Fall Weather, Winter Season, Where Are The Bass?

Halnerd · January 7, 2013

Hello All,

I live in Greensboro N.C. We have had a really warm winter so far this year. My fishing partner and I took the boat out yesterday on Oak Hollow Lake. The air temp was in the low 50's in the afternoon, and the surface water temps stayed around 45-48F. We did not have any luck locating largemouth bass. We did find a few schools of crappie hovering around 17-18 feet deep in 22-25 feet of water, but didn't really have the gear or experience to catch them. There is very little easily detectable cover or structure on the bottom of Oak Hollow (At least that we can find with our low-end depth finder and probing jig/texas rig fishing). So...

This coming weekend we are going to have another crazy warm front come through with 60-70F weather all weekend, and lows in the upper 40's and 50's. My question is: Where should we expect the bass to be in these conditions? Is the surface temp of the lake going to end up being higher than the deeper waters and draw the bass up to surface structure? Should we expect the water temps to remain low, unaffected by the ambient air temp? Are the bass going to stay low and slow, sticking to the bottom structure that we are failing to locate? The local fisheries say that Largemouth in Oak Hollow eat Perch and Shad as their primary forage. Where could we expect the forage to be in these kind of conditions? I have no idea what to expect. I am new to fishing Oak Hollow, but it is one of the only lakes open year round in the Greensboro area. We are also completely new to winter fishing in general. We have been reading up and gearing up since Christmas to learn how to winter fish, but these conditions are throwing us for loops.

I would like to add that the water in Oak Hollow right now is Stained to Muddy, if that makes any difference. 1-2 foot visibility at best, and green/brown.

I would greatly appreciate some pointers on how to locate bass in these conditions.

Kyle

NC_Bass6 · January 8, 2013

well hey there. im also in Greensboro NC and am having the same problem. i just cannot find bass when the water is cold. i was also noticing the warm front moving in this weekend and was thinking lipless cranks. but im also fishing smaller bodies than oak hollow lake. have you fishing high point lake at all? i made a few trips in the fall without much luck. if you have any good honeyholes id love to know about them haha, id even share a few of my own. message me or reply if youd like to swap.

Halnerd · January 9, 2013

I do fish HPCL regularly, though I usually go there when all I wanna do is throw the trolling motor in the trunk and rent a boat. HP city lake is closed during the winters months I believe. During the warm weather season we fish Randleman, Townsend, HPC lake, and sometimes Brandt. I think Townsend is also open year round like Oak Hollow. Honestly, we are complete newbs to winter fishing in any of these lakes. Also, I really don't have any honey holes in any of these lakes. We just fish where we think bass and panfish will be at any given time and condition. Usually that means the right depth, structure and cover. We caught most of our fish this year on Jigs w/chunk trailers, Texas Rig soft plastics, weedless plastics top-water, In-Line Spinners (Mepps for Largemouth and Rooster Tails for panfish), and Storm perch swimbaits. No luck with offset spinners or crankbaits at all.

I just can't wrap my head around these funky weather conditions. I guess we picked a tough year to start learning winter fishing.

Kyle

quanjig · January 9, 2013

Wow that place looks pretty cool if its the same lake that came up on google! I would pay attention to the riprap along that area that appears to look like a dam and the arm that extends to the SW and all of those little cuts and guts. I would look for the deeper areas that have some shallow water close by. Jerkbait, finess jigs and dropshot. Try to find some cleaner water in those areas and you should find some fish. More bait you find the better your chances! Good luck and let us know how you do!