Rigged And Ready At Ice-Out

When broken shards of ice are still bobbing in the lake, some smallmouth bass are already shallow and biting in most still-water environments. River smallmouths tend to lag a little behind, waiting for water temperatures to climb up near 50°F before venturing out of winter habitat. In many reservoirs, smallmouths become active and suspend when the water begins to warm. Whichever environments abide nearby, your ducks should be in a row long before these things happen.

The process of getting ready for the season should be a many-faceted plus. Constant reorganization breeds familiarity with those gnarly tackle boxes. Knowing where to look and finding things quickly make fishing more efficient. Knowing when to replace diminished supplies of hooks, leaders, shot, and other terminal tackle saves many an outing.

Spring and fall tend to be the most productive seasons for smallmouth bass, because seasonal needs demand additional energy at those times of year. Each season demands different tackle, too. One way to deal with that is to store tackle in component boxes and label each one with the appropriate season. A box marked “spring smallmouth cranks” contains more suspending baits, more shallow runners, fewer round baits, and generally smaller lures than a box marked “fall smallmouth cranks.” With spring at the doorstep, it might be time to consider creating seasonally appropriate boxes.

Reorganization of that spring box every winter is a stone-engraved requirement for serious anglers. Among the dazzling array of new products generated by the fishing industry every year, a select few will appeal to smallmouths tremendously well in your favorite lakes and rivers. Finding that select few means creating space in the box for experimental stuff. Easy. Everything that failed to work last year? Gone. This is no time for sentimentality. That series of lures that kicked butt five years ago but hasn’t produced since goes into storage. The goal is to have nothing in the box that didn’t work last year, or at least the year before, creating room for promising innovations.

The goal is staying one step ahead of the crowd with bait selection every season of the year. Something new that appeals to smallmouths generally has a life expectancy of one or two seasons before the weekend warriors catch on. But the new thing doesn’t have to be a recently developed lure. It could be a color or pattern you create yourself. It could be an old lure everybody forgot about. Point is, you have to be ready to show smallmouths something they haven’t seen that they actually want to eat, and that’s why you need to make room in the box now.

Some time-tested things keep on ticking, every spring, year after year. We strongly suggest, here, that you try these things and develop a systematic method for trying new things, using gear designed to optimize your presentations, your efficiency, and your odds.

Float Tactics

Spring is the time for light jigs and slow retrieves. A 1/16-ounce jig works better in spring than at any other time of year. But it’s not the lightest jig that works.