Looking Ahead at Open Water
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I may be dreaming or just hoping that spring will be here in earnest. At least we got a glimpse of it this past week. It is hard to believe that I was ice fishing just a few weeks ago, and now the ice is off my pond. That certainly doesn’t mean it cannot come back, but it also doesn’t mean I cannot at least prepare for ice-out bass fishing.
That first trip to the lake or pond when you have to wear a hooded sweatshirt because it’s still pretty cool is different from when you fish in July in shorts and flip-flops.
First of all, fish, being cold-blooded creatures, will not be as aggressive in chasing or attacking lures. Sometimes, you almost have to drop it on their heads to get them to take the lure. I remember fishing a lake here in Clark County a couple of years ago, and although we caught some bass, we had to fish pockets in the grass along the shoreline where the bass were taking advantage of the warmer water. But you could not cast along the bank and make your retrieve—you had to cast out into the deeper water and bring the lure into the pockets very slowly. Anything too fast spooked the fish out of the pockets.
I was using a very short, perhaps 3.5-inch, jig worm with a very light sinker pegged about 6 inches ahead of the worm, casting out and retrieving it very slowly with long pauses in between. When I neared the shoreline, things slowed down even more until I was almost in the pocket with the lure—and then it was almost a crawl. Rather than hitting the lure, the fish would take the bait and simply swim out toward the deeper water with it.
After a winter of jigging for bluegill through the ice, this finesse fishing for bass was a lot of fun once I slowed things down. Part of what added to the fun was the fact that, because of how clear the water was, I had switched to lighter line (8-pound test) on my Billy Moreland Light Line Special rod. It has plenty of backbone to set the hook, but the lighter line wasn’t spooking the fish, as I’m sure heavier line would have done in that clear, shallow water. The worm was lighter in color, and I have no idea what it looked like to the fish, but because it was free-floating behind the pegged weight, it looked to me as though it was a wounded minnow. I have also had good luck using tube baits fished slowly in the spring.
I have kind of gotten the cart ahead of the horse, so let me back up and tell you when I look to begin fishing after ice-out. This is pretty simple, but if you have any doubts, right now is the time to notice where the ice began melting first.
For example, the north side of my small pond opened up two days ahead of the rest of the pond. In fact, this very morning, about a third of my pond was still covered in ice, but the north shore was wide open. This is due to a couple of reasons. First of all, any runoff from that steep shoreline is hit by the sun’s rays longer than the rest of the pond. So, if there is any runoff, it will be warmer water. Any runoff will also carry food out into the pond for the smaller minnows, which are food for the larger fish. Just a couple of degrees of warmer water can mean a great deal to a cold-blooded fish.
It’s funny because I used to not pay much attention to this, but if you are going to be fishing from a boat, prior to unloading that boat, make a few casts along the boat ramp. That slab of concrete, heated by the sun, can also warm the water around it. I didn’t think about this until I noticed that on Mark Twain Lake, my fish finder was always revealing fish near the boat ramp when I was wrapping up fishing and heading back in. The same is true if there are large rocks extending out into the water, which is certainly the case for Mark Twain Lake as well. The same applies to stumps or logs that are in the water but exposed to the sun. Finally, small, shallow-water coves warm up faster than the main body.
Aside from the small Senko worm that I use for very shallow-water bass, I also like using a smaller spinnerbait, such as the Booyah Pond Magic spinnerbait. I fish it as slowly as possible—but fast enough to keep it off the bottom. The fish I catch with it are normally those on the break between the shallow and deeper water. I don’t know why, but red has worked well for me in the past. However, I have also used white to catch bass.
Of course, bass are not the only fish out there. I find it amazing that just a few days ago, we were perfectly happy to bring home a mess of bluegill caught through the ice, but once bass become possible, the bluegill become second-class citizens again. If you still have wax worms left from ice fishing, why not use them?
We have a couple of long crappie poles that we were going to use on Reelfoot Lake, but the guides furnished tackle. Those poles work perfectly for getting bait just off the shoreline without spooking the fish by walking up close. The same is true if you have an old fly rod lying around that you no longer use. If you don’t have bait, it’s not a big deal—the fish will still take tiny ice jigs. You can also tip them with Berkley Power Grubs, small Power Worms, or even a small portion of regular worms or nightcrawlers. Being able to reach out from the shore also helps get back into the brush where panfish tend to hang out. You can also put a small bobber on to see the hits.
If you are going to be casting and want to get that ice jig or bait to where the fish are suspended, use a slip bobber. It works just like it sounds—you can set the depth that you want the bait or jig to reach. By using a bobber stop, which can be a small knot tied on the line or a sliding rubber stop, the bobber will stop at that depth. The stop is small enough to slide easily through the rod’s eyelets, meaning you can cast the jig out where you want to fish. It really does work slick.
But watch that bobber carefully. On my last ice fishing trip, the fish bite was so light it was barely noticeable. Oh, there were still aggressive fish, but the vast majority were light biters. Just because they are panfish doesn’t mean they aren’t spooky in that clear water, so don’t go crazy when jigging. Subtlety may be the way to go until the water warms up.
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