02-12-2004, 09:02 PM
In warmer parts of the West, the bass are in full pre-spawn mode by February. Secondary points are a good place to start looking for them, and points with broken rock and wood are best. Start looking about a third of the way back into the coves, or even farther in, and keep an eye out for brush and stumps.
Also watch for broken wood piled up on the bottom. This is one of my little secrets, and these piles of sunken wood are fish magnets. The piles actually gather when runoff washes stuff into the lake. The chunks of wood tend to crowd up in the backs of coves, where they eventually get waterlogged and sink.
Sometimes, you’ll find places where the woodpiles are four to five feet high. There will always be good bass moving in on them because so many crawdads live in the pockets between all the debris. Really, these woodpiles are hard to beat in the springtime and during prespawn, when bass are really focused on craws. You can also find good prespawn areas in the river ends. Main-lake stuff can be good, too, especially in the bigger coves, or on lakes where they stock trout. The trout stay in the main lake all winter and a population of bass will almost always be nearby.
Jigs In The Cold
Even in lakes where they stock trout, though, I still prefer throwing jigs. It’s my belief that any fish that will eat a swimbait will eat a jig, and jigs are one of my favorite baits this time of year. I prefer a jig’n pig: a ½- or 3/8-ounce Weapon TD Jig with a No. 11 Uncle Josh pork trailer. I also throw Yamamoto jigs in the same weights. The best color is whatever matches the crawdads where you are fishing. I usually try to find a craw or two in the rocks so I know what colors to use, but generally the best bets are brown, blue or green. It’s always a good rule to make your jig as natural as possible.
In the early part of the year, when it’s still actually “winter,” I fish the jigs 30 to 50 feet deep on main-lake rockpiles and ledges. Big flats with deep drop-offs are great, and if the lake has trout, the bass will hang out at the base of a ridge, or on the deep side of a drop-off, and watch for trout to swim over.
But anytime the water is cold, it’s best to just walk the jig across the bottom real lightly. In water below 55 or 54 degrees, the crawdads move very slowly—you can actually catch them with your hands. So to imitate these cold-water craws, you’ve got to move your jig as slowly as possible. I hardly ever lift the jig off bottom, except to give it a little hop now and then.
That way, if there is a fish in the area, he has a better chance to see it.
When I’m fishing a jig deep, I use Sunline fluorocarbon, usually 14-pound, but I’ll go as light as 8-pound if the bite is tough and I’m fishing extra deep. You can really feel a jig in deep water with 8-pound fluorocarbon.
Deadly Dust Clouds
Once the water starts warming up, you can use bigger jigs and start banging them into things.
Crawdads get more active in warmer water—even 10 degrees makes a huge difference. They dig holes in the bottom, so if your jig kicks up little clouds of dirt every now and then, it looks real. Broken-rock banks are good during this warmer time, and I look for anything that a crawdad can live in. On some of those woodpiles I mentioned earlier, a jig can snag pretty bad. If that’s a problem, I’ll switch to a Texas-rigged 7-inch Aaron’s Magic Roboworm, or a 5- or 6-inch Zipper Shaker. I use a 3/16-ounce Kanji X-Metal weight with a small bead and drag the worm over the wood—just shaking it so the weight stays on the bottom and the worm shakes.
This makes it throw up those little clouds of mud the bass are so keyed in on.
By February, almost all my fish come from 15 feet or less, and I do a lot of pitching. Food doesn’t just fall out of the sky, so I pitch right to the bank and shake it back. You don’t really have to target structure—you’re just looking for cruising bass.
The bigger the fish, the spookier it will be, so a stealthy approach really helps.
Try not to stomp around in the boat, don’t be slamming lockers and boxes, and I stay at least 20 feet away from the bank. Remember, a guy looking for a trophy buck doesn’t sit out in the open and make noise.
When you do catch that big bass, odds are it’s full of eggs this time of year. Treat it gently, support the belly while you snap a few photos, then release her so she can spawn.
