How to locate and catch cold weather bass.... by Missouri regional pro staff, Doug Vahrenberg: As the cold weather moves south the bass fishing can start heating up as the bass continue to feed up for the coming spawn. Some of the Biggest Bass of the year can be caught during this period as they try continue to develop the eggs for the coming spawn. The fishermen may stay inside but the bass must continue to eat. This is the perfect time to break out your Lucky Craft jerkbaits and get to work. To start Winter fishing the easiest places to target are creek channel swings. Using your mapping you can prepare your trip by looking for areas with the Channel Swing near the bank. In the picture attached you can see 3 areas I highlighted provide classic examples of Channel Swing Banks. Once you find these are use your sonar to find the baitfish and you’ll normally find the bass close. Then it’s time to select the bait and get to work. I have a simple formula for bait selection: Color Bright, Shiny, or Translucent colors on Sunny Days and solid colors on Cloudy or Overcast Days. Water color will determine the color too. Clearer the water the clearer the bait color. Then it’s determining depth. Your sonar will help you determine the fish and baitfish depth. The bass will come up to the bait so the closer and just above; the less the bass have to move for an easy meal. When I go to the lake I like to have a variety of colors, sizes and depth range of Lucky Craft jerkbaits tied on and ready to fish. During the Winter period I prefer to use the Pointer, Flash Minnow, & Flash Pointer...unless I need to go deeper, then the DD (Deep Diver) and XD (Extra Deep) Pointers are my go to baits. One tip for success is vary line size and type. I like to use 8# for deeper fish and will increase line size to 10# or 12#. Most of the time I use Flurocarbon but if your bait wants to sink faster than you desire the I’ll switch to Monofilament line to keep the line from sinking and sinking the bait to fast. Get out in the Great Outdoors and enjoy some winter catching!
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:19:30 +0000
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