Early Spring Fishing When the Water Is Cold (Bank Fishing With Lures)
Early spring bank fishing can still feel a lot like winter fishing. The water is cold, the fish are not consistently active, and plenty of casts come back without a bite. Still, young bass are beginning to explore the shallower water near the bank as it slowly warms.
Jerkbaits and crankbaits are good choices because they imitate the small baitfish these bass are looking for. Their erratic action can get attention, but the ability to pause the lure is especially useful in cold water. Instead of constantly moving the bait, I can stop it and give a reluctant bass more time to strike.
On this trip, that approach produced five bass from the bank. It was not fast fishing, but it showed that the early spring bite can begin before the water feels warm. If bass are starting to move shallow, a minnow-style jerkbait or crankbait may be all you need to find them.
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Lures & Tips for Cold Water Bank Fishing Before Spring
Jerkbaits are among my favorite lures for cold-water bank fishing because I can change the speed, action and length of the pause without switching baits. That flexibility matters before spring, when bass may follow or strike short without fully committing.
I started this trip with a full-size Bagley jerkbait. I missed a couple of short strikes, but I stayed with it long enough to catch a bass. Those missed strikes told me fish were interested even though they were not attacking the lure aggressively.
Next, I switched to a much smaller 1.5-inch Rapala jerkbait and caught another bass. Downsizing gave the fish a different profile without abandoning the minnow-style presentation that was already getting attention. When cold-water bass are showing interest but not consistently getting hooked, changing lure size can be more practical than completely changing techniques.
This was only the first part of the trip. The fishing continues with more jerkbaits and other lures suited to cold water from the bank.
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Winter Fishing From The Bank With Lures (Realistic Winter Fishing)
Winter fishing from the bank with artificial lures is difficult, but it is not impossible. My dependable cold-water options are small jerkbaits and Gulp! Alive Minnows because both provide a small baitfish profile without requiring a complicated setup.
I began by fishing a jerkbait from the end of a dock, but that location did not produce anything. Instead of assuming the fish were not biting anywhere, I left the dock and started working my way down the bank. Once I began covering different shoreline water, I started catching fish.
Later, I switched to a Gulp Minnow and caught more. That gave me two useful cold-water approaches during the same trip: a jerkbait for searching the bank and a small artificial minnow when I wanted a different presentation.
The important part was not staying committed to an unproductive spot. Winter bank fishing often requires some walking, a couple of lure changes and realistic expectations. The bite may be slow, but fish can still be caught if I keep looking for them.
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I Have Been WAITING For THIS Day! (Crankbait vs Live Bait)
I brought live red worms and a Rapala crankbait to see which one would catch more fish in late-winter water. Based on the conditions, I expected live bait to have the advantage. The fish had a different answer.
The red worms produced one warmouth, but that was the only fish I caught with live bait. After switching to the Rapala crankbait, I started catching bass and finished with three of them.
That result was encouraging because the water was still cold and the main spring bite had not arrived. Catching three bass on a crankbait suggested that at least some fish were moving back toward shallow water and were willing to chase an artificial lure.
Live bait often makes sense when cold-water fish are reluctant to move, but it will not automatically outperform a lure every day. On this trip, the crankbait was clearly the better option. This was the kind of late-winter fishing day I had been waiting for.
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Why Are There So Many People Fishing Today? (Getting Crowded)
Before fishing, I noticed that the spool on my spinning reel was getting low. I removed the four-pound-test line and replaced it with six-pound test, showing a quick way to put fresh line on a spinning reel. With bass fishing season getting closer, it seemed like a reasonable time to make the change.
The fishing portion of the day did not go nearly as smoothly. More people began arriving shortly after I started, and the area quickly became crowded. I decided to move rather than compete for the same limited bank space.
Unfortunately, the next fishing spot was even busier. At that point, finding an open place to cast became more difficult than finding the fish. I eventually gave up on the trip and finished the video in the studio.
Early spring can bring bass back toward the bank, but it also brings fishermen back to public fishing areas. Sometimes moving to another spot solves the problem. This time, it only led to a larger crowd.
