Moving to the Winter Bite
As we see the water temperatures start to drop below 60's we will see movement of the bass toward their winter locations. As in any lake the bass will locate near the deepest parts of the lake. That doesn't mean that the bass will travel miles to find deep water in fact quite the opposite. Bass are not a species that will migrate several miles to find deep water; in fact they most of the time won't leave the longer wider creeks, they will just find the locations of deeper water within the creek they exist in.
One of the reasons certain areas of the lake become easier to find big fish as we approach winter over others is exactly this fact. The long elongated creeks like the upper river "Town Creek," the bass will not migrate far enough to leave the creek area, so they find deep water within the creek and this might be just 10 feet of water. To these fish channel areas, may just be deep banks or original creek paths along the edges of the creek that form points or old farm ponds where you have a depth change. As we get into winter food is not the driving factor of where bass locate themselves, as a bass consumes far less food in the cold water than they do when the water temperature are warmer.
One thing I find especially in early winter or late fall is that there are areas of the lake that can be significantly colder than other areas. Sometimes it's just how the north wind hits a certain area of the water. When this occurs use your temperature gage to locate some warmer water it could be the key to finding early winter bass. Sometimes it is just on the other side of an island or around the nearest point, the bass will move to the warmer water especially if there still in the feeding process as we get into winter.
Moving to the winter locations and bite is all about transition spots, find them and you'll have much better fishing days as we move into the winter bite.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry