RAMBLING ANGLER OUTFITTERS©

When the water temperature dips below 50 degrees bass fishing becomes a real challenge. When the cold water temperatures of winter arrive bass head toward deep water. While in the fall you were able to find bass back in shallow coves and creeks where they were busy foraging preparing for long periods of winter inactivity, once the water temperatures drop they migrate away from these areas into the main body of the lake where they are able to find areas with deeper water. Often they will be found along sharp drops where they can move in and out of the deeper water into a more shallow area to feed. A depth finder will be an invaluable tool during this time of year.

It is important to remember that because a bass is cold blooded, a decrease in temperature also brings a decrease in the fish's activity level. This decrease in activity is a result of a decrease in the fish's metabolism. Put simply, because a bass does not digest his food as quickly in winter he does not need to feed as often. Food that is digested within a few hours in the summer may take up to a couple of days to digest in winter, depending upon the water temperature. Unlike the spring pre-spawn period when the bass have a seemingly endless appetite, during the winter months they will feed only a few hours during the day. This will generally be during the warmer periods of a day - often in mid afternoon.

When searching for fish it will be very helpful to look for schools of bait fish. When you locate a school of baitfish located along an elevation change described above you will have located a prime opportunity to be successful in your search winter bass. By fishing along a drop at the depths where the baitfish are located you will swing the odds of catching bass in your favor.

It is important to remember that in addition to being less active, what activity a bass does have during the winter will be much more sluggish than at other times of the year. For this reason the retrieval of bait should be done at a much slower speed than in spring or summer when the fish will respond much more quickly. During this colder time of year a jig, Jig-n-pig or worm type bait that you can drop down and let drift in front of a bass may be more effective than any type of lure that requires any degree of movement to be effective. You should also keep in mind that strikes will be less forceful during this period of reduced activity and you will need a lighter touch to pick up hits before the bass has a chance to spit out your bait. You might even consider using a lighter rod than you would during other times of the year in order to increase your sensitivity.

To sum up winter bass fishing... Slow down your warm weather techniques, fish close to around near drop offs, slow down some more, look for schools of bait fish, and finally slow down even more.

Bass fishing techniques involve anticipating how the bass thinks in order to locate their habitat, knowing what will trigger a strike and help you catch a lunker bass. There are various techniques for catching bass, and some of them differ slightly for catching the biggest bass.

Bass are predatory fish, but they also conserve energy for suitable bait that gives the appearance of the "most bang for the buck", unless they are in a spawning pattern, protecting their nest. In this case, they can be much easier to anger and trigger a strike. The spawning season is often the easiest time to catch nesting bass for this reason. Male bass move into shallow water, with gravel bottoms and swish their bodies to make nests and wait for the female bass to move in a couple weeks later.

Bass fishing techniques for the pre-spawn differ from post-spawn bass fishing. In the two week period that the males are waiting for the females, they become hungry, and will tend to go after lures or baits that simulate the natural bait fish of the waters they are in. Chances are that if you use natural looking bait fish lures, in the shallows, you may snag a large bass, although the females of the species are larger than the males in general.

Bass fishing techniques during the two weeks of spawning in the spring tend to be a combination of hunger strikes and aggressive protection strikes, where they may hit oddball looking lures better than natural bait fish lures. The reason for this is that the smaller baitfish are more plentiful and also moving into the shallows, so sometimes, they get full or tired of the same thing.

Bass fishing techniques post spawn and the rest of the year vary from the spawn period. Bass like brush piles, downed tree limbs, the edges of drop-offs and hiding under boat docks or other types of cover. The reason for this is that they can stealthily attack bait food swimming by.

Bass can swim up to 30 miles per hour, which is why many fisherman love trolling lures for bass. A "no effort" and relaxing way to catch bass is to troll a mid-depth lure behind a slow moving boat, out about 100 feet or less. You are sure to trigger a strike many times.

Other bass fishing techniques involve casting and retrieving bass lures, flipping bait fish into banks and brush piles or using top-water rattling baits, action baits and spinner baits, which are more likely to trigger hunger and aggravation strikes. Bass are pretty smart, but the biggest bass seldom make the same mistakes that the smaller bass do.

Big bass tend to stay by themselves, versus swimming in schools like the smaller bass. Bass fishing techniques for catching the bigger bass mean NOT fishing where you are catching a lot of small ones. There is less competition for bait fish, and they tend to push the smaller bass out of their territory, which is normally less than several hundred square yards. They still like the same type of habitat, but go for bigger lures and bait presentations. Think like the fish do and you will be successful catching some nice bass this season!