The last few issues have dealt with buying a boat, knot tying, casting and other things preparing us for spring - well spring has sprung!! It is time to implement what we have been talking about all winter and catch some fish.
Early spring is one of the best times to catch Northern Pike. Northerns start to move shallow, feeding and looking for a place to spawn even before the ice has melted. Target shallow bays off the Cedar River, Black Hawk creek, the Wapsi or any other stream or river. Start covering water with big spinnerbaits. These bays don't have to be huge but should have little to no current flow with some form of cover like dead lily pad stems or wood.
No need to be subtle with early spring Northerns. Spinnerbaits ranging in size from 1/2 oz to a full 1oz are good bets and the brighter the color the better. A bait with a chartreuse skirt and chartreuse painted blades has been a Pike killer for many years.
We are fortunate to have many great small lakes in our area that have good populations of Northerns. This same shallow water spinnerbait action is happening on them right now. Walleyes are also being caught out of the rivers around the Cedar Valley with the quantity and quality increasing as the water cleans up after each rain. Four inch rig worms threaded onto a jig head have been producing strikes. Black with a white tail, black with a red tail, and solid purple are good color choices when the water is stained. Firecracker is a good color when the water is clean.
The Walleyes are really starting to move right now so they could be about any where. Make sure you try a variety of areas like above and below the dams, deep water, shallow water and current breaks. Whether you are vertical jigging from a boat or casting from shore use as light of jig head as possible to just stay in contact with the bottom. Try varying the retrieve as well - short hops, long hops, fast, slow and so on.
Believe it or not there are even a few bass being caught this early out of the lakes around Waterloo. Work skirted jigs tipped with real pork rind instead of plastic due to the cold water. Working Texas rigged soft plastics like tube baits around the cover in two to eight feet of water should produce a few bites.
On exceptionally warm days try moving even shallower with the slow baits and kick up the action a bit with a faster moving lure like a lipless crank bait. These heavy, fast moving, noisy baits produce surprisingly well in water less than 50 degrees. Lipless crank baits come in a wide range of colors but the tried and tested gold color for stained to dirty water and chrome for cleaner waters work great.
Again experiment with different retrieves from fast and slow, steady retrieves to stop and go, or a “pumping” type retrieve until you find what the fish want at that time. Remember this is a new year so get your 2009 fishing license right away. Until next time keep your lure wet! |
