Early season is a particularly demanding time to catch fish with waters cold and lakes often buffeted by strong winds. This week’s column will focus on strategies that are especially productive for the next month or two. We’ll look at fishing methods that work when waters are cold from the long winter, but maybe just starting to warm up a bit from the longer days and moderating mercury readings. Let’s start with “bigmouth” bass, a favorite of many Shenandoah Valley sportsmen and women.
Largemouths: A large portion of strikes on spinnerbaits from early season bass will come as the lure descends after the cast. First, target cover such as weeds, rocks, points or sunken logs with your delivery. Then let the lure free fall with no tension on the line, but without excessive slack. Watch for a slight twitch sideways or an abrupt halt in the lure’s fall, indicating a fish has grabbed the lure. Set the hooks quickly. If you don’t get a strike, crank in and cast to a new target. If this tactic doesn’t produce, try letting the lure drop all the way to the bottom and then reel it in super-slowly.
White Bass: These fish often school in deep pools on the lower sections of feeder rivers and creek arms of major impoundments in winter in preparation for their spawning runs. Prospect for them with 1/8-1/32 ounce grubs, spinners, spinnerbaits and small spoons. Work the lures slowly along the bottom of the lowest pools where tributaries feed the main lake. When you locate one fish, stick with that spot at least for a while. Whites are schooling fish and there may be others nearby.
Timing: Try to watch weather patterns and time your trips for the peak of warm spells. Early spring weather is notoriously fickle. By planning your trips to hit the lake or river after a few days of mild weather, you’ll be dealing with water temperatures several degrees warmer and fish that are actively feeding, rather than shut down by the cold.
Walleyes: These fish often migrate up feeder arms of lakes in spring or up the main river channel forming the lake. Look for walleyes concentrated below heavy rapids or behind dams in tailwaters. Casting jigs tipped with minnows, nightcrawlers or plastic trailers is a great way to take them. Let the offering sink to the bottom, then inch them back. These fish will be active even if water temperatures are in the 40’s. Also try crankbaits and jerkbaits with a soft wobbling motion near sunset or after dark.
Trout: For your earliest trout fishing trips, concentrate on waters with populations of brookies. These fish favor colder water than browns or rainbows and begin feeding heavily sooner in the year than both of those species. The smaller, shallower headwaters where brookies are often found also tend to warm up more quickly than larger brown and rainbow trout streams.
Local anglers are fortunate to have many great brook trout waters in the nearby Shenandoah National Park — over 40 streams in all. For more information on fishing these waters, contact Harry Murray at Murray’s Fly Shop in Edinburg. He offers guided trips and schools on how to fish these challenging streams.
Smallmouths: When waters are still cold in spring, look for river smallmouth bass in areas protected from the main force of the current — behind boulders, in back eddies, beneath undercut banks, at the bottom of deep, slow pools. The Shenandoah is the first choice for me, but the nearby Potomac, Rappahannock and James rivers are also great spots to try.
Two methods stand out for taking these still-lethargic bass. One is to drift a lip-hooked minnow through the likely water with just a split shot or two for weight. The other is to bounce a 1/8 to 1/4 ounce black, brown or purple jig tipped with a small black pork rind frog along the bottom, reeling in as slowly as possible. Both tactics will produce, and you’ll find bass taken in these early months are consistently larger than those you catch during balmy summer outings.
Yes, fishing conditions may be challenging in March, but there’s no better time of year to latch onto a trophy-sized catch than early season.
Award-winning outdoors writer Gerald Almy is a Maurertown resident
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