Is is spring yet? After having a few years of milder winters, this year we paid for it up on Lake Erie. As of now, we still have around 86-87% of ice coverage on the entire lake, with very thick ice, still on places like Presque Isle Bay in certain places. This means, it will take some time for it to melt off. More time than it did last year, where we were enjoying open water fishing beginning in late January! It is good for the ice guys as they are getting a solid ice season and the reports are very good for perch, panfish, and even some walleye.
Within the next month or two, we will most likely continue our freeze/thaw period. If I had to guess, we may see some open water fishing by sometime in March. Presque Isle Bay usually thaws at some point in March or earlier (last year). I’m hoping to be getting the boat out there by early/mid-March if conditions permit. If you are taking your own boat, be very careful of remnants of ice still around. They are often not easily visible. Always use extreme caution when fishing in the cold weather months.
This period can offer some lights out bass fishing, be it for largemouth or smallmouth in Presque Isle Bay and Lake Erie. For me, once that water hovers around that upper 30-40 degree range, the bite can get hot. With a hard winter this year, it may be a good thing for our bass fishing prospectus in 2025. With less fishing pressure over the past few months and most likely the next month or two, it should get them reset well, and ready to bite once again. The conditions definitely matter during this fishing period, as a good warming trend with some stable weather usually creates a solid bite. With a lot of back and forth in the weather conditions, it will affect them.
Some of my favorite early season tactics involve jigging a blade bait, small spoon, jerkbait, and throwing small to medium sized swimbaits and minnow imiations. Especially, with a cold, hard winter, we should get a good shad kill in the Bay this year. When this happens, it offers easy prey for hungry bass. One of the best imitations for these slowly dying shad is a jerkbait. Depending on the depth the fish are using, I’ve had success with a shallow diving or deep diving jerkbait for both largemouth and smallmouth. Cadence is king. The colder and slower moving things are, I typically fish my jerkbait very slow with long pauses (up to 10 seconds or more). But, this is not always set in stone. The fish can surprise you and never be afraid to experiment with cadences if the bite is slow, or if you are getting some bites, but feel like you should be getting more. Blade baits and jigging spoons are ideal off the drop offs and out around the channel in the Bay. I typically throw a 1/4 -1/2 oz Fish Sense Binsky Blade Bait in sexy shad, gold, silver, etc. These are all good baitfish imitations and the fish really key on white/silvery type baitfish early. Much like the jerkbait, I let the water temp and fishes mood dictate how I work my bait. This is a bait I typically vertically jig off the bottom, but it can be effective when fished horizontally in certain situations. When it comes to swimbaits and small, soft plastic minnow imitations on a ballhead type jighead, these are very effective at various levels in the water column. My favorite all-around size for the jighead is 1/4 oz and I almost exclusively throw the Angler Tungsten Eclipse Head with both baits. If you need to keep it down when fishing deeper, I will sometimes go heavier. If I’m fishing it high or in shallower water, I will use something down to even 1/8 oz. Translucent and more solid white, silvery and baitfish type patterns all work well depending on the water clarity. I steer towards more translucent the clearer the water and more solid colors when there is more stain to it. Swimbaits can be effective dragged slowly on the bottom, slow rolled, or fished above the fish. The jighead minnow can be good both deadsticked or fished horizontally. I use a variety of soft plastics, but Keitech swimbaits are a great starting point and for minnow baits, the list is endless of what I use. The Deps Sakamata Shad has been popular over the past few years and I’ve caught a lot of 6 pound class fish on it this past season. If you are looking for any of these baits, Doc’s Tackle, should be stocked up with all the aforementioned baits for springtime fishing.
Remember, be safe and smart. Keep tabs on the weather, discussion boards, etc., to get a good beat on whether it’s ideal to get out with your boat on Presque Isle/Lake Erie this spring. Always take extra precautions in the cold weather season as falling in this time of year could be fatal. If you don’t have a boat or don’t want to drag it up here, give us a call at Big Fat Bass Guide Service and we’ll get you on some big prespawn smallmouth this year.
Tightlines, Destin.
