With spring around the corner, the fishing bug has begun to stir in millions of anglers. Equipment is being readied, plans made, and in some areas the assault has already begun.

Although it's nice to experience the enthusiasm generated in late winter and early spring, unfortunately much of it will turn into disappointment in a matter of weeks.

The Keys to Success

There are several reasons why so many anglers just can't seem to catch fish consistently. Granted, unfavorable weather and water conditions can ruin any trip and some bodies of water will turn off to even the best fisherman. But knowledge of your quarry, good execution, and experience are the keys to consistent catches.

Knowledge of your quarry means learning the species' preferred habitat, seasonal movements, forage preferences, and its reactions to various weather and water conditions.

Proper execution is using the correct baits and lures in the fastest, most effective manner. Boat control, manual dexterity, "feel," good equipment, and balanced tackle also are important.

Experience is a combination of everything you've learned. But it's possible to have plenty of experience and still be a lousy fisherman because you did not learn much during your time on the water. Experience should let you recognize past productive situations and use that information to find fish faster.

Experience Counts in Early Season

The veteran angler knows smaller lures and live bait will generally produce best in the early season, as will steady retrieves that are slow to medium speed or use a stop-and-go or even a dropping-fluttering action.

Early season is also a time when you can encounter outstanding fishing in shallow water. Almost anyone is capable of bumping into good shallow-water fishing on occasion, but consistency comes with knowing your quarry and its reactions to early spring weather and water conditions.

One of the most important lessons I've learned about early season fishing is when to fish. During the first warming trends of early spring--just after ice-out in waters that freeze--the warm afternoon hours will greatly outproduce any other time of day. The bulk of the action I've experienced in early spring has come from about 12:30 p.m. to an hour or so before dusk.

Exceptions to the Rule

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Walleye fishing is one. For these fish the very early morning and the period just before dusk can often be the best times, especially on clear waters. You may, however, find good walleye fishing on off-colored lakes and rivers during midday.

Another exception to early spring gamefish movements occurs with the approach of a cold front after a few warm days in a row. It's common on the first day of a warming trend to experience some excellent fishing during the afternoon, but the action lasts only a couple of hours during the warmest part of the day.

On warm day number two the afternoon feeding stretches over a longer period. By the third warm day, not only will the fish consistently move in the afternoon, but you will be able to pick up a few scattered strays in late morning. If the cold snap is scheduled to hit during the midday to afternoon hours on that fourth day, it's a pretty good bet that you'll have excellent fishing during the morning...and that will probably be the only activity of the day.

Undoubtedly some gung-ho fishermen aren't concerned about the best time to fish because they'll go out all day. I was like that--until I learned to fish smarter rather than longer.

When you charge out onto a lake in early spring at 5 a.m. with little or no sleep, fish hard for seven or eight hours, and catch nothing, your confidence sinks, your reflexes are below par, and your fish-hunting mind is in low gear. Many times I've seen anglers burn out by one or two o'clock in the afternoon and then pack up and leave. Happily, I had the lake to myself when the fish became active a short time later.

My advice is to get some sleep, have breakfast, and get out around 9:00 a.m.

If you're not able to get away for a day or two in the early season, fish close to home. This is the time to hit smaller waters like farm ponds, quarries, irrigation ponds, golf course water hazards, tributary creeks, forest preserves, park lakes, and strip pits.

Think Warm Water

When you think about early spring fishing you should also be thinking warmest water. Although it doesn't draw fish from other parts of the lake, the warmest water can activate fish, and migrating fish tend to hold in these areas.

On small waters, fish the shorelines facing the midafternoon sun, especially where shallow flats or small bays exist on that same shore. If the shore has little or no taper, check the shallow cover adjacent to the drop-off. Cast parallel to the shore if you're walking the bank.

In these same mini-waters always check the mouth of any incoming flow; fish it especially hard if the water there is slightly dingier. The dingier the water, the more suspended particles it contains. These particles give the water its "color" which allows it to retain heat better. And by cutting light penetration, they give the fish some overhead "cover."

An excellent early spring spot is where a warmer flow of water comes into a larger body of water. In small lakes and ponds, a culvert, ravine, or simply an erosion cut that's dry most of the year can carry enough run-off after a thaw or spring rain to be an excellent spot.

On larger rivers in the midwest, I concentrate my efforts for trophy walleyes from late February through March at the mouths of tributary streams. Walleyes may begin their upstream spawning run before the ice has left. While most of the river is unfishable at this time, there is some ice-free water below the dams, and the first warm day of two will usually send enough water through the feeders to create some open water at their mouths.

During this period, I've had better fishing for larger walleyes at the mouths of tributaries than at the dams. One thing I always watch for at the mouths of feeders is an "ice-line" in waters four or five feet deep or more. An ice-line is a fish-holding edge or breakline that walleyes will use if the edge is over deep enough water.

The best feeders will have current flow. If the flow lessens considerable from one day to the next, the fishing will generally shut off.

Feeder creeks located closer to the main river channel are usually better than those pouring into a shallow flat. Walleyes may use this area as a spawning site if there is a rock stubble bottom in a foot or two of water.

Dark Colors Retain Heat

Dark colors absorb and retain heat better than light colors. Because of this, a shallow mud-bottom bay may harbor more game fish in the pre-spawn period than a bay with a lighter sand, gravel, or marl base.

On numerous occasions while river fishing in early spring, I've gone into sloughs and shallow bays connected to the colder main channel and had terrific success on walleye, northern pike, and bass. A peak period for walleye and pike is the first warm trend after the ice leaves those bay or slough areas.

The best bay is one located within a block or two of a natural or man-made dam, rapids, or other structure that stops an upstream spawning run. The action may only last for three to seven days and afterward the bay may not see another walleye until the same time next year. Pike, however, may filter in and out until the late spring or early summer period.

Dark-bottomed, shallow bays connected to lakes often harbor a tremendous number of largemouth bass during warm trends in early spring. Catches of 20-40 or more bass are very possible in a short time.

Shallow Fish Can Be Over Deeper Water

Warm, sunny, calm days in early spring can draw the fish shallower, but don't confuse shallow fish with shallow water. If a body of water receives the warm rays of the spring sun with little or no wind, a warmer surface layer of water will develop. Under these conditions fish may move upward from deeper water, if there is some structure for them. A good example would be bass holding 8-10 feet deep along a creek channel running through a timbered cove. Warm, calm conditions would allow the bass to migrate upward into the branches that might be within a foot or two of the surface.

In the early spring it's not uncommon to find fish sporadically in one spot, especially in depths of 5-15 feet.

A perfect example of this happened to me a couple of years ago on Lake Geneva in southern Wisconsin. I had caught two nice smallmouth off a rocky bottom close to a pier that ended near deep water. I tried about a dozen similar spots, got nothing, then went back to the original spot and caught three more bass. Finally, I'd just leave my "honey hole" and kill an hour just to give it a chance to collect more bass. At the day's end I caught 21 bass, 19 coming off one stretch not 50 feet across.

Make this the year you really start catching fish...and do it by fishing smarter not harder in the early season.