Welp water temps have dropped to 40ish...whats your favorite lmb lure/presentation

[Jar11591]

Spinnerbait

[bishoptf]

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

Spinnerbait

I did throw a spinnerbait a little bit, it was windy and water was stained a little. I threw what I had tied on which was a tandem willow leaf, might should have gone with a single large colorado blade.

[Swamp Girl]

 

@AlabamaSpothunter: Alex, I've never used sonar. In the image above, I assume that the yellow puffs are bait balls. I further assume that the purple rain beneath the bait balls is nothing, just static from the bait balls interfering with the sonar. Are the yellow arcs the bass beneath the bait balls?

 

Lastly, I assume that "GARMIN" in the upper right means that the sonar is thinking that the big fish beneath the bait balls are, at a minimum, gar. 

 

Okay, ignore my last assumption. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

@Swamp Girl  Spot on Katie, and in regard to the purple more faint returns, I'm not totally sure.   My guess is that's its straggler Shad, or bait that isn't as compressed into the ball, but it just as likely could be some clutter from the returns. 

[geo g]

In South Florida if iwater temps are in the 40’s  stay home.  You will find millions of dead fish everywhere including bass, exotics, redfish, snook, tarpon, even manatees!  The only happy campers are the gators, birds, and gars!   
This happened about ten years ago in south Florida and the Keys!

[Mr. Aquarium]

If it’s 45 I love jerkbaits blades big swimbaits hair jigs shallow or deep. If it’s ultra cold I  like blades and hair jigs! I’m not a fan of fishing 40 ish ultra cold water in shallow ponds. I’d rather fish deeper clear water and structures. I don’t like 40 degree water and shallow weedy ponds! 

[bishoptf]

Went out today, water temp varied from low 38 to 40 in some sections. I can find the bait and what I think are bass but this is trip 4 without a bite so I need do something different. Tried lipless crankbait, blade bait, jerkbait, shad rap, flat side crankbait.

 

Weather was overcast and windy.

 

 

[Rockhopper]

Fished for a bit yesterday.  Had no luck on a jerkbait.  Switched to dragging a football jig on the bottom painfully slow.  Nailed one dink.

[bishoptf]

4 minutes ago, Rockhopper said:

Fished for a bit yesterday.  Had no luck on a jerkbait.  Switched to dragging a football jig on the bottom painfully slow.  Nailed one dink.

Yeah ive thought about going with a jig or ned rig, what im doing now is not working. I have some graph screenshots but have to resize them before attaching them.

[aiden garrett]

It's about 40ish where I am to. I caught a small one on a spinnerbait the other day but other than that I'm looking for baits to use, war eagle btw 

[bishoptf]

13 minutes ago, aiden garrett said:

It's about 40ish where I am to. I caught a small one on a spinnerbait the other day but other than that I'm looking for baits to use, war eagle btw 

War Eagle!

 

You and me both, ive tried lots of moving baits and going to fo this weekend and thinking of trying a ned rig. I'd like to figure out what to throw for the bigger fish but right now just trying to catch a few fish, 4 trips with nada for me...its warmed up and will see what else I can throw and figure out what they want.

[aiden garrett]

Tight lines. I'm going to use a ned rig today.

[Bluebasser86]

33 minutes ago, aiden garrett said:

Tight lines. I'm going to use a ned rig today.

Our water temps were 41-42 last Sunday and I caught over 40 in a few hours on a Ned rig.

[bishoptf]

On 12/27/2024 at 9:25 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Our water temps were 41-42 last Sunday and I caught over 40 in a few hours on a Ned rig.

Man I wish I could have an outing like that, threw a ned rig today along with a bunch of other stuff, one dink and one white bass. Its a grind right now for me, must be a location thing, just not sure where the bass are right now.

[Bluebasser86]

19 hours ago, bishoptf said:

Man I wish I could have an outing like that, threw a ned rig today along with a bunch of other stuff, one dink and one white bass. Its a grind right now for me, must be a location thing, just not sure where the bass are right now.

I went again yesterday and had another 30+ fish day. Water temps had actually gone up a little here to 43-45. Most of them were less than 5’ deep. The best winter lakes for me have pretty clear water and grass.