You did good for the weather youve had
Water temperature 54 degrees and water semi-clear 4'. Fished shallow, deep and in between. Only managed four pan fish, none of them crappie, and a small bass/ missed 6 light strikes. Last fall when the water was 45 degrees I did fine. Too cold for crappie, bass, perch or sunfish spawn, but I did see schools on the sonar in water 6-15' deep well away from any shore, flat or hump.
Cold water in spring - no go, what's gives?
You did good for the weather youve had
Did much better today. Three crappie, four yellow perch, five sunfish and 3 bass (one 14"). Missed eight bites.
Wind was around 20 mph at times, water temp 54-56 and sunny with clouds. (blue sky with no clouds yesterday)
Wonder if the wind was a factor and the front starting to move through. But more than that, I increased the size of the grubs and jighead wt. from 1/32 to 1/16 oz. The strikes were more pronounced and I had a small bass chase my lure to the boat as well as multiple hits by the same fish on the same retrieve until it hooked itself. Sometimes I wonder if more meat on the hook does a lot to get fish riled more effectively than smaller offerings and slower lure speeds.
Fish were more concentrated than yesterday and in spots - IE in shallow water 4'-5' and along a shoreline that didn't produce yesterday.
If I was younger (20 yrs. younger), I would be fishing in the rain tomorrow in 57 degrees. The fish usually leave the bottom weed beds and swim closer to the surface. This lake has a seasonal weed growth that clogs all parts of the lake except extreme north and south ends until dying off by early June. Still a few weeks left to fish at least in this lake.
Here a few of the lures that did the trick:
Cone tail stick:
2" spoon minnow:
Another straight thin tail grub:
and a prong tail grub:
Last edited by Spoonminnow; 04-24-2018 at 08:06 PM.