Sarley: Why you can take your time in the morning before grabbing your fishing gear
Don’t complain about the weather. It’s just great that we have had a number of great days mixed in with a stinker or two. Consistent nice weather will be coming soon enough.
That said, this is a great time to be getting out and trying your hand at our many lakes, rivers and ponds that hold fish. You can stay in and have that second cup of coffee and you won’t be missing out on any prime fishing time. There is really no reason to be fishing before 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. right now. Fish don’t really feed actively before the sun starts to get high in the sky.
Where is the best place to find fish these days? For ponds and lakes, the north sides of lakes and ponds usually tend to get warmer faster, so that is the first place you should look. Remember that I offer suggestions, not hard and fast rules. Try the south side if the north side isn’t working. You need to be flexible.
It is important to wear polarized fishing sunglasses when you go out. If you’ve never used them, you will be amazed by what they do. You can see much deeper into the water than if you are wearing regular sunglasses or no specs at all. Polarized glasses will let you see weeds that are beginning to sprout off the bottom, and that is a great place to start fishing.
Most ponds have small culverts that run into them to dump rainwater into the pond. The face of these culverts are great spots, especially after a rainfall, and there is water actively running. The difference in temperature between the running water and the existing pond water is a big draw for fish.
An area with a dark bottom is a better choice than a light-colored or sandy-bottomed area. The dark bottom warms up faster than the light bottom, and fish will draw to that area sooner.
Objects in the water attract sunlight quickly, which causes them to warm and make the surrounding water warm quickly. I used to like to fish at a local pond where some knucklehead had pushed a shopping cart into the water. Although the cart was an eyesore, it always seemed to hold some early season bass.
Please note that the fish are just getting active for the year. They are rather lethargic, to tell the truth. When hooked, they don’t seem to fight as hard. This will change as the season moves ahead.
As the fish are in a slow mood, they are looking for small meals to get filled up on. Everything you offer to the fish should be smaller than what you normally try. This goes for whatever you are going to fish for. This is a great time of the year to catch a musky, but you aren’t going to do it by using those supersized musky baits that you have in your tackle box. Big muskies tend to go after bass-sized lures right now.
Every kind of fish is on a light diet right now. Panfish like waxworms or just a piece of a nightcrawler. Walleyes and bass go for smaller minnow. Use smaller lures than usual. I like to use smaller plastics for wacky worm rigs and drop shots. Save the 5-inch plastics for the summer.
Another tip is to not use leaders when you fish now. Leaders kill the action on many of the baits that you tie to them. You’ll get more hits if you don’t use a leader. Even pike can be caught without leaders. I’d probably still use a leader for musky fishing. I don’t want to be getting angry mail from people who lost trophies because of me.
• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.