Four Tips For Early Season Fishing Success

Is your favorite lake still frozen? You can either go stare at your ice hole, or find some open water. I’ll take the latter.

Tip 1: Be mobile. Sometimes a small change in elevation or latitude is all it takes to go from ice to open water. For the past couple of weeks I’ve done just that – driven south and then fished the warmest water I could find within those areas.

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A couple hours in the car and a few degrees is sometimes all it takes fend off cabin fever.

Tip 2: Pick a water that warms first. I know I alluded to that in Tip 1, but it is worth stating twice. The first waters to lose their ice will offer the first opportunities for openwater success. From there, find a pattern that you can repeat on other waters as they thaw and warm.

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Note the trailing vegetation. Working lures over a shallow weedbed resulted in numerous February largemouth.

Tip 3: Be willing to use a combination of live bait and artificials. Some days your artificials will outfish the livies, and sometimes it’s the opposite. When possible, use them simultaneously on two different rods to cover more water and recognize a pattern.

The addition of livebait created the opportunity for this mixed-species, solo, double with a shiner and a jerbait.
The addition of livebait rod into the spread created the opportunity for this “mixed-species, solo double” with a shiner and a jerbait.

Tip 4: Be flexible on your target species. Choose waters with multiple species of gamefish or large panfish. Bass and crappies, bass and perch, bass and pike are all great early season combos.

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Not part of a typical combo, but the presence of blue catfish added this bonus on a bass lure.