RAMBLING ANGLER OUTDOORS©

Cold Water Bassin' And The Overlooked Presentations

By Ken McBroom

This article appeared in the main section of MidWest Outdoors and is now on their website as a feature. Midwest Outdoorsis a great publication with lots of outdoor stories, tips and great information to help you with whatever outdoor adventures you choose to enjoy.

Many anglers hang up their rods when the water temperatures fall. The bite slows for sure, but bass can still be caught in cold water. There are times when the cold water bite can be just as dramatic as any other time of the year. But, you must be on the water to take advantage of these times. Many of the same presentations you use throughout the season will also work in cold water.

Once the water temperatures fall to 50 degrees and below, bass fishing seems to come to a grinding halt. It is true that bass slow down but they still must eat. There are definitely prime times that bass feed during cold water situations but not all bass feed at the same time, so you can catch bass between these prime feeding periods as long as you are there with the right presentation.
 
Cold water bass fishing is like all the other seasons; you must put in the time to learn that season just like you learned where to find pre-spawn or post-spawn bass or where to find mid-summer bass and how to catch them. Catching cold water bass can be a challenge but with information and time on the water, you too can enjoy bass fishing even when the water is cold. I want to introduce you to some of "the other ways" to catch cold water bass and stay away from the jigs and spoons and the other cold water techniques that you have probably read about or heard about. These presentations work and I would never eliminate them from my arsenal but there has been plenty written about those techniques and I want to share some other presentations that catch cold water bass.

CRANKBAITS
A great bait for cold water bassin' is the crankbait. In cold water, bass primarily target dying shad, which can be represented well with a crankbait. Crankbaits are so versatile and can be fished slow or fast, deep or shallow. You can pause a crankbait to allow the lethargic bass to strike. Many anglers argue that cold water bass are all deep and you have to slow roll any bait in order to be successful. I have found that slow rolling a crankbait does work but there are times when faster retrieves trigger more strikes during certain situations. You have to experiment and learn how and what triggers cold water bass. You hear so much about the jig and trailer combo. The jig is so effective on so many lakes because of the winter kill of shad leaving bass no option but to feed primarily on crawfish, hence the jig; however, with the abundance of shad on mid-west waters, I assure you the shad populations remain high throughout the cold water season and this is why the crankbait can be so effective.

TOP-WATER
You say, "WHAT?" That is exactly what I said to my boss for weeks leading up to a company bass tournament we had in January. He brought in his limit caught on a floating Rapala and I think there was one other bass caught and it was not mine. Fishing on top was unorthodox for that time of year, for us at least, but obviously it worked and made a believer out of me. The best presentation I have found, and the same one my boss used to smoke us all in that tournament long ago, is the floating Rapala. The trick to fishing top-water when the water is cold is to fish it slow. Just fish the same as in the spring or fall but slow way down with long pauses between subtle twitches. This method is especially effective in clear water where the bass can see the lure when fished over deep water. Dying shad sink when they die but shad with a little life left in them will swim erratically without direction and the Rapala fished on top mimics this perfectly.

SINKING WORM
Over the last couple seasons, I have been using a sinking worm presentation that really works well on cold water bass. This method was something I tried in the summer on main lake points to target suspended bass in the middle of the day. It worked and I thought that it might work on cold water bass as well, and it does. My weapon of choice is the Yum Dinger but Senkos and other sinking worms should work fine, as long as the sink rate is slow. You can rig the sinking worm several ways but I prefer the Texas rig, even in open water. The Texas rig seems to give the bait a more zig and zag, along with the erratic movements that make these baits so effective.

The Texas rig also gives you a little more control over your worm. By adjusting the worm a certain way on the hook you can get an up, or in this case, a down swimming presentation. Give your worm an erratic retrieve, no more than a couple of feet, before allowing the worm to slowly sink for several seconds before the next short retrieve, then pause. This method is a great way to search the water column and the erratic movement of the worm drives bass crazy. The pause is where many of the strikes will occur and I keep a slack line and watch for movement. Sometimes the strike is tough to detect but many times there is no problem seeing it, especially on this rig. Cold water bass fishing
can be tough at times but there are plenty of bass still willing to cooperate. I hope this information will get you out there and experimenting with these tips  and enjoy a longer season of bass fishing, as well as joining many other anglers in dispelling some of the myths surrounding cold water bassin'. 

Lakers On The Fly
by Ken Mcbroom

The name Lake Trout lends a slight misnomer to the actual species of this incredible fish that is actually not a trout at all, but a char. The Lake Trout resides in some of the most spectacular places on earth, and the trip that spurred this article is no exception.

The Newhalen River near Iliamna Alaska is where this trip took place, and the intention was to land some nice early season Rainbows. Although Rainbows were indeed landed, the Lake Trout took center stage as they fed in frenzies on the tiny smolt that were venturing out into the currents for the first time.

The first feeding frenzy we spotted drew much attention as we expected huge Rainbows were cruising the shallows. Not one person expected what happened next. Wham! The Marabou Muddler was engulfed and was stripped quickly through the rising pod of what turned out to be Lake Trout.

Lake Trout, for the most part, tend to elude most fly-fishing lore and go unnoticed. The depth at which they dwell and the difficulty in locating a group of fish to target within the parameters of the fly angler all contribute to its lack of attention, however there is an exception and that is early spring just after break-up when Lake Trout, usually in the 20-30 inch range, journey from the big lakes and cruise the shallows of the rivers that enter and exit them. So while Rainbows, Dollies, Coho and Kings steal the lime light, the Lake Trout still continue, unmolested, gorging on the many salmon fry that struggle in the currents as they begin to learn the perils of life.

It is during this time that fly anglers can easily locate and entice Lakers into taking their fly, even on top. The Lakers can be located by the many swirls and splashes as they travel in schools. They remind me of my younger days when we used to go to the lake before school in hopes of catching rockfish in the jumps and hopefully catch one without being too late for class.

Once the frenzy is located the angler must quickly introduce their fly into the frenzy and utilize a fast strip-stop retrieve to get the Lakers attention. The takes are no joke and I have found the quicker you retrieve the more attention you get. One may want to hesitate for just a second after a few feet of retrieve before resuming the fast strip technique.

Any fly pattern that imitates a small fish should do the trick, but I can only speak for the Maribou Muddler as I found no reason to change while the Lakers continued to slam them with reckless abandon. There is one note of interest you might want to know. Just because of the hard takes don't think the Lakers are a pushover. For some reason the Lakers are hard to hook. It seems they strike haphazardly at the fly but I think nerves played a huge part of the misses I encountered.

If you have ever had the opportunity to fish Northerns or Musky on top water you are familiar with the torpedo wake as the fish ambushes your fly or lure from behind. With Lake Trout you get the same visible approach which can unnerve an angler as they try to predict when the strike will occur as the Laker dips under the fly, before they come from under for the take. Often times I set the hook too soon, missing the fish entirely and sending him searching for a new prey as I duck to miss my fly.

The Lake Trout may not get much attention, but that is quite all right with me. I will be glad to have these dwellers of the deep to myself and will also enjoy the Rainbows, Dollies and Grayling in between. If you are like myself and prefer less crowded angling you should try early spring in Alaska and remember the Lake Trout. The forgotten Lake Trout just might be an added species found in your journals of your trip of a lifetime whether you expect it or not.

HATCHES website: http://www.hatchesmagazine.com/