have been hitting Rattling Raps and Rat L traps.  I'm reeling them in just slow enough to feel the rattles.

[Frank19]

I hear ya.  I'm just a little wary of throwing anything with exposed hooks from the shore.  Lots of laid down trees along this particular shoreline and I've already lost two jigs in the past week.  Gunna save the cranks for when I have my boat out on the water.

[pk]

I hear ya.  I'm just a little wary of throwing anything with exposed hooks from the shore.  Lots of laid down trees along this particular shoreline and I've already lost two jigs in the past week.  Gunna save the cranks for when I have my boat out on the water.

I hear you.   What's the cost of a lost lure if you hook into a couple of bass?  Hey, you could fall into the lake from walking around a slippery spring shore and bust your rod, but that doesn't stop you from fishing right?  

[Frank19]

True, I just feel a little more confident throwing that type of lure when I have my boat so I can go in and get it when they get hooked on sticks and other cover.