Well, Spring truly is on us. As I plan for next week's fish orgy, I can't help but think I'm going to miss the cold water. No, not the snow. Not the ice. Not the 15 degree days. Learning something new about Smallmouth bass during cold water, catching another giant icy bass is always very rewarding and a long process of trial and error.
I just don't get that line of clues showing me the way to the eventual motherload in warmer water. That makes Winter river smallies intellectually challenging.
Time to remember it is fun to cast, fish much fight harder, a wider variety of lures may work on any given day, time to try new waters.
Last Spring was excellent. I usually hammer some big big smallies from now until the second week of April. Fish are more off and on and spreading out to boot. It takes a lot of searching sometimes. Care should still be given to not waste too much time in the in between areas. Last year, we found fish in deep eddies off riffles, but nowhere else. By putting together this pattern, we literally drove to deep eddies at riffles and did well.
Lots of people are going to be out this weekend. Get there first, good luck!
BT,
ReplyDeleteWe had our first warm weekend a couple weeks ago. Lot of fishermen out. I won't call them anglers, because most are not. I avoid the weekends mainly because of the stupidity.
My term is "The Hammer Time Clown Posse Bucket Brigade". I just stay home.
Do your small flows get that much pressure? Cold water fishing is my favorite just for the fact that nobody is out, plus the heaviest bass are caught.
I'm a water temp fanatic. I can track bass movements and locations just by the temp. Slack water, current breaks and eddies at a certain temps.
Great blog you have. What type of camera and tripod are you using?
MJ
MJ- I'm more of a flow height and incoming weather/water clarity fanatic as those seem to matter most here.
ReplyDeleteI lost my last thermometer and havn't replaced it yet.
Some waters do get a lot of pressure, others, not so much. Weekdays are indeed better. Given no option, I'll get up earlier and walk further-
Worse was the floods we had in '08 that have decimated some populations right down to the baitfish. I'm working on doing something different this year...we'll see if it pans out.
I do have a tripod, but haven't used it this year. It is too much to carry. Wife bought me a "JOBY", but the joints wear/wore out. The camera leans over!
I have a waterproof/underwater Pentax Optio W-10. The pics are self timer and I set them on something like a log or rock. Plenty get screwed up. I edit them in Gimp 2.
Sometimes when yakking, I put the camera on the hood of my kayak for transportation. Waterproof indeed!
BT