Sometimes the simplest approach is best.

That"s certainly a fact when it comes to early spring fishing. From the time the ice goes out until fish enter the spawn is one of the most productive times to catch them. In fact, I"d rate fishing right now as being one of three best times of the year to catch both numbers and big fish.

But, the whole thing is a lot harder than it looks. You can go out right now and get skunked just as easily as you can any other time of the year. The key to success in early spring fishing is timing.

Here"s why.

Fish are cold blooded creatures and when the water is cold, their metabolism slows way down. Simply put, that means fast presentations will not interest them. Neither will large baits. So, successful springtime fishing means slow and small.

The correct timing for success is keyed to water temperature. Three warm sunny days with a light wind blowing from the south (and that"s just about always the case in the spring) will result in good fishing. Three days like this will guarantee that water temperatures on the north shoreline of a lake like, let"s s will be 10 degrees higher than temperatures on the south shoreline.

If the temperature on the north shore is 55 degrees and the temperature on the south shoreline is 45 degrees, where would you like to fish? If you find temperatures in canaltures in canals, such as West Okoboji or Spirit Lake hitting 60 degrees when the main lake is still in the high 40s, where would you like to fish?

This is the time of year when the multi species fisherman will shine. The walleye guy will take his chances on the main lake when the canals are kicking out lots of crappies and largemouth simply because he prefers to catch walleyes. And there"s nothing wrong with that. I did it for years.

One thing I learned, however, from a lot of time fishing ice-out to spawn for most game fish is this. It"s hard to beat a minnow and a split shot this time of year for walleye, smallmouth, largemouth, white bass, crappie or just about anything else.

Day in and day out, this presentation will produce a lot of fish. Some days, nothing else will. After all, how many times are you able to hit that three-warming-days period?

It"s always puzzled me why I don"t see more anglers taking this approach in the early spring, but I think I know why.

First, you can"t cover a lot of water with this method. You have to hit the high percentage spots for the fish you are targeting and most anglers may not know where those spots are.

Second, this fishing is light, fine and far off. In short, it"s not easily done and simply cannot be done in wind or current which does not allow you complete control over your boat.

Third, it"s not very glamorous. You don"t read a lot about it or hear the fishing pros touting it. But believe me, they do a lot of it. You just can"t make a living selling split shot.

In spite of what you may think, the split shot and minnow is not just a shallow water presentation. I"ll use it in water up to 15 feet deep. But this time of year, most of the time (when fishing walleyes) I"ll be on the north side of the lake fishing a rocky area which ranges in depth from about six feet to 12 feet.

The male walleyes move into such spots just before spawning and take up residence. When the females move in (which is right now and should continue for the next couple of weeks) spawning begins and usually takes place at night in water much shallower along the shoreline.

It"s not easy to catch the large females right now, but if they can be had, it will be on a minnow. The males will stay in this kind of water for at least a couple weeks after the peak of the spawn so these relatively shallow, rocky areas will remain productive into early May.

The key to effectively fishing this presentation is your line. I prefer four-pound-test because of the smaller diameter, but six pound will work, too. The smaller diameter line has less water resistance and will allow you to stay deep with the light split shot. Over the years I"ve experimented with a lot of different styles of hooks and have come to settle on two designs for split shot fishing. Both are effective. The first is a long-shanked Aberdeen hook in size 1 or two. The second is a beak hook in size 2 or 4. If I"ve got small minnows I use the smaller hook. Fathead minnows of about three or three-and-a-half inches are best fished on the larger hook. The split shot can be adjusted for distance up and down the line but usually I"ve got it pinched on about 24 inches from the hook.

I lob the rig out carefully so the minnow is not torn from the hook and let it settle to the bottom. Then I shake out a couple rod lengthengthd lengths of line and use the electric motor to ease ahead. Depending on the depth, I may let out quite a bit more line.

That doesn"t mean the deeper the water, the more line you let out. I believe a boat in six or 10 feet of water will cause fish to move out away from the boat, so in shallow water I want the bait farther behind the boat. I usually move the boat in a zig-zag pattern to avoid pulling the rig directly under the path of the boat for that reason. If the water is deeper than 12 feet, I don"t worry about that as much and usually fish a shorter line and do much less zigging and zagging.

The boat movement should not be steady. It should be stop and go. That allows the rig to drop back to the bottom each time you stop as well as creating an opportunity for sluggish fish to take the bait.

There are many other ways to work the split shot and minnow, but this is the approach I use most for walleyes and that"s the fish most of us are keying in on right now. But whether it"s walleyes or another gamefish this technique will catch them and most of the time it"s the best you can use.