First day on the water tomorrow! Need advice!

[Jon in VA]

Tomorrow will be my first FULL day on the water, and I AM PUMPED!

We're going fishing at Fairystone Lake (which is ranked #4 in the southside VA region out of 25 lakes/reseviors and ranked 19th out of all 108 fisheries in the entire state for Largemouth fishing) so we KNOW the fish are there lol.

Question is, how should I approach these fish? The ice just melted just in the last 5-7 days, and the water temperature best guess right now is 34-39 degrees. Will ANYTHING catch these cold bass? I know my presentation will have to be slow. What do you think? Jigs? Spoons? Deep Cranks?

Any advice on what to use and how to present it is greatly appreciated. I wanna outfish my buddy tomorrow, because he's not a member of these forums. 

[J_Pearson]

Blade Baits.

Finesse Jigs.

There's my two-cents worth. Real cold water is never easy to fish, but I definitely *** you getting out on the water already! We're still a couple/ few weeks out up here.

Good luck!

JP

[SMfisher]

dress warm it will still be cold, looks like the wind is going to die down tonight and tomorrow.

[Jon in VA]

dress warm it will still be cold, looks like the wind is going to die down tonight and tomorrow.

Yeah, I hope so. Wet soil and 30-60mph winds aren't exactly a good mix lol. Hopefully we won't have much wind to contend with tomorrow, although I think it's still supposed to blow anywhere from 7-15mph. Oh well, gotta live with it. How're things up on the New River?

[SMfisher]

not a good year so far, been sick, been out of state a lot this year, to much wind and snow, river up some and a little cold waiting for the river to go down a little and warm up a few degrees.

[5bass]

Fairystone. Thats a good little lake. I'd cruise around and watch the temp gauge on the graph for a little while and start where ever you find the warmest water. Or, if you can locate a good concentration of baitfish while you're riding around, that would be another good starting point. Take note of the depth of the baitfish and keep your baits in that zone. Any cuts off the main lake that are protected would be a good place to hit as well. Water temps and baitfish are key this time of year.

[jb7725]

suspending jerkbaits and hair jigs work well in the coldwater up here

[brushhoggin]

4" roboworm

[Bass_Akwards]

Lipless cranks and jigs on the most remote outlying pieces of structure that the bass associate with their eventual spawning area.  Access to deeper water for the big hogs is key.

Jerkbaits with long pauses.

[owl]

Nice thread.

Drop shot will work if nothing else will.

Good luck!

[Blade-Runner]

Drive around and look for baitfish x2.

[aarogb]

Suspending jerkbaits and lipless crankbaits.  It also wouldn't hurt if tried deadsticking a few soft plastics like Senkos or something else. 

FBL said look for that warmest water and baitfish.