Fishing for Ice Out Smallmouth Bass

After a long north country winter, cabin fevered smallmouth bass anglers itch for the day the ice leaves and we can hit the water to connect with then ole brown fish.

Armed with our favorite ice-out baits like:

• hair jigs
• suspending crankbaits
• thin, flat-sided crankbaits (like shad raps)
• Small spoons or jigging minnows

we head out to find transition areas between their deep water wintering homes and the shallow feeding flats and spawning bays and probe those areas with our traditional ice-out lure arsenal.

There is one bait and presentation we sometimes overlooked shortly after the ice cover departs... using a yo-yo retrieve with a lipless crankbait. 

It can be a smallie killer under the right conditions as Doug Stange from InFiseherman demos in the following video...

I often use yo-yo retrieves with lipless cranks for ice-out largies with great success, time to try it on smallies as well!

Springtime Soft Jerkbait Tips

Northern bass anglers eagerly wait for ice-out and bright sunny days to start elevating water temperatures in our favorite honey holes. 

Once on the water, the best area to start searching for thawing bass can be the vegetated bays, coves and cuts on the north side of the lake. Combining the maximum sun exposure these areas receive in the spring with the darker bottoms means faster heating and the warmest water in the lake.

Warmer water draws baitfish which in turn draws bass eager to chow down after the sluggish cold water period. 

What's the perfect bait for probing these weedy bass haunts?

A Texas-rigged, fluke-style soft jerkbait is often the right lure for the hunt!

Take a moment and listen to Kyle of Wired2Fish explain his reasons and approach when fishing these weedy cuts for springtime bass...