Am thinking of hitting Ida for the Bass opener. Never fished there before. Anyone have any tips for finding them this time of year? Thanks for the help.

Not priding myself in my bass-savy but shallow in my mind. In paticular shallow bays that will be warm. There where plenty being caught on opener by individuals fishing for crappies.

I find it hard to not catch them on Ida. Not bragging, but wow that lake holds all kinds. You can catch them casting 2 in grubs right at the first weed break while fishing for crappie, you can catch them fishing a lindy rig off the big point while trying to get to the bottom for walleyes. They are everywhere. Sometimes I even get good and pass the luck of the red eyes to my fishing partners.... hehehehehe.

You can't avoid them on Ida. You are going to catch them whether you want to or not. A lot of smaller fish, though. You will get the occasional big fish every now and then.

I agree, you can catch bass using just about any technique, so start with your favorite and see where that takes you. I am used to shallow water bassing with spinners and plastics, but have found that the larger bass in Ida are consistently out deeper hitting plugs or shiners.

I have heard that before that I should be out deep and basivally walleye fishing for them. As usual I always look forward to learing a new lake. Thanks for the help.

I forgot to ask about this. I heard recently that smallies can be found on Ida too. Is that true? Can you catch a bunch of em' or is it usually a fluke? Without giving away secrets, what is the best way to find them if there are enough to fish for. THanks again.

Ida is both a quantity and quality bass fishery. Largemouth are the primary species. Smallmouth are starting to come on strong. If you're up for opening of bass then stay shallow. I would venture to guess that the opener will find the bass in the initial stages of spawn on Ida. The smaller lakes in the area will probably find the bass in a full spawn mode as they warm a little quicker than Ida.