Poor Winter Bass

[Koz]

So I'm out there fishing today and of course my mind wanders to different topic and today it was about winter bass.

 

With the water being at its coldest point of the year down here the fishing is slow. What's frustrating is that the air temperature is 55-65 degrees out there and it's very comfortable fishing weather. But with nighttime temperatures in the 30's the water isn't warming up yet.

 

Anyway, we all know that the metabolism of the bass has greatly slowed and with that they're fairly idle, conserving energy, and eating maybe once a week or so. With that in mind, I'm thinking that the bass are sitting there pondering when the winter will be over while deciding if this is the one day this week that they need to feed and build up energy stores only to end up hooked at the end of my spinnerbait ?

 

I tried fishing really slow today but it didn't take. I actually tried some baits that I don't fish that often, especially in the winter and drew blanks. But then I tied on a spinnerbait and caught a decent 3 pounder and then a one pounder as I was calling it a day.

 

Everything I've caught lately has been in "deeper" water (relative term since I fish man made lagoons) and today's catches were in stained water and the bass were extremely pale. Despite seeing a lot of small minnows along the banks I have not seen or caught any bass in the shallower waters or along shore. The egrets have been feasting. I've seen herons eating small bluegill along the banks as well, but the bass haven't moved off their winter spots in the middle of lagoons just yet.

 

The pre-spawn usually starts kicking in about mid February, so it won't be long now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrianMDTX]

I’m seeing what your seeing. Every bass I’ve caught lately has been deep (as deep as an 8’-9’ pond goes) and slow action and soft bites. But I have not caught any true dinks and one was a shade over 5 lbs. Yes, the egrets and herons are feasting in the shallows on small bluegills. But no bass in the shallows for sure. 

[Jig Man]

I don’t know what you are calling shallow or deep.  The lake I like to fish is around 200’ deep at its deepest.  The deep bite has been as far down as 80’.  T caught fish on an Arig in less than 10 feet of water.  The water temp was 42° every where that I went.

[Koz]

27 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

I don’t know what you are calling shallow or deep.  The lake I like to fish is around 200’ deep at its deepest.  The deep bite has been as far down as 80’.  T caught fish on an Arig in less than 10 feet of water.  The water temp was 42° every where that I went.

Our lagoons max out at 8-10 feet deep. Due to their man made construction there is not a gradual slope from the bank to the middle of the basin.

 

Instead, right along the bank it’s anywhere from 2 - 5 feet deep.

[Chris at Tech]

Go play with the sea trout and redfish for a few weeks!

[BrianMDTX]

Well, yesterday was the exact opposite. Hooked 9 and caught 7 and all were in 2’-4’ of water. Nothing bit deep. 

[Koz]

9 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

Well, yesterday was the exact opposite. Hooked 9 and caught 7 and all were in 2’-4’ of water. Nothing bit deep. 

Still nothing shallow here. But nighttime air temperatures have mostly been above the water temperature. In 2 or 3 weeks the feeding frenzy usually starts.

[Bluebasser86]

Check your water temps with a digital thermometer for aquariums. I bet your water is still in the 50s with those air temps, high 40s at worst. Your bass are probably more active than you're thinking and possibly why they're ignoring the slow moving baits. 

[Koz]

23 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Check your water temps with a digital thermometer for aquariums. I bet your water is still in the 50s with those air temps, high 40s at worst. Your bass are probably more active than you're thinking and possibly why they're ignoring the slow moving baits. 

The bass have started moving from their winter locations. I caught a nice 5 pounder close to shore the other day.

 

But as luck would have it, I just moved to Georgia today and it’s still cold here. It will be below freezing tonight. Looks like I will have to wait it out some more.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Koz said:

The bass have started moving from their winter locations. I caught a nice 5 pounder close to shore the other day.

 

But as luck would have it, I just moved to Georgia today and it’s still cold here. It will be below freezing tonight. Looks like I will have to wait it out some more.

There's always bass shallow. Both my big fish last week were right against the banks, in the shade, in sub 50 degeee water temps. I'm talking less than a rod length off the bank. Both ate crankbaits moving fairly quickly too. May not be as many shallow, but those fish are there for one reason. 

[Biglittle8]

On 1/28/2021 at 10:32 PM, Bluebasser86 said:

There's always bass shallow. Both my big fish last week were right against the banks, in the shade, in sub 50 degeee water temps. I'm talking less than a rod length off the bank. Both ate crankbaits moving fairly quickly too. May not be as many shallow, but those fish are there for one reason. 

+1 on that. 6 fish today, all in close. I actually watched two hit my bait! Low 40's here. Rattle-trap , fast and relatively shallow. 3 were 3+lbs. I did catch one on a drop shot with an 1/8 oz weight with a Roboworm dipped in JJ's.