Hard Targets for Winter Fishing
I can go back to my childhood and recall a statement I have learned to live bye as a professional fisherman, that being in the mid of winter "the bass move to hard targets" like rock, bridges or wood in the coldest part of winter. Those days where you are out on the water and it seems like you just can't get a bite and it's the middle of February head to the hard targets and you will find the fish! I promise you it will work, it has for me for years and I still make it work today!
In fact the reason I am writing this is today 2/2/12 I headed immediately to the hard cover and we caught fish all day long on jigs and crank baits. The water was high and muddy but the bass were hanging on the rock and exploited this old timers beliefs and it worked. My partner when we got in the boat said the bass just weren't biting well we headed to the hard cover and proved him wrong.
The best piece of advice I can tell you as you are dissecting the water for bites is don't be myopic use several baits and fish several depths around the hard cover until you find what they want! Today it was a jig tomorrow it might be crank baits or shaky heads or even a big worm. Work close to the cover then back off of it until a depth and pattern appears and you start catching fish! The thing you can bet on is the bass are there and your job is to get them to bite and find something they will react too.
Today for me the hard target was rock but don't overlook wood, like stumps that are always a good hard target, but boat houses are also a strong contender in the winter especially if the boat house has 8 to 15 ft. of water around it. Hard targets come in a lot of forms explore them all and eventually you will score and have some great winter fun!
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry