Texas Hawg Hunter

Yesterday afternoon on a buzzbait was my hardest hit.

I would say around six pounds. You know its a good fish when you have to hold it with all of your fingers

I missed a fish today on a buzzbait and I think I tried to set when I saw him strike...just what you said not to do.

hahaha, yeah it was t-shirt weather today I will say though that there are a lot of articles out there with people saying topwater produces in winter...even "real" winter conditions.

and boy was it awesome. It's one thing to read about it and another thing to actually experience a bass hammer your buzzbait. He got off though. How do you set the hook with a buzzbait? This fish was literally about a foot away from the shore at a pond today and just exploded out of nowhere.

I had my first ever buzzbait strike this afternoon on a pond. I was using a War Eagle chartruse and white. That fish hammered it but it got off. Happened literally a foot from the shoreline too. It was awesome. Was also using strait 50 lb. braid.

Caught this one just before dark on a small jig/craw and lost another on a buzzbait. That was my first ever buzzbait strike and MAN was that exciting! Interestingly, both were very close to shore. Unfortunately, I tried for the life of me and couldn't get that jig hook out so I kinda feel bad about that. In the pic below, the hook is just to the upper left of the eye. This was at the pond near "wiggly field" dog park in Denton, Tx if any of you are in the area. Been in the 60s for the past several days. Was using straight 50 lb. braid.

The spinnerbait comments are surprising to me as they are my strong point. I caught the 8 lb. pass in my picture on a big colorado spinnerbait a few weeks ago. Everyone has what works for them...

It's in the 60s here...not much winter in Dallas. Last weekend I was fishing at dusk and saw fish breaking the surface. This afternoon I went out and bought a War Eagle buzzbait and an H20 Xpress TWS topwater today http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress-model-tws-topwater-bait/pid-22353?color=Ghost+Shad&N=4294963713+97009336 Will try them out this weekend!

Haha, these replies are very interesting and revealing. As most others have said, I am surprised by some of the posts too. Just goes to show there is no cookie cutter approach to fishing!

...and believe it or not, there are plenty of articles out there saying topwaters work in the winter! I found that a bit surprising, but I have faith that those authors know a heck of a lot more than me. I have one topwater -- a Rebel pop-r, and I have caught fish on it, but hardly ever use it. This is a whole class of lures I haven't really explored but would like to. The Zara Spooks, for example, seem to be very popular. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Unfortunately there is a "catch and release only" sign at the pond. Some folks are clueless to selective harvesting.

Short and to-the-point. Thanks!

Very informative! Never fished the split shot or drop shot before...will have to try.

Bought a bag of five-inch curly tail grubs today. Never used grubs but they are supposed to be excellent winter lures. Was planning on t-rigging, putting on jig heads, and using for jig trailers. Any tips?

Fan casting is a staple for me and I mostly fish from shore. I am interested to hear how other people do it. Specifically, how far apart do you tend to make each cast? Also, how many "sweeps" do you do before changing technique, lure, or location?

I saw a pretty cool laser thermometer at Bass Pro Shops that measures surface temps. Here's a link http://www.basspro.com/William-Joseph-Infrared-Thermometer/product/91529/

Great advice all. Yes, it is "winter" but I can wear a short sleeve t-shirt outside. Though we did have a 30-degree cold snap several days ago. I'll try some of these suggestions.

I was doing that exact thing yesterday with a heavy jig/craw with rattles. Alternated bottom dragging/hopping with swimming.

Excellent suggestions. Re: baitfish, there are also a ton of small turtles and ducks/geese so they have to be eating something too...seems like it should be an active pond, but I'm interested to try your suggestions. I put up a pic of the fish on this forum. I'll put the link below. If you can't access it you can probably get it through my profile page. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/gallery/image/10778-largemouth-on-unt-pond-denton-tx/

There's a small neighborhood pond that I like to go to often since it is right next to my house. I caught a largemouth a few weeks ago but nothing since. I walk the bank throwing spinnerbaits, jigs, plastics, and cranks but nothing. I'm thinking about giving up on the place. What do you think?

You can take all those factors into account if you like taking good data. Then, you can calculate probabilities of bites based on the interaction of factors. Pretty typical data analysis stuff.

As a PhD researcher in behavioral science, I would recommend sticking to what bass actually do in response to different color lures...that's what you really want to know anyway. Getting caught up in all this other stuff will just take you in never-ending debates.

Exactly. I was thinking he ushered in the modern era with the "power fishing" movement.

It seems like everyone now talks about power fishing and in all four seasons. Even during the winter, many articles say fish crankbaits etc... rather than "slow" plastics and jigs. Is this a relatively new development in fishing (i.e., past 15-20 years)? I don't seem to remember Jimmy Houston and Bill Dance talking this way back in the 80s and early 90s growing up. I could be totally off though.