Winter bass

["hamma"]

  They will gravitate to structure, and will choose whats available, with rock on it being the best choice. Reason being,...Rocks will hold the suns heat better than any other cover, and transmit said heat back out therefore warming the surrounding water slightly, (works springtime as well) So if you know of a drop with boulders on it? good bet they will be hugging those boulders. A creek channel bend with beach ball sized rocks breaking any current? Give it a few casts,  or a steep sloping bottom that ends in a good sized rock covered flat.,.fish it! At least thats what I would target.

 Up here some lakes are all rock and the search is slightly altered by where the forage is. Many of these lakes have smelts as a forage base, and finding the schools of smelt is the key here, cruising around watching my finder is paramount, but as I'm doing so I will keep in mind that there are alot of smelts in some lakes, and a small baitball of them doesnt mean the bass are closeby. Many of these smaller baitballs are being chased around by salmon, lakers, or stocked trout. Which have no issues with mobility in colder waters. The "main" bait ball in this cold water is usually quite huge, incorporating a whole bay, deep hole, or complete shoreline's dropoff. And when you find them you will know as your finder is almost blacked out, or with color units, a virtual rainbow. and trust me,.. in these huge lakes? when you find the main mass of bait? theres all kinds of predators about, pinning them for a easy meal. You will have found the bass, but also any other predatory fish found in that water body, and as your fishing you may hook any of them.

 I choose these bigger waters as they are the last to freeze over, smaller lakes will mirror these instances and ocurrances, just on a smaller scale. As for tiny ponds? Is there really any need to tell you that in these ponds the bass are going to hug whatever they can in winter. Thats all they have! they will be everywhere in a small 60 acre pond, and be feeding on whatever they can fit in their mouth. If there is deeper water, the bigger fish will demand the best spots.

 Herring fed waters will act pretty much the same as smelt fed waters, but when it comes to shad based lakes? I'm not sure, as we dont have "many" of them  up here. There are a few, but nothing compared to smelts and herring. I do know that some shad die off in extreme cold water,..im not 100% sure which it is, either gizzard or threadfin. I do know one of them does survive and these hearty baitfish do offer some different tactics then their competeing baitfish cousins, smelts and herring. Admittingly, I'm not "proficient" in shads activity and antics. If I had grown up in a southern state, as in my prefered TVA lakes area, IE: pickwick, wilson, wheeler and guntersville,... I'm sure I would have studied them more. Maybe this will be my next study for a while.

 Hope this helps

[roadwarrior]

Threadfin shad begin to fade at 45* followed by massive die-off at 42*.  It's a good time of year for seagulls! Fortunately these baitfish are quite prolific and under the right conditions can spawn three times in one year. The Tennessee River never freezes and water temperature has no impact on the smallmouth bite...Current dominates everything.

[TnRiver46]

44 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Threadfin shad begin to fade at 45* followed by massive die-off at 42*.  It's a good time of year for seagulls! Fortunately these baitfish are quite prolific and under the right conditions can spawn three times in one year. The Tennessee River never freezes and water temperature has no impact on the smallmouth bite...Current dominates everything.

I've seen a few sloughs freeze over, does that count? Haha. I'm hoping to be on the Tennessee river after work this afternoon, probably targeting crappie near the boat ramp though as I will only have about 1 hr before dark. We have a whole lot more current than we have had all summer here recently

["hamma"]

Thanks Roadwarrior, Hmmmm,... waters that never freeze, and with awesome smallie fishing?,...I wanna move,...lol,.. Ok, I'd miss Maine too much,.. so maybe that move comment was a knee jerk reaction. Guess I will just settle for "visiting" when I can.

  I do wonder if your winter fishing down there mimics ours up here or not. And let me clear that question up

 Up here we do have river smallies, and these rivers do have some dams, and the sections of rivers that are dammed up, also release water at times and this will locate bass differently than when the water is not being released. when the current is flowing good (water released) the smallies will hide in eddies, and breakwaters just as one would think. But when there's no current from water being released the smallies will act much like the lakes around here, just with a bit more fight to them, a slightly more vigor, as their will now be a very slight current. 

  I fished Wilson Lake in a extremely hot springtime one year, and when water was being released I had no problem locating and catching smallies. But when the dam stopped water flow, I couldnt buy a bite, at all. It was like someone flicked a switch, and the fish lockjawed. I do understand, just could be that, I was there during a time when the air temps were exceptionally hot, and the water quite warm (cuz it was) and fish were maybe re-acting to the weather. Being a tourist, I wasn't sure, and still left quite curious.

