Winter fishing can be really tough … but also on the right days very rewarding!! Usually there’s very few people on the water fishing, so you most often have the whole lake to yourself. So, follow some of these simple tips to help you catch more winter fish.
#1 SLOW!!!! With water temperatures ranging from 30’s to 50’s fish generally don’t want to chase anything fast. So, remember to fish slow! and be patient
#2 Deep or shallow, lots of the time the majority of the fish will be living in deeper water relative to that particular lake. So, look for deep water vertical drop offs with rock. Rock holds more heat even in deep water. But if you’re fishing a shallower lake and you have a few days of nice sunny weather there will be some fish that move up into shallow (1-3’) rocky shoreline for the heat.
#3 If you have boat, I highly recommend getting good fish finder to help locate schools of fish before you even start fishing for those deep fish. I prefer Lowrance with Downscan imaging to truly see what’s down there.
#4 Fish the creeks and coves that are positioned to the North. They will stay protected more from northern cold fronts and wind and usually are a couple degrees warmer.
#5 You can sleep in!! Most commonly the best fishing is in the afternoon when the water reaches its warmest temperature.
Favorite lures to fish
#6 1/2 or 3/4oz Bass Patrol football jig. Brown, green, black colors are best. Use a Berkley Max Scent Chunk trailer. Fish slow and drag it along the bottom. Do Not! hop the jig off the bottom. This can be fished shallow and deep
#7 Berkley MaxScent Flatnose Minnow fished on a 1/8-1/40z jig head. This bait you can cast or fish vertical over the top of the fish. Shake the rod tip slightly to make the bait quiver in the water
#8 3/4oz Chrome Jigging spoon fished vertically right in the middle of the school of fish. Snapping the rod tip up from 6” to 3’ then let the spoon flutter back down keep repeating.
#9 Lucky Craft Pionter 100DD Jerk bait. Make your cast then using hard snap/jerk of the rod tip several times to get the lure down to it deepest point then let it sit for 5-10 seconds then repeat. this technique works well in 5-15’ of water 10# Lucky Craft LV500 lipless crank bait. Works shallow and deep. Cast it out let it sink to the bottom. The hop it off the bottom 6” to 2’ then let it fall back down. Repeat until cast is done.
Hope this helps you catch a few more winter bass,
Skeet Reese
Team GT Fishing Angler
