There you have it! Winter bass fishing really can be a flip-flop of Summer fishing. On warmer winter days, fish for catfish in the shallow flats around the deep wintering hole on a river. The bass will move up on the rocks to feed, following the shad that have moved up to feed and warm themselves. Most bass fishermen associate getting out on the water in winter with select warm days. Fish will push up shallow at night to try to feed on crayfish or any baitfish. An exception to this would be when bass move up to shallower water after a few warm days, and after a warm rain. Winter weather and the threat of hypothermia can quickly lead to trouble. It keeps us warm without sacrificing comfort or mobility. Over my years of extensive winter fishing, I've discovered that one of the best time to be on the water is when it's snowing. Yes, the weather can be brutal when bass fishing in the winter. One of the most important strategies for winter bass fishing has nothing to do with fishing. Fishing in the winter means more bounty as fair-weather anglers retreat to the warm indoors. “I believe bass during the winter feed later in the day more often, and will … What a day bass fishing with Michael from 1Rod1ReelFishing! You’ve got to drop a Nedmiki or Damiki rig or a jig head with a minnow. And the warmer the water, the higher your chances are of catching big bass. Home » Blog Posts » How to Fish for Winter Bass. Most bass fishermen associate getting out on the water in winter with select warm days. Depending on where you live, the water can be anywhere from cold to dangerously frigid. A few degrees may not sound like much to a human, but it can completely change the demeanor and feeding behavior of bass. It’s Show Time: A Guide to the 2018 Fishing Shows. Affordable, high performance fishing rods. Shaking the jig and bouncing it off the rocks can entice a strike from hungry or even just curious bass. Unless you are in the middle of a heat wave, it is a good idea to assume the best bass fishing will be midday from noon until 4 pm. But another factor Dustin and I both noticed that is harder to fix is that the dreary weather seems to significantly shorten your suitable daily fishing time. However, if you live around the southern region of the U.S., in places like Alabama, Texas, Georgia, or California, there is still the opportunity to catch some trophy bass. This past weekend February 8th and 9th Tennessee had a couple of warm days together. If you choose to fish a dreary day, keep your jig or spoon close to the bottom structure and go with black/chartruese on a football head jig and white for the spoon. It’s almost ice fishing from your boat. But what they fail to realize is that the dreary, cold, sunless days can actually be a better choice. It’s going to be a narrower window, when they actually do eat. The former Bass Fishing League All-American champion notices that cold fronts in the spring have a more drastic effect on bass than wintertime cold fronts. A Bonnier Corporation Company. You should too! If going alone, use extra caution, but ultimately, … It’s easy to freeze your butt off out there, especially if it rains. You’re pretty much ice fishing. Largemouth bass are known as a warm-water species, but this is not to say you should pass on winter fishing. It’s harder to see them on the down imaging, but on the side imaging you’ll see fifty to a hundred dots between two pieces of structure pretty much with high spots on the bottom.”, “They pretty much do the same thing all year long. One of the main ones is a 6th Sense Divine Underspin, with a fluke-style bait on the back of it. In the winter, if you have a front pushing in and you can get out there pre front, those fish will feed a little better. But what they fail to realize is that the dreary, cold, sunless days can actually be a better choice. In general, winter bass fishing is likely to be better when it’s warm and the bass is more active, harder, and less predictable when it’s cold and the bass is less active. Of course, fishing the true winter days is a double-edge sword. Big bass seek deeper water for its warmer temperature zone, yet the fish like to have a spot with a short route to the shallows. You can catch them up shallow, but normally you’re not going to catch a ton of fish. The bass will hole up in inconsistent areas and are very lethargic when it comes to pursuing food. The best winter bass fishing times that I have found from experience and talking to others, is first thing in the morning or when the day is at its warmest point. All it takes are a couple of warm days and nights warming the shallow areas only a few degrees above the general volume of the pond. Swindle's in no hurry to sacrifice either. Some days you wake up, look out the window and decide to crawl back under the sheets. 1. “I still think the winter bite is really good in the morning time, but in the afternoon, there always seems to be a spike (in feeding too). I still use my side imaging, but the down imaging shows me where those schools are sitting. If you roll into the shallows, then brighten up you’re moving baits not with chromes, but with whites or bright reds. Two of my favorite ugly winter day baits are a Megabass Vision 110 Jerkbait in French Pearl, and a 6th Sense Snatch 70 Lipless Crank in Lava Truese. You’re not going to get a consistent bite or numbers. It just gets a little bit tougher. The colder the water is the less they’ll eat because their metabolism is slower. The other way you can find fish is birds. Therefore, use that block of time between, say, 10am and 3pm for you’re peak hours to hit it hard. So many of the productive areas have shut down and the bass seem to have disappeared all together. Hand Warmers: Best Models to Beat the Cold This Winter, Best Thermal Underwear: Smart Base Layers for Cold Weather, Oklahoma Lawmaker Proposes Bigfoot Hunting Season, The Best Shotgun Loads for 5 Late-Season Birds, Seven Myth-Busting Facts About Alligator Gar, The History Of The Survival (Space) Blanket. Our winter fishing guide will give you all the information you need about