If you must have a wall-hanger, measure and photograph the fish, then get a fiberglass replica made. Let ’em go, let ’em grow.
[signature]
Also watch for broken wood piled up on the bottom. This is one of my little secrets, and these piles of sunken wood are fish magnets. The piles actually gather when runoff washes stuff into the lake. The chunks of wood tend to crowd up in the backs of coves, where they eventually get waterlogged and sink.
Sometimes, you’ll find places where the woodpiles are four to five feet high. There will always be good bass moving in on them because so many crawdads live in the pockets between all the debris. Really, these woodpiles are hard to beat in the springtime and during prespawn, when bass are really focused on craws. You can also find good prespawn areas in the river ends. Main-lake stuff can be good, too, especially in the bigger coves, or on lakes where they stock trout. The trout stay in the main lake all winter and a population of bass will almost always be nearby.
Jigs In The Cold
Even in lakes where they stock trout, though, I still prefer throwing jigs. It’s my belief that any fish that will eat a swimbait will eat a jig, and jigs are one of my favorite baits this time of year. I prefer a jig’n pig: a ½- or 3/8-ounce Weapon TD Jig with a No. 11 Uncle Josh pork trailer. I also throw Yamamoto jigs in the same weights. The best color is whatever matches the crawdads where you are fishing. I usually try to find a craw or two in the rocks so I know what colors to use, but generally the best bets are brown, blue or green. It’s always a good rule to make your jig as natural as possible.
In the early part of the year, when it’s still actually “winter,” I fish the jigs 30 to 50 feet deep on main-lake rockpiles and ledges. Big flats with deep drop-offs are great, and if the lake has trout, the bass will hang out at the base of a ridge, or on the deep side of a drop-off, and watch for trout to swim over.
But anytime the water is cold, it’s best to just walk the jig across the bottom real lightly. In water below 55 or 54 degrees, the crawdads move very slowly—you can actually catch them with your hands. So to imitate these cold-water craws, you’ve got to move your jig as slowly as possible. I hardly ever lift the jig off bottom, except to give it a little hop now and then.
That way, if there is a fish in the area, he has a better chance to see it.
When I’m fishing a jig deep, I use Sunline fluorocarbon, usually 14-pound, but I’ll go as light as 8-pound if the bite is tough and I’m fishing extra deep. You can really feel a jig in deep water with 8-pound fluorocarbon.
Deadly Dust Clouds
Once the water starts warming up, you can use bigger jigs and start banging them into things.
Crawdads get more active in warmer water—even 10 degrees makes a huge difference. They dig holes in the bottom, so if your jig kicks up little clouds of dirt every now and then, it looks real. Broken-rock banks are good during this warmer time, and I look for anything that a crawdad can live in. On some of those woodpiles I mentioned earlier, a jig can snag pretty bad. If that’s a problem, I’ll switch to a Texas-rigged 7-inch Aaron’s Magic Roboworm, or a 5- or 6-inch Zipper Shaker. I use a 3/16-ounce Kanji X-Metal weight with a small bead and drag the worm over the wood—just shaking it so the weight stays on the bottom and the worm shakes.
This makes it throw up those little clouds of mud the bass are so keyed in on.
By February, almost all my fish come from 15 feet or less, and I do a lot of pitching. Food doesn’t just fall out of the sky, so I pitch right to the bank and shake it back. You don’t really have to target structure—you’re just looking for cruising bass.
The bigger the fish, the spookier it will be, so a stealthy approach really helps.
Try not to stomp around in the boat, don’t be slamming lockers and boxes, and I stay at least 20 feet away from the bank. Remember, a guy looking for a trophy buck doesn’t sit out in the open and make noise.
When you do catch that big bass, odds are it’s full of eggs this time of year. Treat it gently, support the belly while you snap a few photos, then release her so she can spawn.
If you must have a wall-hanger, measure and photograph the fish, then get a fiberglass replica made. Let ’em go, let ’em grow.
[signature]