iceout smallies

[rocketball]

Is it possible to catch smallies soon after the ice goes out or are you better off to wait untill the water warms up?

[Crestliner2008]

Absolutely! It come down to one thing - location. If you can find their deep water holding areas (rely heavily on your sonar), near dams and/or adjacent to northwest flats (which warm up the fastest), then you'll do O.K.. You didn't say whether the water you fish is a lake or river, but I'm assuming the former.

Try blade baits, tubes, drop shots and especially hard jerkbaits like the X-Rap. All else fails try a suspending wacky rigged Senko, under a slip bobber. You'll get bit!

[MaineBassMan]

Of course you can, my friend and I fish even when there is still ice. He caught this one and half the lake was still frozen over. We just barely got the boat in the water and we were catching them right against the Ice in about 6 foot of water. We caught eight this day but this is the only picture I have of Ice and a bass in the same scene just for proof.

Black magnum flipping tube Texas rigged with a 3/8oz bullet weight. Pretty much dead sticking and just barely dragging it along, About 5-10min retrieve to every cast. I believe the water temp was around 38 degrees.

Actually, I found a few more , funny my friend didn't take any pictures of me with my bass.

[rocketball]

It will be a river....the lakes here are still frooze over pretty good and some of the rivers are just starting to show signs of opening up.

Thanks for the info and nice pics!!

[Flywatersmallie]

It will be a river....the lakes here are still frooze over pretty good and some of the rivers are just starting to show signs of opening up.

quote]

I can definitely relate! most lakes here are still frozen as well. 90% of my fishing is for smallies and almost all of that is river fishing. They can be had all winter long, if you can stand to be out there, that is. I was out this weekend. Water temps in the mid 30s and had a dozen or so, biggest at 16" on Saturday.....

What you want to find is reasonably deep water (deep water on my flow is 4 feet so this is relative) adjacent to either a dark bottom shallow bay(warms quickly) or a shallow fast moving stretch (thing buffet line). These fish wont move very far to take a bait and when the water is cold like that, they wont chase anything, you have to put it right in front of them.

As far as baits go, I did well on 1/8th oz football heads dressed with rabbit. cast out and let it sit. when you cant stand it, let it sit some more. Then, give your rod tip a shake, get that rabbit hair moving and let it sit again. Drag it slowly a foot and repeat. SLOOOOOOOOW is the name of the game when the water is still cold.

Also, suspending jerkbaits like husky jerks or pointers work well. Reel them down and leave them sit. a minute isnt too long. Twitch a few times and let it sit again. Hits are going to feel like added weight, nothing more.