Northwest Fishing Reports

So I'm going to be out trying my luck on a small 9-10 acre lake this weekend. Depth is 20 ft max, but I doubt it even gets that deep, probably more around 15ft. We'll be in my little rowboat.

Any tips on how to catch pre-spring bass? I'm leaning towards drop-shoting, but if anyone has better ideas I'd love some advice.

Thanks

upsize, make a lot of noise, fish on top, etc......

lol pretty much opposite of conventional thought, but thats what I'm actually gonna try this weekend.

bpm2000 wrote:upsize, make a lot of noise, fish on top, etc......

lol pretty much opposite of conventional thought, but thats what I'm actually gonna try this weekend.

Interesting, I was thinking total opposite like you mentioned. Maybe I'll give it a try if nothing else works.

yea heres the "normal" answer:

Downsize, fish slooow, slower than slow. Try dropshotting or tossing finesse plastics. Maybe some shaky head. Slow roll spinnerbaits. Some people will even stitch plastics pre-spawn and winter. And theres always the jignpig.

Fish the part of the lake that gets the most sun....It'll be the warmest...

Good luck...

Try using jigs near vegetation, deep lily pads or drop offs. Senkos will work well in small bodies of water all year long. Small bodies of water are great to fish in the early spring, bass will definetely be more active.

Be ready for as many techniques as you can, from the drop shot to the jig n pig. Fishing can be tough this time for me because I am shorebound, but since you have a boat, you maximize your odds by having as many options at your disposal.

Bring them all!!!:cheers:

islandbass wrote:Be ready for as many techniques as you can, from the drop shot to the jig n pig. Fishing can be tough this time for me because I am shorebound, but since you have a boat, you maximize your odds by having as many options at your disposal.

Bring them all!!!:cheers:

i have a extra toon if you want to make it out islandbass, im going to a supposed early season honey hole. let me know if you can make it.

islandbass wrote:Be ready for as many techniques as you can, from the drop shot to the jig n pig. Fishing can be tough this time for me because I am shorebound, but since you have a boat, you maximize your odds by having as many options at your disposal.

Bring them all!!!:cheers:

I've never jig n piged before. Does anyone have diagram on how this is rigged? Or could you explain it to me?

Thanks

This is a "jig"




The "pig" is any soft plastic you rig on the hook. Also known as the trailer. You can use a grub, worm, chunk...

so all I do is add any plastic to the hook? I was looking online and some of the pigs had little plastic/metal pieces sticking out of them, that looked like they were supposed to hook somewhere or wrap around the jig hook.

just rig the "pig" on the hook like your fishing a grub.

To be honest for the size of lake you are fishing and everything just go out with a few weightless rigs. Texas rig, wacky rig, carolina rig even...

The largemouth are moving up with out question its not as hard to catch them as it was 3 months ago or still may be in a big lake. Just use what you know and i bet you will hook up.

sweet thanks for the advice!

Im just going to throw out 4"-6" swimbaits worked very slowly like a soon-to-be winterkill fish. Might get a bass, might get a pike (if they are in there), but effective nonetheless.

E

Is it still to early for spinners?

kevinb wrote:Is it still to early for spinners?

It might be a little early, but you never know. It's more of a reaction lure, spinnerbaits. Personally I would try it when the water gets at least low 50s. If your going to use a reaction lure this early, I'd try a crank bait or a rattletrap.

but never hurts to try!

Thanks for the input.

tnj8222 wrote:

islandbass wrote:Be ready for as many techniques as you can, from the drop shot to the jig n pig. Fishing can be tough this time for me because I am shorebound, but since you have a boat, you maximize your odds by having as many options at your disposal.

Bring them all!!!:cheers:

i have a extra toon if you want to make it out islandbass, im going to a supposed early season honey hole. let me know if you can make it.

Thanks for the offer! Are you going out this weekend? The honey do list is a bit long this weekend but you never know. I'll PM you.


Viet,

Looks like Daniel answer the jig and pig question. This is the one lure I am going to focus on this year. It has the reputation of being a big bass lure and I would love to confirm that this season.

Good luck!

Nice thing about those big jigs is they get down through the weeds and stuff and you can work them through tons of structure if you have the right line and pole. I too would just bring the whole arsenal (I basically do this every time I fish for anything in lakes). I would hate to be out for hours and only have a few setups and not get hits on anything....I'm gonna try and get out on one of my puddles Moday too, maybe try for some bass and panfish or some more big browns and cutts. As long as I'm on the water, it's ALL goooooood. From what I've heard as of late with the bass is there seems to be a small window for when they're hitting and they've been hitting on large plastics run slow and twitched.