Bass Fishing in Winter
by Charles Stuart

Fishing for bass during the late fall and winter months can be a daunting task.

During the regular season, you have identifiable structure to fish, vegetation is in bloom and the sun offers you shaded areas, which will produce fish during the heat of the day. Winter however does not give you any of those visible signs. So what do you do? Well once again, you must turn to your understanding of the bass and its lifestyle during these "lean months". When I use the word lean, I am referring to the food chain which can be drastically reduced by the elements. Exceptionally cold weather can kill smaller fish and aquatic life leaving the bass only a limited diet for 3 or 4 months. You will often hear bass fishermen talking about the "big feed" prior to winter, when bass will eat anything and everything to carry them through till Spring.

Bait selection at this time is critical. A bass when in very cold water, will move only a minimal distance for food, so the bait of choice has to be something that is equal or

 greater than the energy expended. Compare your own lifestyle during the winter months, you store up food and fuel for the winter, to avoid unnecessary trips to the store, and you really hate clearing the driveway and brushing the snow off your vehicle if its not absolutely necessary. Correct? Well it's the same for a bass. Why should the fish dash around for small items of food, when it will not compensate for the energy required to chase it down and catch it? 

The use of large, slow moving baits is the key. Don't be afraid to throw a 10" or 12" plastics (like the new Uncle Josh "Incredible Creature" and "Incredible Lizard" range of lures, where you once threw a 4" offering. Slowly retrieve the larger baits, inching them slowly back to shore. Large jigs tipped with 3 or 4 inch Uncle Josh pork trailers maneuvered in a similar fashion to the worm will produce fish, you just have to be patient. During summer, that smaller bait should be in and out of the water in 30 seconds, however with winters climactic changes, you must now leave the larger bait in the water for as long as 3 minutes! A good tip here is to keep your baits warm. I place a few imitations into a plastic bag and keep them in my pocket, this keeps the bait flexible and it will work well in frigid water temperatures. Remember that it's small attention to detail like that, which will separate you from the rest of the fishermen and you will catch more fish.

The key to winter bass fishing is patience. That's not an easy thing for my fellow New Yorkers! But you should give it a try.

Bring some hot coffee and plenty of food for your energy. Remember to dress in layers. Hypothermia is very nasty, and is a condition which from first hand experience, I do not recommend!