If you're lucky enough to still be out fishing this month, the fishing can be great if you can withstand some cold weather. Not every area of the country is blessed with open water, but if you can still make it to the lake and go bass fishing, remember these things to find the best success while you kick off the new year. It's a time of year that requires a different approach and sometimes slower fishing, but the bite can be great when you put the puzzle pieces together.
Explore the Depths
While not every bass will head to the deepest water in the lake in January, many will spend their time in much deeper water than in other seasons. It offers a chance to get offshore, away from the bank, and fish unique baits to catch bass. Lures like spoons, tail spinners, and blade baits are great options because they are heavy, fall quickly to deep depths, and can be fished vertically, which can be a great way to target bass in January.
Besides just heading to deep water, bass anglers can find success this time of year by locating key wintering areas for bass. Many of these areas will be deeper water close to some shallow water so bass can search for food, such as deep flats, points extending far into the main lake, bluff walls, and islands and shoals that rise from deeper water.
What one considers "deep" varies considerably based on region and the type of lake, but in general, depths over 20 feet deep would be considered deep by just about everyone. Starting in this range and then extending to 30-, 40-, or even 50 feet or more of water is all fair game for wintertime bass, especially if you can find these areas with baitfish present.
Prime Time for an A-Rig
When the Umbrella Rig or Alabama Rig first hit the scene in 2011, it was like magic, and the bass acted like they had never seen anything like it, and they worked incredibly well. So well, professional bass tournaments banned them because catching a bass with them seemed easy. Now that they've been out for so long and many anglers have used them, bass have become conditioned to them swimming through the water, and they don't always seem as easy to fool a bass. But they still work in certain situations, and January is the prime time to use them.
When you add small swimbaits like the 2.8-inch Keitech Swing Impact FAT, these contraptions look like a school of baitfish swimming along. These rigs are ideal for winter bass that are suspended and in open water, all likely situations bass anglers face in January. Some of the best places to throw them are along bluff walls, bridge pilings, and ditches and drains near the main river channel of a lake.
Get Your Jerkbaits Tied On
Like the A-Rig, the jerkbait is prime for cold-weather bass fishing because they imitate a dying shad and can be fished with long pauses that are sometimes needed to trigger a bass. Fishing a jerkbait with a typical 'twitch, twitch, pause' retrieve is a great way to catch fish in the cold, and you can experiment with different lengths of pauses to see what works best that day. Some days, the bass will want the bait moving more quickly; others, a long pause, sometimes five seconds or more, will be what it takes.
Jerkbaits are excellent for fishing open water above points, rocks, and other submerged cover and structure like brushpiles. Forward-facing sonar has helped to find these objects and watch bass react to baits, but it's not required, and you can find them with standard sonar and still succeed. Many great jerkbaits are on the market, including deeper diving versions that work great when bass are slightly deeper, such as the Shimano Zumverno 115SP MR and Berkley Stunna 112+1 and +2.
The Last Grass
Aquatic vegetation is usually associated with warmer months, especially during the summer when it grows wild and free in many lakes and rivers. During the winter months, there may still be a little bit of it hanging around, and since it's much more limited, it becomes a magnet for panfish and bass. Finding the last bit of grass in a fishery will increase your odds of catching bass this time of year.
Finding it can be tricky, but you can do it by using your electronics and scanning for areas with some grass leftovers. Another key is finding areas less impacted by waves and currents, as some protected pockets will allow the grass to stay longer than in other areas. Some other likely regions are those that get more sun, such as bays and pockets that get longer sunshine in the afternoon, as this will allow vegetation to grow later into the season than in other spots.
Many baits will work when you find the grass, including fishing jigs and drop-shot rigs along the grass edges. Another tried-and-true method is fishing a lipless crankbait in the grass, letting it snag briefly into the grass, and then ripping it free. This will remove some grass and cause a reaction bite from even the most lethargic bass. Many lipless baits will work, but thinner options like the Berkley Jack are great because they have plenty of vibration when you lift the bait and let it fall back down.
Don't wait until spring to catch your first bass of the new year. Fishing in January will undoubtedly be colder than some months, but the fishing can be great with the right approach and lures. The bass will still bite if you can find where they are living and use the right bait to get their attention.
