Mossypumpkin Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 Wanted to do a write up on fishing/swimbaiting cold water. And I don't mean SoCal cold...I mean Maine cold...haha! Below 45 degrees cold. This may be old news to a lot of people, but hopefully some noobs can take something from it. Just going to be sharing from my own knowledge and experience on these topics. Gonna explain what I do and look for in the Spring and maybe touch a bit on fall as well. So I am up in Maine and ice typically goes out in mid-April. Looks like this year will be early April. So when the ice is TOTALLY off the lake, your water temps will already be up around 37-40. Even when the lake is partially covered with ice you can sometimes find water that is already upwards of 38 degrees near inlets or warm shallows. Ideally, if you wanna catch a lot of fish right after ice out at this temperature, you're tossing a blade bait, jerkbait, rattletrap, and jig. But don't be a loser. Leave the wimpy stuff at home. Now, its not going to be easy to get bit at these temps, but it can be done, and this is when some big girls are feeding. Quantity over quality! The water just jumped from 35 to 38 and now big momma is ready to eat again. So here is what I am doing... Immediately after ice out(technically, before the ice is even off the whole lake) I am fish a bridge in the middle of a causeway where a big stream dumps into the lake. I'll see if I can get a pic up. This stream is wide, slow and warm. So it's pushing in warmer water. Where it comes under the bridge and dumps in, it drops to about 10' deep. There is a LOT of current pushing in spring. But this is a simple case of finding the warmest water in your lake. There will be fish there in spring! So the fish are moving to the edges of the current, the edges of the channel, and right in the channel in the current, but next to a rock, stick or whatever. I am fishing from shore, so I have to stand on one side of the channel or the other, and I am fishing on both sides of the road. That is, I am fishing the up-current and the down-current sides of the bridge. I am casting across the current and fishing my bait back so that the current is carrying it downstream, while I bring it in. The baits are simple. The water is around 40, making bait choice easier. I am tossing a Realprey Alewive, Pats Perch, Rago Soft tool, S-waver 200, Deps 250, and 8" Hudd. I prefer the RPA to be a medium sink and the Hudd an rof 5. Color depends more on the weather pattern for that particular day, when I got bright, dark, natural, etc. All of these baits can be fished slowly, that's the key. Glides can be fished slowly and paused, the pats and soft tool can be slowly cranked down, and the Hudd and RPA you can let sink to bottom and drag it along. SLOW and STEADY is the game here. You don't need your bait to look like it's dying. You don't need pauses and twitches and jerks. Just slow and steady will get bit. Once the water warms to about 45, The fish start moving and becoming more active. They will start to move away from the deeper channels and move more up onto flats and shallower areas. It's not to say they don't hold in shallow areas all winter, but the majority will be deeper because that's where the warmer water is. Now,when the water is 45-50, I actually keep fishing those same areas, but I will spend more time trying the shallower side of drop offs and channels. They still want to be near deep water in case the temps drop suddenly. So I am fishing those same spots with current and channels, or I'm going to steep banks. Basically tossing the same baits. From about 45 to 60 a glide bait is hard to beat, in my opinion. In the Fall, it is a somewhat different story. Once the water is under about 50 degrees, the fish here are eating pretty much anything. Again, I target current around bridges with Hudds, RPs, Pats, and glides. They will stack up, feeding on bait and craws. Nighttime fishing in Fall is outrageous! 25+ fish a night is common. My best night was 47 fish, but have many nights around 30 fish. A rat is nearly impossible to beat for me. I have caught rat fish in the Fall at night down to 39 degree water and 28 degree air temps. In Fall I concentrate on riprap and rock. If you have a chunk rock bank the sun warms the rocks and then after dark those rocks stay just a SLIGHT bit warmer, heating the water nearby. My fish cruise those rocks for bait and craws. One night this fall it was 28 degrees outside, my guides and reel were freezing up with ice every 5 minutes. I caught 11 fish that night on a rat. My best bait for daytime in very cold water in the Fall was an S-waver 200. I caught fish until November 15th and the water was 40 degrees. I'm sure I could have caught more, but I admit I gave in to a blade bait and had days of 50+ smallmouth with a friend. So......that was long! Gonna try to post a few pics. Feel free to post up questions and comments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticisms. This is all personal experience, so don't come to me whining that my information is inaccurate. Thanks! *Pic of the lake - I am fishing Durham bridge on the East side of the Lake. The big bay upstream warms nicely in the Spring! Also, a few fish pics. These are all Spring or Fall when the water is around 40 degrees. igl00jx, LUV-2-CATCH'EM, Lucid_Dreams23 and 16 others 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigpoppabass Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 That is the most honest report I have ever seen, name of lake and all. Dale Brown, who wrote a book on Champlain, is convinced big sm movements occur