Need advice for this time of year.

[BASS fisherman]

Ya LB, let me know how you do.

A buddy in my bass club is going to lend me his smartcast fish finder, so maybe I will actually get a few bass hiding in the depths.  He named a couple ponds that have been productive within the past couple weeks, and either tomorrow morning or wednesday morning we are going to meet up and do a little fishing before work.  Never give up!, as one famous angler says.  

[FIN-S-R]

My go to for lock jaw cold weather bass is a 4 in. yum dinger rigged weedless on a 1/4 oz. rollin runner. Fish deep and slow and all that, but the key is to cover an area effectively, then move on. My last outing was 50 deg h2o and a very slow bite. I tried about 15 (literally 15) different techniques to effectively cover the entire water column from 12" to 40'. Caught 1 off an LVR in 9 ft, 1 on speed trap in 2 ft, 3 came off speed trap in 5-7 ft, and got 2 more in 18-22 ft on the aforementioned rollin runner rig. All were in areas with close shallow deep relationships, and in close proximity to bait. So the lure you throw isnt as important as the way you thoroughly cover water. There are and will always be fish in any spot with a good shallow deep relationship that has forage present. You just have to get your lure to swing close enough either fast or slow enough to merit a strike. And once you thoroughly cover an area, move on. Once you find em, then stay. I had a horrible early winter last year cause I stayed with my "confidence baits", it wasnt till I branched out and started fishing lures that covered certain sections of water that I became successful. Let the area and conditions dictate your technique choice, not the emotional attachment you have to a certain lure. Oh, and my partner blanked throwing the same two unproductive confidence baits all day long in the same spots i caught fish!! Dont get discouraged, document and learn...itll get better

[roadwarrior]

Here are two suggestions that will improve your fishing (catching) by at least 100 percent:

1.  Fish on a river. River bass are always more active than lake bass during the winter months.

2.  If you want to catch fish, live bait is the answer.

[Drumr]

I agree with Live Bait. I've been using Tuffy Minnows hooked through the eyes. Been averaging 6 bass each time I've fished this month. Try with and without a floater. Good luck.

[roadwarrior]

Drumr,

Welcome aboard!

[BASS fisherman]

Thanks RW.  I have been advised by another expert angler to get some live bait.  I almost hate to do it though.  I went fishing this morning as well, and didn't get any bites.  I had to leave and go to work, but just as I was walking back to get my gear and head up to the car, I spooked a couple bass that had moved up into the shallows to warm up.  This weekend I will be getting some live bait and hopefully getting atleast one bass.  

Drumr, Welcome to the forum!  

[Lard_Bass]

BF,

I went out today and didn't get a bite the whole day.  I did bump into a guy that caught a couple of dinks on some live minnows.  So RW's advice is right on.  However, when I fished a little down from the guy with live bait, his luck ran out over the couple of hours that I was within viewing distance.  

Maybe it's time to learn how to fish for steelhead?