at what temps do you break out jigs and go deep?

[Carrington]

Basicly as the title says at what water temp do you feel the fish start moving from the shallows of fall to the depths of winter. 

[backwater4]

I always check shallow, around the 45-50 range I'll check some deep spots also. Blade baits and spoons are a lot of fun.

[scrutch]

I always check shallow, around the 45-50 range I'll check some deep spots also. Blade baits and spoons are a lot of fun.

pretty much the same here in Indiana.

[Carrington]

so you use like jigging spoons and spinnerbaits.  For the spinnerbaits would you say 1oz is a good weight?

[Catt]

At what temps do you break out jigs and go deep?

Mid 40s to Mid 80s

[A-Jay]

At what temps do you break out jigs and go deep?

Mid 40s to Mid 80s

I am slowly buying into this philosophy.

btw - I sort of knew you were going to say something like that.

A-Jay

[Tin]

The only time I won't fish a jig deep is during the spawn periods. But in winter you do not always have to go "deep" with a jig or any bait for that matter. Depending on the body of water subtle little drops, say a drop from 2 feet to 6 feet can hold plenty of fish depending on how cold it gets in the winter. One of the lakes I fish up here has a max depth of 10' and get iced over four months of the year. Yet the best area I have found to fish in the lake is a subtle little drop that goes from 2' to 4' with some rock. If you can find a small overlooked drop with some wood or rock on it, it can be a sweet spot.

And during a warmer spell fish will move from these small drops (say in 15' of water or less) that are close to shore, up to the shallows and under docks, along rip rap, and under wood. Whenever they can move up shallow and get warm, they will. You can hit them in a fury in the last half of the day if it was significantly warmer than the water temp.

I won a tournament last spring or the spring before (can't remember lol) with water temps ranging from 41-43* by pitching a light jig into a foot of water or less. They key was the lovely bluebird skies, slick flat water, and 55-60* temps in the sun. I had a limit for 13 pounds while second was 2 fish for 6 pounds. The entire field was fishing jigs, grubs, and jerkbaits in deep water.

[Carrington]

ok thanks for the advice, i will mainly be fishing claytor lake and smith mountain lake.  claytor lake is a smaller lake that is 160 feet deep in spots that i believe freezes over and im sure alot of yall have heard of smith mountain.

[BobP]

Bass move out to deep water when the shad do the same.  Not much of an answer, but if we could accurately predict bass whereabouts and timing, we'd all be millionaires.  Since you aren't going to be fishing a spoon unless you find the fish on sonar, I don't think it matters.  I fish spoons anytime of year when I can find bass deep on a bait concentration.

[Carrington]

ok thanks, i just ordered some 3/4oz jigs and 1oz spinnerbaits to try and be ready for when the bass begin to shift.

[senile1]

The general rule of thumb is to follow the shad into shallow waters in the Fall, but the Fall migration of shad to the "backs of creeks" can be misleading. Shad don't just move up the creeks and stay in shallow water for a few weeks. They move up the creeks but quite often they hang out on submerged channel banks leading up the creek arm. The shad may be located from the surface to four feet deep but they often are positioned above a channel bank that could be in 10 - 15 feet of water depending on the creek arm. Intersecting channels, trees and cover on outside bends, or points leading into a creek channel can all hold shad at this time of the year. You can find them in very shallow water but just as often you will find them over water that is somewhat deeper in the creek arm. Fish positioned on these channel banks can be taken with jigs now. Being the opportunistic feeders that they are, bass generally won't pass up a tasty craw that falls in their face even if they are chasing shad.

As for the question of when they will really start to move toward their Winter haunts, for my lakes that occurs when temperatures start to drop into the 40s.  However, as Tin pointed out, this rule of thumb is also just a general behavior with many exceptions depending on the weather patterns during the Winter.

[Carrington]

ok so i should try to fish a deep diver or jig or something like that in creek arms.  i havnt really seen any shad on the main lake channel with my electronics.

[senile1]

I'm not saying you should just fish deep with a jig.  I'm just saying it is something you should not rule out.  Lakes in different geographic areas can be different but this is what I see on my lakes.  I'm generally throwing some shad or baitfish imitators such as crankbaits, spinnerbaits, or lipless cranks in the Fall, but I always have a jig and craw on one rod, and another soft plastic such as a tube on another.  Just this weekend I went fishing and caught just over half of my fish on the jig and craw.  All of my shad imitators caught the other half.   

As for the main lake channel, I wouldn't expect them to be there at this time of year.  When you drive up a creek arm find the submerged channel in that creek arm (if one exists) and follow it's banks.  I have  seen lots of shad balls in my creek arms located anywhere from 3 feet down to 12 feet down over a 10 - 15 foot bottom. 

[Sam]

Look for "balls of shad" on top of the water.

Look for feeding frenzies by the stripers. Bass will be under the frenzy waiting for injured shad to fall to them.

As for water temperatures, depends on the part of the lake you are in (shallow or deep) and when the lake turns over.

Remember, the lake does not turnover all at once. It can take a few days or a week in various parts of the lake for it to turn over.

Bass are cold blooded, as you know, and they will go to the warmest water they can find so look for sunny banks on the west and northern sides of the lakes.

Backs of creeks warm up faster, too.

Do you know the temperature of the lakes you fish and can you tell us what it is?

On a personal note, I had a great time at the Wake Forest game. The Clubhouse Tailgate was super, too, except way too much food.

Hope you did well in the Claytor Lake tournament. Let me now how you did. 

[JDK.]

many bass will live deep year around that being said to answer your question i almost always have a big jig tied on for deep fish.. A jig is one bait that will almost always catch a fish for me

[Carrington]

the tourny is actually this weekend. i looked for the airport to come check out yalls tent but could not figure out where on campus an airport was.  the only think that sucked was me not able to get student tickets to the game.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Year round, all water temps.  I've caught a bunch of fish this year dragging and hopping jigs up and down rocky drop offs and ledges.  Just adjust your retrieve speed based upon the conditions.

[Gangley]

year round