You want the crankbait to hit the bottom as quick as possible on the retrieve and a crankbait that runs ten feet will hit the bottom soon after the first turns of the reel handle in four feet of water. When the water is cold you dont want to present a challenge to the bass.
Finding Bass in Cold Water Months.
Cold water bass fishing tips. In fact Tennessee Bassmaster Elite pro Brandon Colter believes that big smallmouth come alive at 55. Heres how to catch bass in cold water. Switch to lighter line and try a small jig at the front of a 6-inch rubber worm.
Try to keep in contact with the bottom and give it slow little hops. In cold water fish tend to slow down and feed only at opportune times that wont require to much energy to consume. In other words burning baits across the top of the water wont cut it but these top 3 cold water fishing techniques will help you get more.
Here are 5 of the top cold water lures to help you increase your chances at a big one while youre freezing your tail off. Cold Water Bass Fishing. The jerkbait is a staple of cold water fishing for smallmouth and largemouth anglers alike.
Baitfish will suspend in the water column during cold weather which makes a jerkbait a perfect choice for mimicking the forage bass are keying in on. A lot of anglers believe they stop feeding in cold water. Nothing could be further from the truth he said.
According to Harrison anglers can find winter bass by finding the baitfish. He points out that baitfish move out over deeper water as it cools. He believes the bass follow the baitfish out and can usually be found in the same places.
Bass fishing in the cold water months can be both physically and mentally draining. Pro bass angler Randall Tharp gives a few essential tips for those die-ha. If it is cloudy it needs to stay cloudy for a couple of days or if its sunny it needs to stay sunny.
A cold front or a severe winter storm usually shuts down the fishing until the weather stabilizes again. Winter fishing also shuts down in cold murky water so you need to search for the clearest sections of a lake. So how cold is too cold for bass fishing.
Water below 40F 44C can be too cold for bass fishing. In extremely low temperatures its more challenging to catch bass because their metabolism decreases and they dont feed as often. Its not impossible though you can still catch them with a variety of techniques.
Even if bass become a little inactive during cold weather they can still feed. Fishing Cold Clear Water In The Winter During early and late winter a crankbait pattern takes plenty of bass bumping the lure along the bottom while keeping your boat parallel to a creek channel. A great crankbait for this pattern is a Storm Lures Wiggle Wart in crawfish colors.
Especially for finicky bass in cold water. After all bass fishermen take pride in rigging their Texas-rigged plastic worms by threading the hook point through the head then out the side of the body rotating it 180 degrees and then inserting the point back into the body to make the rigged worm perfectly straight. A properly rigged Texas rig is not only weedless but lacks any inherent action other than what.
When the surface freezes the upper layers are coldest and warmest water 40F is on the bottom due to 40F water being water at its most dense and bc the ground retains heat. However this is may not be the whole story as the water directly beneath the ice for much of our winters is 38F. Cold water fishing can be tough so some key changes in the way you fish are necessary.
Proper bait selection retrieve and location all change when the wat. As anglers we each have a handful of cold water bass fishing baits to which we turn when the fishing gets really tough. Maybe a half-dozen lures that we know we can count on to draw a strike.
Whether its a tough summer bite and you grab for a drop shot or a post-frontal pre-spawn deal and you commit to the punching rod knowing thats the only bait you have any confidence in getting bit. Finding Bass in Cold Water Months. This tends to happen more in late winter through early summer than other times of the yearWhenever the precipitation is warmer than the water temperature look for shallow muddy areas that are several degrees warmer than the rest of the body of water.
Many anglers believe bass stay deep in cold water. Thats usually true in clear water but if the water dirties the fish move shallower. Ive caught bass from 3 feet of water when the surface temperature was 50 degrees.
Its the absolute worst fishing condition. When that happens look for pockets of clear water and work them slowly. There are three lures that work best for me in cold water.
While the definition of cold weather fishing might be a bit different depending on where you live there are some general tips that can help you learn how to fish in cold weather and be successful at it. Quite often cold weather fishing doesnt really get going until late morning or early afternoon. This is a switch from freshwater fishing during the prime early morning and evening hours.
Bass fishing in the winter. Not everyone puts away their tackle and heads out to the woods in the winter. Some anglers just switch tactics like fishing a.
You will have a lot of success in cold water in the winter using a chatter bait spinnerbait and other types of tight vibrating lures. These lures are pretty easy to fish and help you cover some ground to locate fish in the winter to catch. Use blade baits with tight vibrations to.
Since it is cold the bass do not want to exert much energy to capture a meal. So you fish slow and cast to all cover and structure you can find. Jerkbaits are good if the water is clear and the bass can see the jerkbaits.
Fish the jerkbaits slow. A bulky plastic or jig may work. Dont forget your hair jigs.
Personally I think metal baits like spoons and blades are the best choices for winter bass fishing. The hard metal holds up well in the cold water and they help offer the appearance of a dying baitfish which is important during the winter. When the water is cold you dont want to present a challenge to the bass.
Using a deep running crankbait in shallow water may seem a little backwards but it is a great way to catch cold water bass in the winter and early spring. You want the crankbait to hit the bottom as quick as possible on the retrieve and a crankbait that runs ten feet will hit the bottom soon after the first turns of the reel handle in four feet of water. A grub is such a simple and old faithful lure that many anglers totally forget about them.
Fact is this bait really shines when the water is ultra cold. Ive caught bass in water below 40 degrees on a grub and 14 ounce jighead. When bass suspend in vertical cover a grub can be a dynamite lure to catch those otherwise stationary bass.