# It wont be too much longer...



## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Mar 55°F 35°F 

Apr 66°F 43°F 

Average temperatures for March & April in southwestern Ohio. It's coming soon now. I don't know about you but I'm really sick of this whole winter thing. So let's talk about smallmouth in spring. Right now smallmouth are pretty much completely inactive. Somewhere they can be safe and get out of the current and stay out of the current even if things flood. But give us some moderate weather and then a warm spell of a few days and things will change. In the fall smallmouth start shutting down when the water temps sink into the forties. You can catch one then but it's hard. Real hard. But by late winter they are seemingly as tired of old man winter as we are and you can sometimes get one to bite in cold water if its warmed up just a bit. Try a float n fly or better yet a minnow under that float. your still fishing in that wintering hole but it seems like Ill find them right where the soft bottom of the hole hits the hard bottom of rock or gravel. I know we don't want to give up in November and try to keep catching them with a hair jig under a float but that will work even better in March than it did in fall.
Then as water temps climb further, say in the upper forties to low fifties, they begin to move. I look for the first staging areas out of their wintering holes. Spots where they can get out of the current, big boulders, rock rubble, small eddies. My favorite baits in this situation are still hair jigs and grubs but I'll also throw something like a square billed crankbait, especially in the heat of the day. On a warm spring day the water might be 48 at daylight but 52 by four in the afternoon. I try to throw right at something. If I'm fishing a couple big boulders or an old bridge abutment I'll try and bounce my crankbait off it or hit it with my jig. Some days this seems to make a huge difference. Another bait I have a lot of confidence in during this time of transition is a hair jig or jig made of craft fur tipped with a salted minnow. Save those crappie minnows and preserve them in salt. Lay them out in a Tupperware bowl so they aren't touching then cover them with salt. lay out another layer and repeat. I'm also fond of gulp type baits or salted plastics on the back of the jig but the real thing works best for me. Eddies below lowhead dams can really produce right now as well. One nice thing about lowheads is if the bass aren't biting in the eddy saugfish should be biting out in the current.
Next as the water warms thru the mid fifties to sixty the bass will begin to gather in their spawning grounds. Try to find a backwater that has a solid bottom. You need a bottom that when you swipe it once or twice with your wader boots you get gravel or smaller rock. Good places to look are in the lower end of channels behind islands and sometimes in the mouths of small tributaries. Some tribs just pour right into the river over a shallow gravel bar but some have a quiet backwater where they meet the main river that is ideal spawning territory. From the upper fifties to mid sixties is prime time to catch pre spawn smalljaws. Now the bass are very active and a crankbait or a spinnerbait of some sort can really produce. I might start off the day swimming a grub and then switch to a square bill crank or a spinner as the day warms. Smalljaws start to spawn in rivers around here sometime around mid April to the beginning of May depending on water temperature. 

In spring a thermometer can be a big help showing you not only where you should be fishing but how. It will be here before you know it now...


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

OSG
I'm edgy, irritable, and just about ready to explode....I've never had such a bad winter....normally I can get out enough to take the edge off, but not this year.
I'm Jonesin for a BIG Ol' lake Smallie....you'll have to come up for a summer night Smallie fest....when they come to shore at dusk and then just after dark, it is just plain scary!


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

thanks for the read osg..as much fun as I had ice fishing this winter..im ready for warmer weather too.


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## cjpolecat (Apr 19, 2008)

Intimidator said:


> OSG
> I'm edgy, irritable, and just about ready to explode....I've never had such a bad winter....normally I can get out enough to take the edge off, but not this year.
> I'm Jonesin for a BIG Ol' lake Smallie....you'll have to come up for a summer night Smallie fest....when they come to shore at dusk and then just after dark, it is just plain scary!


Hey Brent, I've had that feeling too. Can't eat, can't sleep. Have hot flashes, cold chills. I went to the Dr and he said I had the flu. Thank God, I thought I was in love again.. THINK SPRING
CJP


I've been cooped up too long too....