 And I also ask this as I read your comment reguarding "current dominates everything"  is this the norm? everything? even yearround? I'd like to return to that area again sometime, is there a prefered time of year to fish those northern Alabama tva lakes, or even some downstream a bit.,... Im thinking jan. or feb. to escape the fridged weather up here then, But would rather prefer,.. to make sure Im down there during a good time to be there. (if I worded that right)

[roadwarrior]

Water flow effects all fishing, regardless of your exact location on the system. For the most part you cannot detect current in the middle of an impoundment, but it impacts the entire food chain. Here is one memorable example:

http://www.basszone.com/elite-series/2011-season/pickwick-lake/m.blog/131/davy-hite-the-current-champion

[TnRiver46]

I fished right below Wilson dam in late March this year and It was freezing cold. Everyone said they weren't running enough water (They were running about 20,000 cfs, which is not much at all for that dam. There is usually that much flow all the way upstream here in Knoxville). There were ten million bass boats everyone and everyone we talked to was skunked or close to it. We caught a lot of white bass in The marina near McFarland park and only a couple tiny smallies out in the river. The wind nearly broke my wide 18.5 ft aluminum center console in half 

[WRB]

In SoCal the lower elevation warm water lakes rarely get below 50 degree core water temps during the winter months of Dec and Jan. What occurs is the Threadfin Shad go deeper and the bass follow. Right now for example the bait is around 40' in several local lakes and that is where the bite is. If you fish where the bass were a month ago in 5' to 20' it will be long day.

Tom

[Turtle135]

6 hours ago, IgotWood said:

This is very helpful, thank you! And thank to everyone else who replied. When you find them deep, are they generally on some type of cover, like wood, rock, drop-off, etc? The lake I normally fish is pretty flat on the bottom, except for some grass, which makes that area difficult to fish. 

This might be particular to the lakes I fish in the winter but the bass I catch do not seem to be relating to "cover". They seem to relate more to "structural" elements in the winter. Given the option I will fish a creek channel over the best looking laydown you can find on these lakes.

p.s. - in late December, January and February the grass in these particular lakes is all gone

 

[Catt]

It is fairly easy to catch bass in cold water, if you can find them and if you use the right techniques. This means putting bait in front of a fish that looks right, sounds right, and smells right. The colder the water, the slower the bass's brain operates so the slower you must present the bait or it's gone before the bass's brain tells it to bite.

One thing you can just about bet on is that wintertime bass are going to be close to deep water. I'm not saying you can't catch them shallow because if you get a few nice days during the winter some of the fish will move up. They may also get on shallow targets next to deep water.

Keep deep water and a slow retrieve in mind, and you'll be a little better off during winter months.

[corn-on-the-rob]

Everybody pretty much hit the nail on the head already.

The thing that helped me most was realizing that winter fishing can appear more intimidating than it really is. In my opinion this is because you are less likely to stumble onto a random fish or two, so when you aren't successful, it can seem like a lost cause, but when you do find them, you typically really find them. Find one, find them all!

[frogflogger]

Great thing about winter fishing is lots of places you can use float n fly and it is hard to have more fun catching bass than on a 10' fairy wand with a little hair jig.

[NCbassraider]

On 12/5/2016 at 0:01 PM, VAHunter said:

I believe you have received a bunch of useful information here.  I am in SE Virginia and will only add one other note.  Do not overlook shallow water, especially in ponds.  Most of the waters I fish are 250 acres+.  Even with water temps in the low 40s and high 30s I have caught plenty of fish in less than 4 ft. of water.  My biggest last year, just over 9 lbs., came in January in 3 ft.  I'm not saying these fish are always active, but I do believe a certain percentage of the population never goes that deep, they stay relatively shallow all year.  With that being said, the consistent bite is generally deeper (10-18 ft. in my area).

I agree.  In winter, in ponds, if you get a warmer than usual, sunny day find some shallow water in the sun with wind protection if possible.  I've done very well in these conditions in shallow water.

[VAHunter]

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 6:26 AM, IgotWood said:

This is very helpful, thank you! And thank to everyone else who replied. When you find them deep, are they generally on some type of cover, like wood, rock, drop-off, etc? The lake I normally fish is pretty flat on the bottom, except for some grass, which makes that area difficult to fish. 

Sorry for the delay, haven't been on here much.  In winter I feel like the fish relate more to contours as someone already stated.  That is not to say I haven't caught them on structure, but I tend to have better luck fishing channel banks/swings/drop offs.  Also, I think bass suspend more in the winter.  I routinely catch very nice fish fishing 8 feet deep over 20 feet of water.  I do keep the retrieve very slow for that presentation, but it sure works in my area.  You mention grass, how deep is it?  I will go out of my way to find good grass this time of the year and dead stick a jerkbait over it.  You can also rip a silver buddy out of it, but hang on!  The grass around here that survives the winter is usually in at least 6 feet of water and will grow out to about 10-12.