Dead Vegetation in the Winter
Winter fishing can often be all about location and on a lake with lots of weeds like Guntersville finding the right kind of weed and the correct time of day or conditions is imperative. There are a few distinct things that you can count on to occur during the winter when it comes to the often hidden yet prevalent vegetation. The key is there is a big difference between dead vegetation and green grassy type as the dead grass uses oxygen and the green grass produces oxygen during certain parts of the day.
The first thing is that low light days or early morning time frame affects the vegetation as dead weeds consumes oxygen; hence giving off very little oxygen to the fish that might want to hide around it during the early morning. Dead vegetation uses most of the oxygen around it trying to survive, this pushes the bass off the vegetation area during the low light time of day, or during days of rain or heavy overcast cloudy type days and can last all day long. The key is that bass like vegetation but during the low light hours of the day they will be off the vegetation around the outside areas where there is more oxygen. Concentrating your fishing just off the edges or the drops around where it’s a little deeper can be the key to finding fish. Look for areas of grass that seem to come to a drop or have an end, this change where the grass ends will be where the bass concentrate until the sun comes out.
As the day moves on and the sun comes out the plants start giving off oxygen again as the sun aids the plant in using the light to help them grow and produces oxygen. This once again pushes the fish back into the grassy areas making grass patches much more productive during the sunny afternoon. We are experiencing this right now on Guntersville as the 11 am time frame to about 3 pm is producing fish in the grass and in the low light time we are having to find them along the edges. Oxygen is key to winter fishing just like it is in the heat of the summer it just reverses some of your thought process.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
www.facebook.com/FishGuntersville
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Capt. Mike Gerry