One of my favorite ways to catch bass in the winter is with a big spinnerbait with a single large spinner blade, like a Colorado or an Indiana blade. The big spinner blade allows the spinnerbait to be retrieved slowly through cover. This can also be helped by adding a large swimbait trailer. The slow thump of the large blade and the slow retrieve drive shallow winter bass crazy. The swimbait trailer adds buoyancy to the spinnerbait. This lets you slow roll the bait without it sinking too deep. My go to blade is the hammered, deep cupped Colorado blade and a white boot-tail swimbait.
A square bill crankbait is another great presentation when fishing 2 to 4 feet of water. Bass will get shallow in the winter. They love that slightly warmer water up around rocks and logs. Look for dark banks as they will absorb more warmth from the sun. The square bill crankbait has an erratic action built in and can cause that reaction strike on its own but glancing it off the rocks and cover will usually get you more bites. I like to use a balsa square bill crankbait because of its buoyancy. When the bait contacts cover or when it hangs up you can give your line some slack and with the extra buoyancy, the bait will float up and off the cover so you can continue your retrieve.
The purpose of this crankbait presentation is to get a reaction strike from bass when they aren’t necessarily feeding. The more you can get your crankbait to hit something and sharply glance off erratically, the more chances you have of getting a strike. The reason for the deep-running crankbait in shallow water is the ease in maintaining contact with the bottom. The angle of these deep runners is important. This angle helps to keep the hooks back and away from the cover you are contacting. This will help keep you from hanging up. The power in which the crankbait hits bottom or the cover is also created by the steep angle and quick dive of these deep-running crankbaits. The banging and deflection of the crankbait is what causes reaction strikes from bass. You can almost always create a reaction bite even when the bass aren’t biting.
Winter bass fishing can be a little slow. With these crankbait techniques, you can get a few more bites a day. Crankbaits and winter go hand in hand if you prefer fishing the bank and shallow water. Remember bass are ambush predators. Target isolated stumps, rocks, and any other place a bass might be, and cover lots of water to locate the bass that will bite in the winter.
Great Winter Bass Lakes in Kentucky
Barkley Lake/Kentucky Lake in western Kentucky offers great wintertime bass fishing. One great place to start is the canal that joins the two lakes. Fish a suspended jerkbaits along the rocks.
Cumberland Lake is a reservoir in South Central Kentucky. It is known for smallmouth bass and fishing in the winter can be excellent. The float and fly technique is a great presentation for cold water smallmouth.
Taylorsville Lake located in North Central Kentucky. Taylorsville Lake offers winter bass fishing and is a great place for shore anglers. Throw jigs or tubes into heavy cover for best results.
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