reading weather patterns, what bait to use, and the best equipment for a successful winter fishing trip. Hunting clothes that kept me warm for a few hours in a deer stand would not do the job out in a boat for eight or more hours. I’m talking 16, 17 out to 25 feet deep. If you’ve got a good day with a front pushing in, that can be really important. However, Elam finds that after lunch can be the best fishing of the day. Snow seems to put some frenzy on the bass. But every winter I enjoy some of my best days of the year, and learn the most. Copyright © 2021 Field & Stream. The weather may be miserable, but I’m not working and I … Expand Your Strategy by Going Deep Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. We both concluded that along with the fact that very few bass anglers go out on days like this, the aggression level of the bass may be higher because of the favorable pre-frontal barometric pressure coupled with lower light. I was just talking about this with my friend Dustin Wilks (pictured with a recent nasty winter day slob). What a lot of guys do is fish a crankbait and a jerk bait, and those are two techniques that always I have ready to go in the winter time, and the little SR 7 shad rapper, crawdad color, is a great crankbait. I like to locate those fish with my Underspin fan-casting in those deep holes and deep depressions. The first consideration is to dress appropriately for winter bass fishing. But in the winter time, they lay in the holes and depressions and pretty much in the valleys and troughs between structures. You want that light, soft rod for vertical fishing. They’ll be right on the brush pile or right on the tip of the point or right on the brink of the ledge. But when the water temperature gets down to 48 (degrees) or so you don’t see as much of that bird activity, either. Winter Fishing Destinations – the List Doesn’t End Here. In the spring we're looking for bigger fish, Summer and Fall we're looking for more fish, but in Winter, it seems like we're just praying to get a bite. Stay Warm and Dry. That puts them on the bottom and around structure where we can easily pick them off with bottom-bouncing baits like jigs. The colder the water the slower it will be. TFO Ambassador and two-time junior world bassmaster champion Joey Nania provides six tips to make your time on the water more productive during those chilly stretches. You’ve got to drop it right on their head and jiggle it in front of their nose. Make a plan of where you want to fish and be sure to let someone know where you are going and what part of the lake you will be fishing. The majority of the population is deep.”, “For deep fishing, there’s a couple different baits I like to use. Largemouth bass are known as a warm-water species, but this is not to say you should pass on winter fishing. TFO Ambassador and two-time junior world bassmaster champion Joey Nania provides six tips to make your time on the water more productive during those chilly stretches.. One of the best times of day to catch a bass is early in the morning as the sun just starts to rise, and that’s true even in the dead of winter. Blue catfish, especially, will be actively cruising these spots in search for food. Comfort is one thing, but then there's the fundamental principle of performance. That makes it very rewarding when catching a bass, however it can also make it very challenging. As a rule of thumb, it is best to slow down your presentation during the winter months. If you say, "I'll just freeze my butt off if I go", is to make an excuse when there isn't one. Winter bass fishing marks the end of a phenomenal bite when the fish were pushed up in the shallows, chasing baitfish and putting the feedbag on. You’re vertically dropping it on their head, and a lot of times once you catch one, more fish will come into the area to investigate.”. In the winter, calmer water is warmer water. Also (I use) a jerk bait. Some anglers who regularly fish stained water lakes are restricted to fishing warmer days since bass seem to be turned off in these waters on cold, cloudy days. In the winter, those schools will be scattered 5, 10 feet apart. These two conditions, warming water and wind create the perfect opportunity to fish crankbaits. Winter bass fishing in Florida is tough. The sun above the clouds seems to need to be directly overhead in order to have enough of an effect on the bass to say, “Let’s eat!” As soon as that happens, it shortly subsides. The Nedmiki is (for) a vertical technique.”, “What I do is use my depth finder. Now, these fish are moving into their wintertime haunts […] I’d say it’s important to have a (TFO) 6-9 GTS Tactical, Drop-Shot rod, medium light. It’s important to feel those bites. I look for that a lot. Dustin Wilks with a giant largemouth caught on a cold, dreary winter day. That problem is easily fixed with proper gear. It’s really important to have a sensitive rod when you’re doing that. And if a bass decides to roam shallow, it’s more likely to do it on a dreary day because transitioning from a deep, dark winter hole to the brighter shallows won’t be as shocking to the fish as it would be on a sunny day. In the winter time, I always give those shallow fish a chance. Warmer water means active bass You can certainly fish deep water schools and catch a bunch of bass. Bass fishing on both lakes is hot and getting hotter, even here in what most of us consider the middle of winter. If the day has been somewhat warm, the shallower sections of the lake will warm up a bit. A lot of times it will be near a creek channel, but a lot of the times, they won’t be on a creek channel, they’ll be in holes in the pocket, in the deepest part of the pocket, something like that, a pre-spawn staging deal.”, “The easiest way to find these fish is with your depth finder using your side imaging looking for those white dots. Field & Stream may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site. The lakes in this area offering the best late winter fishing regardless of the weather are the Ozark highland lakes in southwestern Missouri and northwest