Early spring fishing advice needed!

[BassinBoy]

In a few weeks(Mid/Late March), I hope to get out for the first time to do some pond bass fishing.

At best the water will be 45-50 degrees, but there will be a full moon so I figured it would be a good time to start fishing ponds.

Does anyone have advice for what lures, techniques, and presentations I should use?

Thanks guys!

[rowyourboat]

not sure of the conditions... but your obvious choices are gonna be: jigs, redeye shad, jerk baits, senkos

[Missouribassman95]

Finese baits. Small tubes, jigs, lipless crankbaits, ect.

[brushhoggin]

swim some lipless cranks then some big lizards once you narrow down their location

[John J.]

In general, no matter what lures you choose, go with S-L-O-W retrieves, lures like texas rig worms, jigs, wacky rigs, and other finesse tactics will work great.

Try different techniques and retrieve speeds to see what the fish like. If you get bit, repeat that retrieve and see if you land another. Once you establish a pattern (location, lure color, speed of retrieve, type of presentation), you will catch bass.

Good luck!

[roadwarrior]

Pick your favorite lures and techniques and focus on

structure and cover. Everything works in the spring!

Read every article, these should help:

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/seasonal-fishing-articles.html#spring

8-)

[Fishmaster10]

I usually have the best luck using lipless crankbaits, big O's, or strike king model a's. Most of the time the fish are fairly deep, but not always.

[Fishes in trees]

Every year, early in the spring, mid-March or so, I catch 1 or 2 or 3 big fish, fish in the 6 to 8 lb range.  Here is the general pattern. It is generally in the mid-afternoon, been on the water since 7:30 or so and fishing is average at best.   I will have talked myself into seeing if there is an afternoon shallow bite.   It will either be a rattle bait, or a big spinner bait, like a 3/4 oz War Eagle.  Just checking out the 1 to 4 ft depth range, I'll move these baits pretty fast.  Banks/areas with intermittent stumps/objects seem to be better than areas with a whole bunch of stumps and objects.

I'm moving into the wind if possible.  Should the wind be pounding into the area I want to fish, I'm using the trolling motor to stay a long cast away and casting with the wind.

Sometimes the big fish hit 10 minutes into the process, sometimes 40 or 50 minutes, but I know it is going to happen, primarily because it has happened the last 5 years in a row, on 3 different lakes.

So that's what I'll be doing, the first few trips, after 2 pm or so.  Earlier in the day, I'll throw the shakey head or a jerk bait if the water is clear enough. 

So anyway, in your situation, fishing from the bank, I would cover the edges of the pond, from the bank to 5 feet or so off the bank with a fast moving, reaction bait, either a rattle bait or a big spinner bait.  Good Luck

[royal0014]

Don't know that the moon will help, but in that cool of water, S-L-O-W , and maybe smaller.

[scrutch]

When pond fishing, stay back from the bank, tread lightly, be stealthy.  Pond fish spook easily and will shut down on you in a second.

[J_Pearson]

Up here little ponds are generally more open/ open enough to be be fishable than slightly larger bodies of water, and I've caught my first bass for a while now on shore a week or so before putting the boat in.

Jerkbaits and lipless cranks are about all you need to launch from the shore for the first week or two. As far as lipless colors go, I stick to red craw, chrome, and a bluegill color that just seems to work well for me. Don't be hesitant to toss your lipless into ridiculously shallow water. If there are a few days of "warmer" (warmer is relative of course but a series of a few days of higher temperature than the previous week) weather, pond fish especially seem to move shallow pretty quickly. Reel your trap fast enough to keep it just ticking the top of grass/ the bottom.

You might think you're reeling too fast when fishing really shallow water, but last year less than a week after ice-out I couldn't reel fast enough.

I jacked this chunk that afternoon burning a redeye shad on the windy bank.

I've also noted that in the afternoon's/ evenings early season there seems to be a small time window where the bite is at its best. It seems like when I've got that pattern dialed in you can about call it to the quarter of an hour when the bite will be best on little bodies of water.

Hope that can give you a couple ideas anyways. Good luck, it won't be long up here!

JP

[dwtaylor]

I will agree with the lipless crankbait.  Something about a red lipless bait fires them up really early.  I use a retrieve similar to a jig to make sure I am contacting bottom.  I will also use a jig to catch these fish.  I move my bait as slow as I can as long as the lure has action.  Another thing to try is suspending jerkbaits if the water is clear.  I just reel them down to depth and give it a jerk or two and let it sit for a while.  Sometimes I will let it sit for up to two minutes before I jerk it again.

I hope this helps!

[Intrepid]

definately suspending jerk baits as many have mentioned already

[Nice_Bass]

You dont have to fish slow.  Any type bait will work if you fish it where the fish are...ponds will heat and cool quicker- i would wait till a couple days warming trend and do it right the first time.

On a small pond it should be easy to fish the top middle and bottom to see where most of the fish are- then use a bait that will excel in that depth range.