after ice out and are missed by most peeps. Has to do with perch migration to spawning areas. swimbaitman and timcauliffe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigmurkerz Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 Great read and info! thank you for taking the time to post this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JVILL_FISHING Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 outstanding! thank you sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynem Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 Jesse, thanks for posting the great information on fishing in really cold water temperatures. I agree with everything you said but I would add one more tactic: fishing super shallow immediately after ice-out. Water is most dense at 39 degrees F. so the deep water is "warmer" than right under the ice but it is still really cold. When the ice goes out most of the fish are going to be deep but there is a percentage that are going to move very shallow. This time of year we are starting to see a bit of open water around the edge of the lakes even when 99% is still covered with ice. Walk the shore on a sunny day and you will see sunfish darting off from a foot or 6 inches of water. They seem to seek out a bit of sun after months under the ice and to feed on the underwater aquatic insects start to move around as the shallows warm. I've found that there are good size bass that will move into very shallow water to feed on the sunfish and perch that move into shallow coves where the ice melts first. I'm not talking about the pre-spawn movement into the shallows as they start to think about nesting. I'm talking about a much earlier movement that has nothing to do with spawning. Its about eating those prey fish that move shallow within days of ice-out or partial ice-out. Usually I find the right areas are mud-bottom coves with 2 to 5 feet of water and not much cold snow-melt running in. Not every good looking cove works out and I can't tell you why. But if you cruise into a protected cove and start flushing sunfish from a foot of water you have found the right place. At times have seem 5 pounders in water so shallow their back fins are out- those are usually calm sunny days. When its windier or overcast the bass will still be in there but are more likely to be in the center of the cove which may be 3 to 5 feet deep. Those fish are suckers for a slow glide bait. When I unhook these bass a lot of times I see a tail sticking out of the stomach- those fish are there to FEED! This pattern seem to work for a couple of weeks immediately after ice-out and then it dies off until spawning urges move the fish shallow again. By the time most people start their fishing season this pattern is long over. Hope this helps some folks. SpaceGhost, swimbaitman, kayl and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MA Frog Man Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 +1 on that Wayne. I've found that if there's any brush for them to hold to in very shallow water you can find them. I've had good luck pitching topwater (punkers and slammers) almost like a jig. One or two twitches and slam. waynem and swimbaitman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rogervang Posted February 24, 2016 Report Share Posted February 24, 2016 Great info guys. Can't wait to see fish pic when ice out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossypumpkin Posted February 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 Great info guys. Can't wait to see fish pic when ice out. I literally fish so much I don't have time to post here in season lol. I'll be back in November haha FishDr 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciaramitaro Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 Could just use the search bar for this info Jesse lmao Mossypumpkin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mossypumpkin Posted February 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 Could just use the search bar for this info Jesse lmao Hahaha! My bad. I'm such a noob. Blasphemy for discussing things on a discussion board...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeAinNH Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 nice write up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjoyal Posted February 25, 2016 Report Share Posted February 25, 2016 Thanks for the info fellas I normally wait a lil after ice out but this year not waiting I bought way too many baits lol. Can't wait to put this info to use!! Mossypumpkin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishDr Posted February 26, 2016 Report Share Posted February 26, 2016 Great write-up! You clearly have cabin fever - hang in there, 'cause open water is around the corner. The ultra-shallow bluegill and bass pattern works in both late fall and after ice-out. A floating bluegill bait with ultra-sharp hooks will get nudged and eaten under those conditions. MA Frog Man, Mossypumpkin and waynem 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassturds Posted February 26, 2016 Report Share Posted February 26, 2016 (edited) one of my favorite ponds you will often see a ton of fish in the flooded timber on the shoreline in a foot or less of water. theres a cove that gets pounded by sun and they stack up there Edited February 26, 2016 by bassturds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitshaw Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 Thats a great write up. i enjoyed reading it. Mossypumpkin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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