Ozark_Basser

That question is not easy to answer without seeing the exact spot where you are wanting to fish and knowing what's underwater. I can tell you that bluffs are good all year round. If one side of the lake is bluff walls and the other side is flat, the channel probably swings right up against the bluff wall. If there is a flat adjacent to the end or beginning of the bluff wall, then that spot is probably going to be money in the winter, especially if the bluffs have deep water below them. The main thing about oxbows and oxbow lakes that appeals to winter bass is the lack of current. Not only that, but they often times have spots that provide refuge from current no matter how high the water gets. Bass don't like current so much in cold water, they don't want to expend that kind of energy.Think about it like this. Let's pretend that a river just zig zags from north to south all the way from the beginning to the end. No islands, etc, or any other irregularities. The straight stretches will have a channel running through the middle. In periods of high water that channel will extend from one side of the bank to the other if it already doesn't. If you were a bass in cold water trying to expend as little energy as possible, would you want to spend the majority of your time there? Probably not. When the river makes that u shaped turn from north to south things change. The channel will swing to the outside. In periods of high water these are the areas that change the most. Trees, gravel, and whatever else get washed in creating contour changes and providing cover. When the water level recedes, so does the current leaving washed out areas with cover, sharp contour changes, and no current. In other words, good wintering holes for bass. Over time these areas can form oxbow lakes, but you don't have to go around just fishing oxbow lakes in the winter. Just try to find areas with no current, access to deep water, and a good amount of structure and cover. If you find an area with all of these you've hit the jackpot, and it will probably hold fish all year round, but they will stack up there in the winter.