Late Winter Ice Out Bass Fishing: VFJ 12

Finding and Catching Ice-Out Late Winter Bass.

We explore the conditions that explain the Late Winter season, ice-out, and… what’s going on down there. In short, sunlight (photoperiod and angle) are returning higher in the sky at an accelerating rate, bringing with it heat.

Heat pretty much rules the activity rates of cold-blooded creatures like fish. In this VFJ we monitor the heating in small waters, make observations, and then fish.

Typically for this time of year we find the bass still in Winter quarters, but activated; We don’t need those painfully slow Winter retrieves on this day. I even got the first full bodied head shaking jump from one of those ice-out bass.

Can’t beat that for February!