Arkansas. In the summer when I’m graphing deep, I like to use my down imaging. In my first winter of fishing from a bass boat I quickly realized that I was going to need warm outerwear. Here are some tips on lure selection, presentation, and location for landing the elusive winter bass. Winter Bass Fishing Lures, Tips and Tactics. As bass fishermen we're always striving to improve. It varies from hard to good in areas of medium geography, mainly due to weather conditions. These are some of the finest winter fishing destinations in … For many anglers, winter fishing is the time for a break. The key is finding those places the fish are using and looking for life and activity using your graph. Even when the bait and bass cooperate, winter fishing is still winter fishing, and contending with the elements can become the day's toughest challenge. Wintertime bass schools don’t relocate very often, so it’s a great way to catch numbers of fish. No doubt about it. What we mean is that by the time it gets “light enough” in the morning with the overcast skies, the light already seems to be tapering out for evening. Over the past several weeks, we’ve put together 7 tips to help you get more out of your shallow wintertime fishing. During the winter, bass fishing can be quite difficult. This spot allows bass to move up quickly into the shallows on warmer days to feed, but the fish can quickly drop into the comfort of the deep warmer water when wintry weather turns nasty. They lay in the deeper holes, because that’s a softer bottom, a mud bottom and they’ll lay out there in the cold with their bellies in the mud and they eat shad. A jerk bait is a great way to catch them shallow. Two or three degrees will bring small minnows and baitfish floating to the surface and to the shallows to take advantage of the warmer layers of water. Today’s cold weather gear allows us to do that. Biologist and skilled anglers agree bass will not generally chase a lure in water much chillier than 50 degrees. Print This Post Winter, a word that almost every avid bass angler dreads…almost. Learning how to fish deep is important for fishing success throughout the year, because shallow fish do not bite every day. Winter Is (Can Be) A Dangerous Time To Be On The Water! That’s good to be slow rolled on the bottom for deep schools, and then my second favorite is the bass Underspin and Nedmiki rig. Winter bass fishing can be tough! We estimated that the fish would have gone 8 and 1/2 pounds. For some it’s time for traveling to some of the best winter fishing holes . Winter Bass Fishing Lures, Tips and Tactics During the winter months when the water is cold, ... An exception to this would be when bass move up to shallower water after a few warm days, and after a warm rain. “Their feeding zones are a lot smaller. In southern states where lakes don’t freeze over, bass can be caught year-round and generally be pretty active during the winter. During the regular season, you have identifiable structure to fish, vegetation is in bloom and the sun offers you shaded areas, which will produce fish during the heat of the day. Aside from this being God’s Country when it comes to fishing and hunting, we Michiganders know how to dress warm and enjoy a winter day in the outdoors. But a lot of times with your numbers, a lot of times where your bass are living is out deep. Winter however does not give you any of those visible signs. If you see birds diving in a certain area and you look on your graph and see if their diving between two holes or whatever. That’s why it’s important to do that vertical fishing out deep. During the winter, a farm pond can turn on big time. Deep Water Winter Bass Hotspots They’re not going to feed all day long like they do in the hotter months. Bass will move up to warmer water in the shallower depths. Plus, the bass tend to suspend less like they would if the sun were warming the surface. Deep-water winter fishing is one of the more forgotten techniques. “I would say one of the biggest mistakes people make is not being versatile in the winter. I just entered for a chance to win a $1,000 Bass Pro Shops gift card! That barometric pressure makes a difference than it does in other times of year. Bass Fishing in Winter by Charles Stuart. Wind can push those fish a lot, too, if the wind blows and moves the water and bait fish, those fish might hold closer to wind-blown structure.”, Copyright © 2020 Temple Fork Outfitters™ All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved. ... Bass fishing is made easier when you aren’t worried about the fish seeing your fishing line. .\r \r As the hot fall bass fishing bite begins to fade the bass become difficult to catch. Winter Bass Fishing Tips: What, When, And Why! Bass fishing winter time can still have you landing a bass hog. Another location that is productive on warmer winter days is rip-rap. The key in the winter and the summer when it’s warmer is bass are going to be holding in current-oriented places in the structure. https://www.bass-fishing-source.com/winter-bass-fishing-techniques.html But at the same time, I’ll never steer anyone away from the daybreak hour any time of year. Many products featured on this site were editorially chosen. The answer is easy. Fishing for bass during the late fall and winter months can be a daunting task. “In the springtime the fish are getting ready to spawn and all of a sudden they get hammered with a 30 to 40-degree change of a cold front that screws it all up,” Maloney says. These are my top 5 winter bass fishing lures to use during the winter to trigger .\r \r Winter bass fishing at Little Seneca Lake in Maryland!!! Curious bass out of your shallow wintertime fishing the slower it will be cruising! 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And catch a bunch of bass often, so it ’ s going feed... – the List Doesn ’ t freeze over, bass can be really important,. Bouncing it off the rocks can entice a strike from hungry or even just bass. » How to fish for winter bass for food when they actually eat...
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