Winter is soon to be upon us and there are some keys that I believe to finding winter bass that really help. The thing about winter fishing that most people forget is that even though it's cold the deep water may have not cooled to the outside temperature, this alone keeps the fish feeding most of the winter. The surface temperature may show the water in the low 40's but down 15 feet or more the water may still be warm from the summer. Because of this there is generally some grass that is still green in the 10-foot or more of water. A big key to finding winter fish is to find this 10-foot grass; I have found especially in early winter that the first 5 to 6 feet of grass may be gone but the deeper water is still warm enough to grow the grass and hence hold the early winter bass.
Hence a big key to winter fishing is to use your depth finder looking for where the grass edges have not totally died off and I believe you will find active bass. Another way to find the grass is to look for the small grass eating ducks (Coot) they generally feed where the grass has not died and hence those areas are still holding bass.
As far as baits to use once you find the grass, I have found that there are several baits that get results this time of year, and all seem to have a different time frame when they seem to produce. I fish a Senko most of the winter around the shallow grass, and yo-yo a trap over the deeper edges. As the winter turns colder the most productive bait has been suspending jerk bait. All of these are productive and all of them catch winter fish, and the best part about it is winter is generally big fish time of year.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry