Wiggle Wart as a winter bait

[plawren53202]

This is my first year that I have done any substantial amount of fishing in the winter (Missouri).  I have heard conflicting opinions on Wiggle Warts and other similar crankbaits as winter baits (I put the Spro Rock Crawler and the 6th Sense Curve 55 in the same general category). 

 

I have heard people say, don't use a crankbait with a wide wiggle like a Wiggle Wart in the winter...which I get the logic in their point, and earlier in the season (late late fall, cold but before the super cold temps) I had some luck on a flat sided squarebill which I know has a tight wiggle.

 

BUT I have also heard people who highly recommend Wiggle Warts/Rock Crawlers/Curve 55 as a winter bait.  And, on a day a couple of weeks ago in north Missouri when conditions were absolutely brutal (cold front had moved through the evening before, water temps in low 40s, and about an inch of rain the day before) I caught three keepers on craw pattern Wiggle Wart and Curve 55, in just a couple of hours.  This was a day that I would consider catching anything to be a big success especially given my lack of experience fishing winter conditions.

 

So, just curious as to others' opinions on these baits in the winter, and generally, why these three crankbaits may be good in the winter when generally wider wiggling crankbaits don't have much success.

[Fishes in trees]

Cranks are often a winter option, more so in the Ozarks than northern Missouri.  When I was fishing BFLs in the Ozark division, some guys lived and died with Warts in winter/early spring tournaments.  Other pros that I met were of the opinion that the Wart bite was a very specific set of conditions that sometimes were present and often weren't present on tournament day.  To get a little more depth, try putting a suspend dot or two on the belly, in front of the hook hanger, this also slows the rise of the bait a little bit when you smack it off something, the few times I got on multiple fish throwing a Wart, I was using the suspend dot.    Sometimes I've found that Rapala Shad Raps, thrown on a pretty light line, like 6 lb mono or nanofil, has worked better for me.  Other time, throwing a crank like a Timber Tiger DC 13 or DC 16 has worked for me, (another specific situation where there were quite a few bushes on the points I wanted to fish and a Wart got stuck every cast and a Timber Tiger didn't )  I can't get too worked up over "width of wiggle" when throwing cranks, mostly because I don't know where the line is.  I mean I know where the one is, it is attached to the bait at one end and to the reel at the other end an hopefully it is strung through the guides correctly.  Being slightly more serious, at what point does a "tight" wiggle become a "wide" wiggle.  Is there such a thing as a medium wiggle?  Who sets the standard for degree of wiggle?   Maybe a more fair question is, "What is the standard for degree of wiggle?"  I don't know, seems like a discussion where more than a few IPA's need to get involved.

 

I think if the fish are relating very close to the banks, a crank like a Wiggle Wart or Shad Rap can work ok.   When the fish are relating more to schools of shad close to but not on the bank, I think that a jerk bait works better.

 

If Charlie Brewer was to come back from the dead, he'd tell you that a Slider Head, or a Spider Slider Head and a 4" worm, fish in a "polishing the rocks" style, works better than any crank in any winter situation.

 

There you go, my current thoughts on throwing cranks in general and Wiggle Warts in particular during the winter.

[Jermination]

Wiggle warts are solid in winter man. Same with bandits. Spro rock crawler is a solid choice and you are on the right track. Go buy some DT6's, bar none the best winter time crankbait IMO. Putting a swimbait on a scrounger also works nicely and has a nice tight, well we wont call it a wiggle but shimmy(throw some scroungers on your alabama rig, works wonders  )

[plawren53202]

1 hour ago, Fishes in trees said:

I think if the fish are relating very close to the banks, a crank like a Wiggle Wart or Shad Rap can work ok.   When the fish are relating more to schools of shad close to but not on the bank, I think that a jerk bait works better.

 

Thanks for your thoughts.  Good stuff.  Your suggestion is consistent with my recent experience; I was bank fishing a pond--so by definition the fish I caught  were relating fairly closely to the bank, definitely not chasing schools of shad deep in a lake.  I'm limited to bank fishing so I guess I should have specified that with my question.

[scaleface]

Wide wobbling baits work in cold water too . Just reel them in slow .  Arbogast Mudbugs have a wide action and I have caught a few lunkers with  it right  after ice out .

[WRB]

Look at Cold Water Speed Cranking, posted 12/10/2019

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

Warts are great winter cranks where they're eating craws. When the water is really cold, it's almost more like quickly dragging a jig than it is fishing a crank.