Cold water tactics

[markn]

With open water coming soon to ponds near you, lets hear some of your tactics for catching bass or trout in the cold water. I guess jerk-baits work real good for bass in the cold water. I like to troll for trout with small Rapalas and Roostertails. What are y'all gonna start fishing with this spring?

[slappy]

plastics, small jigs and crankbaits. I fish smaller stuff in colder water, but I don't always know if that is the right thing to do.

I don't think I have fished for trout out of my kayak. I haven't caught a stockie in a couple years I think. With so many fish out there, I don't really think about trout much. But they would make a nice live bait....hmmm

[fish-fever]

I love chasing trout and salmon in the spring Ma has one of the best stocking programs around. I also use roostertails and small rapalas I find tipping a roostertail with a mealworm somedays makes all the differance in the world also a rapala in perch color in some of the water with a good yellow perch population can be deadly when the perch fry are around. If you are out with the fly rod trolling a olive beadhead wollybugger can be great until you find the evening hatch and want to try some dry's. I will fish for smallmoulth also and usually do good finding humps our deeper structure and fishing them with jigs with small plastics such as curlytail grumbs in chartruse. If your lucky enough to find a salmon your in for a battle i'm still trying after seeing a 14 pounder last year.

[prospector]

Tried and true ... hammered silver chevy-chase with red blade and single #6 2x shank ... remove the treble that comes with some of them. Troll it real slow on a #4 or #5 fly rod with sink tip line to match rod and about 8-10 feet of 6 or 8 pound flour/carbon leader material.
OR ...
Cast it on an ultra light spin setup! Either are deadly in my experience.

Mike

[slappy]

carp are a fun early season fish. Warm rains and rivers are good targets when pickigncarp spots. Thnk runoff into the rivers and chum, but not too much. I sped much more time on carp early season than I do trout.

[ndogg]

I spend most of the early season trolling for trout. I typically use a rooster tail or small spoon tipped with bait. When I can't get bait I find that gulp worms (the type in the small can) or even small gulp alive minnows work well. When I am not on my yak, it is all about powerbait fished of the bottom.

[slappy]

For trout anglers who like to tip their lures with stuff: Arlington bait and tackle was selling waxworms mousies and spikes this past winter and may have some leftover.

If you can, try those in place of mealworms, you will find that they work better.

[markn]

I'm gonna do some carp fishing this spring. I have some carp waters close by. Chum with corn? Will they bite in March?

[fish-fever]

pet stores are good for waxworms spikes and mealworms if you don't have a bait store around too.

[slappy]

I'm gonna do some carp fishing this spring. I have some carp waters close by. Chum with corn? Will they bite in March?

Corn and ground bait (bread, oats, cornmeal broken up too finely to eat).

If you chum theame area often, they will wait for you!

[CAPTBORG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-AP4_p0bGM

had great luck with the rage toad.

[CAPTBORG]

I'm gonna do some carp fishing this spring. I have some carp waters close by. Chum with corn? Will they bite in March?

if you bring slappy, they will come.

[JigMaster5]

this time of year is tough...i have the best luck on suspending jerkbaits, blade baits, spoons, plastic grubs without much action...stuff like that for bass.

in a few weeks (end of March), some ponds will have almost every bass up and in the bushes/wood. that's when a jig/craw skipped into the thick stuff will beat just about anything and provide some really awesome fishing. a few warm days in a row and they'll move right up into skinny water.

for the early stockies, those floating power eggs are great. kinda boring, but they work. for lures, i like small tubes tipped with worms, small jerkbaits (like a megabait twichn L), and spoons (like a thomas rough rider in gold/copper).

[bigboy]

i like the joes flys spinners fished sllloooow almost not moving work very goodand the tiny dare devil.works for me.

[j4y]

the coves with black bottoms warm up fastest in the sun. Bass and sun fish are there