Winter lure size?

[Big Fish Rice]

I tend to throw the same baits as I do in the warm weather, but I work them a lot slower.

That's the key right there. Big or small, just remember that their metabolism dictates liveliness, so the slower the better during cold temperatures.

[Nick]

Lots of variables here to decide what size baits to throw for me. Often winter water is clearer in my parts since most of the algae has disappeared turning the waters much clearer. When fishing streams with thrice the visibility as they have in summer, we tend to do better on much smaller lures unless we get a good rain to dirty up the streams. I'll downsize to a jig that looks more like a crappie bait.

In larger lakes such as Lake of the Ozarks which cools much more slowly, the preferred prey for really big bass is often large gizzard shad from 6-10 inches long. Those shad tend to come shallow and dote around and feed around the larger chunk rocks esp. with a little wind present.  Here a large spinnerbait rolled around the large chunk rock can really produce often in water temps down to 44 degrees. Below that temp the bigger bass tend to follow the shad away from the banks so the jerkbait bite really heats up. With dirtier water, bites do come close to the banks, but with clearer waters often the angler is better paralleling the banks over 10-20 feet of water. Size of the jerkbaits is dictated more by angler choice and casting performance so most guys go with a decent sized 1/2 oz. model for longer casts. In summary, each fishery can fish differently so the angler must adapt accordingly.

[Nick]

Lots of variables here to decide what size baits to throw for me. Often winter water is clearer in my parts since most of the algae has disappeared turning the waters much clearer. When fishing streams with thrice the visibility as they have in summer, we tend to do better on much smaller lures unless we get a good rain to dirty up the streams. I'll downsize to a jig that looks more like a crappie bait.

In larger lakes such as Lake of the Ozarks which cools much more slowly, the preferred prey for really big bass is often large gizzard shad from 6-10 inches long. Those shad tend to come shallow and dote around and feed around the larger chunk rocks esp. with a little wind present.  Here a large spinnerbait rolled around the large chunk rock can really produce often in water temps down to 44 degrees. Below that temp the bigger bass tend to follow the shad away from the banks so the jerkbait bite really heats up. With dirtier water, bites do come close to the banks, but with clearer waters often the angler is better paralleling the banks over 10-20 feet of water. Size of the jerkbaits is dictated more by angler choice and casting performance so most guys go with a decent sized 1/2 oz. model for longer casts. In summary, each fishery can fish differently so the angler must adapt accordingly.

[Nick]

Lots of variables here to decide what size baits to throw for me. Often winter water is clearer in my parts since most of the algae has disappeared turning the waters much clearer. When fishing streams with thrice the visibility as they have in summer, we tend to do better on much smaller lures unless we get a good rain to dirty up the streams. I'll downsize to a jig that looks more like a crappie bait.

In larger lakes such as Lake of the Ozarks which cools much more slowly, the preferred prey for really big bass is often large gizzard shad from 6-10 inches long. Those shad tend to come shallow and dote around and feed around the larger chunk rocks esp. with a little wind present.  Here a large spinnerbait rolled around the large chunk rock can really produce often in water temps down to 44 degrees. Below that temp the bigger bass tend to follow the shad away from the banks so the jerkbait bite really heats up. With dirtier water, bites do come close to the banks, but with clearer waters often the angler is better paralleling the banks over 10-20 feet of water. Size of the jerkbaits is dictated more by angler choice and casting performance so most guys go with a decent sized 1/2 oz. model for longer casts. In summary, each fishery can fish differently so the angler must adapt accordingly.

[gobig]

I was fishing with my neighbor saturday over 40 feet of water near an inlet of the lake - there were bass that had blown up on some shad way out there a few times - couldnt get them to take traditional offerings, got a strike on a small spook only when there was a blow up right closeby and got that bait right near and working to the blow up...got a strike, missed....could not for 20 minutes thereafter call up another bite....

Put on the lunker punker and 3-4 casts later working it very erratic - pulled up a 3.2 lb spot - he had 2/3 bait in his mouth!  10 min later, another GOOD spot hit right at the boat - missed him though as I had turned my head to look at the depth finder at the WRONG TIME.

Strikes on a big top water in Dec? You must live in California.

[gobig]

I was fishing with my neighbor saturday over 40 feet of water near an inlet of the lake - there were bass that had blown up on some shad way out there a few times - couldnt get them to take traditional offerings, got a strike on a small spook only when there was a blow up right closeby and got that bait right near and working to the blow up...got a strike, missed....could not for 20 minutes thereafter call up another bite....

Put on the lunker punker and 3-4 casts later working it very erratic - pulled up a 3.2 lb spot - he had 2/3 bait in his mouth!  10 min later, another GOOD spot hit right at the boat - missed him though as I had turned my head to look at the depth finder at the WRONG TIME.

Strikes on a big top water in Dec? You must live in California.

[gobig]

I was fishing with my neighbor saturday over 40 feet of water near an inlet of the lake - there were bass that had blown up on some shad way out there a few times - couldnt get them to take traditional offerings, got a strike on a small spook only when there was a blow up right closeby and got that bait right near and working to the blow up...got a strike, missed....could not for 20 minutes thereafter call up another bite....

Put on the lunker punker and 3-4 casts later working it very erratic - pulled up a 3.2 lb spot - he had 2/3 bait in his mouth!  10 min later, another GOOD spot hit right at the boat - missed him though as I had turned my head to look at the depth finder at the WRONG TIME.

Strikes on a big top water in Dec? You must live in California.

[WRB]

Lure size, how do you judge a lure size without knowing what the bass are feeding on?

Generally speaking any lure less than 5" is considered average size and most bass lures outside of soft plastic worms and swimbaits fall into that category.

We consider a 6" swimbait as a small lure, 8" average and 12" or over big swimbaits.

If the bass are feeding on small bait fish, than go small, large bait fish go big, average size go with your standard you use during any other season.

3" to 4" crawdads make up 90% of bass diet when they are eating crawdads. 3" to 5" bait fish make up a large % of bass prey, unless the big bass are targeting 6" to 12" large size bait.

Keep in mind a bass can't judge size until it gets very close or tries to eat the lure.

WRB

[WRB]

Lure size, how do you judge a lure size without knowing what the bass are feeding on?

Generally speaking any lure less than 5" is considered average size and most bass lures outside of soft plastic worms and swimbaits fall into that category.

We consider a 6" swimbait as a small lure, 8" average and 12" or over big swimbaits.

If the bass are feeding on small bait fish, than go small, large bait fish go big, average size go with your standard you use during any other season.

3" to 4" crawdads make up 90% of bass diet when they are eating crawdads. 3" to 5" bait fish make up a large % of bass prey, unless the big bass are targeting 6" to 12" large size bait.

Keep in mind a bass can't judge size until it gets very close or tries to eat the lure.

WRB

[WRB]

Lure size, how do you judge a lure size without knowing what the bass are feeding on?

Generally speaking any lure less than 5" is considered average size and most bass lures outside of soft plastic worms and swimbaits fall into that category.

We consider a 6" swimbait as a small lure, 8" average and 12" or over big swimbaits.

If the bass are feeding on small bait fish, than go small, large bait fish go big, average size go with your standard you use during any other season.

3" to 4" crawdads make up 90% of bass diet when they are eating crawdads. 3" to 5" bait fish make up a large % of bass prey, unless the big bass are targeting 6" to 12" large size bait.

Keep in mind a bass can't judge size until it gets very close or tries to eat the lure.

WRB