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Good info, I am taking notes and I may try salt minnows this spring.


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

I think that the way this winter is playing out, it&#8217;s going to compress the spring bite more than we&#8217;ve been used to for the past several years. When spring finally hits, the bite&#8217;s gonna explode&#8230;.at least that&#8217;s what I keep telling myself...over and over again while wringing my hands&#8230;crouched in the corner.


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Dandrews said:


> I think that the way this winter is playing out, its going to compress the spring bite more than weve been used to for the past several years. When spring finally hits, the bites gonna explode.at least thats what I keep telling myself...over and over again while wringing my handscrouched in the corner.


...lol....that's funny..I think that's exactly how a lot of us feel..


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## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

Dandrews said:


> I think that the way this winter is playing out, its going to compress the spring bite more than weve been used to for the past several years. When spring finally hits, the bites gonna explode.at least thats what I keep telling myself...over and over again while wringing my handscrouched in the corner.


LOL, I rock back and forth while I crouch in the corner wringing my hands. Make me feel more.... sane?


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

Nice post OSG! I've never thought of saving old minnows and salting them. I wonder if I could do that with shad. I bet my freezer would smell delightful after a month of saltine-shad freezer chips, yummmmy.

While I can't wait for warmer temps, too, I'm about to post a report to thaw things out for a while...


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

Tom 513 said:


> Good info, I am taking notes and I may try salt minnows this spring.


Salt minnows are also a GREAT 'EYE BAIT!


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## Intimidator (Nov 25, 2008)

Dandrews said:


> I think that the way this winter is playing out, its going to compress the spring bite more than weve been used to for the past several years. When spring finally hits, the bites gonna explode.at least thats what I keep telling myself...over and over again while wringing my handscrouched in the corner.


You are Correct....The bad thing is with the ice holding on so long it will, all at once, hit 70 and 80 degrees, and the water will warm too fast and we won't have a spawn or "Spring Season"....now I'm hoping for a cold, but ice free, spring!


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## greghal (Aug 22, 2013)

Great post Steve, good info I have a big book of your info. Thanks for the post.


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## Tom 513 (Nov 26, 2012)

Intimidator said:


> Salt minnows are also a GREAT 'EYE BAIT!


Crappie, LMB and SMB on a fly pole are on my wish list for the Spring, never fished for Eyes yet.


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

oldstinkyguy said:


> It wont be too much longer now...


I wanna believe, I really do.


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## Baba Ganoush (Oct 17, 2013)

Dandrews,sammerguy,my fever plays out a little different.I wake up in the middle of the living room floor in the fetal position sobbing.I'm usually wearing my hip waders,tighty whitees,and have my blankee around my head while sucking my thumb.Do I need help,or is this common?


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## sammerguy (Jun 7, 2011)

Baba Ganoush said:


> Dandrews,sammerguy,my fever plays out a little different.I wake up in the middle of the living room floor in the fetal position sobbing.I'm usually wearing my hip waders,tighty whitees,and have my blankee around my head while sucking my thumb.Do I need help,or is this common?


Nah, you're fine...


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## gibson330usa (May 15, 2012)

Thanks for the encouraging words OSG, I'm ready!


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## Baba Ganoush (Oct 17, 2013)

Thanks sammer. I was beginning to think something might be wrong with me.Nice to know it's just a normal reaction to cabin fever and spring being around the corner..........


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Intimidator said:


> OSG
> I'm Jonesin for a BIG Ol' lake Smallie....you'll have to come up for a summer night Smallie fest....when they come to shore at dusk and then just after dark, it is just plain scary!


I'd like that a lot. I'll take you up on that for sure


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## E_Lin (Jun 30, 2011)

What are you guys talking about?

I am not even sure what this website is doing in my favorites...

Who are you people, and what is this "fishing" you all keep mentioning?

It is so frustrating wondering what I am going to do in my spare time when _*or *_if the weather should warm up this spring and summer. Does anybody have any suggestions? I feel like there is something I have forgotten about...


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