Wintertime in North Florida (bites are super slow)

[BBD]

What's up fellas!

I'm a newb, recently got serious with Bass fishing and plan on perfecting my craft.

Been doing a lot of searching and it seems as though the general consensus is to slow down your presentation during the colder months. I swear I was catching 3-4 pounders consistently just back in October but as it get's colder, I'm starting to see just how inexperienced I am.

HOW DO YOU CATCH BASS IN THE COLD CONSISTENTLY?

Wondering if they're any other Floridians in the house who are feeling my pain in regard to the slow bite going on right now. Any and all feedback is appreciated!

Here's my meek little arsenal at the current but it's growing daily:

[bamabassman]

i owuld start witht he spinnerbait (white), then move to the senko or jigs and worms. this time of year, the bite is slow for anyone out fishing.

[BBD]

I'll give that a shot tomorrow, Bama.

Thanks.

[bamabassman]

cool. and welcome to the site pal. this is the best one on the web buddy. never a stupid queston ok? so ask whatever you want to know and tell us oyur thoughts too. and post PICS!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

[BBD]

Thanks for the welcome.

Here are a couple small ones I was catching before this cold started setting in. Hope to report back with a couple hawgs here in the next couple days but we'll see.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

I want to fish with the man that leaves money laying around the boat hahahahaha. Or you are paying them off? Nice haul BBD. Do you fish shallow lakes in FL? I know the cooler temps can knock them in the dirt quick because the temp changes in the lakes cool off quicker when they don't have much depth. I tend to like to fish the mid afternoon in the south when the cold moves in. For one thing, it is just plain cold in the morning, and another is that the lakes can warm up a few degrees by the afternoon. I would just look for a warm spot the sun has been sitting on a while and throw the plastics and try a few different presentations until you find how they want it. I would start off slow with light sinkers on a T-rig for a slow fall and work my way around there.

[keithdog]

Welcome to the site and those are some nice bass. I live in Indiana but my folks lived in Florida for close to 20 years before they passed. I'd often come down to stay with them durring the winter months and my dad and I would fish on Tarpon Lake. I see you have a jointed Rebel stickbait. THATS the exact lure we would kill the bass on down there in the winter. We called the "brokenbacks" back then. We would find a large offshore weedbed and fish right over the top of it by casting out as far as we could over the weedbed. The retrieve would be a "reel, jerk, jerk, reel" retrieve. Give it a try and see what happens. Good luck!

[walkeraviator]

I know that when teh water gets super cold around ky a lot of guys go to JIg'n'Pig and suspending jerk baits. I would try small jigs with small uncle josh pork trailers... color obviously based on water clarity. And maybe a small supending jerk bait like the smallest X-Rap... again try didfferent colors based on water clarity.... same rules apply as they do in the summer on color selection.


With that said, has anyone heard from BassFeverJohn lately. I dont recall seeing him respond in a while. He would be the north florida expert.

[BBD]

Bubba,

I always show gratuity to my fish before tossing them back -ha! Yeah I'm on google maps looking for anything to fish or to get the 10" tracker into as long as there's access. I'm also starting to give those old retention ponds off of I-95 a shot as they always look like they'd be full of fish! I've had a bit of luck with that so far but then again I just started fishing those as the cold set in.

Kiethdog,

You're correct on that Rebel lure! for some reason I usually have a lot of luck on jerkbaits. I just picked that up at BPS a few weeks ago. I'll give that technique a shot when I hit the water again, thanks!


Walkeraviator,

I'm headed to Academy in a few to pick up a few suspending jerks and a few more jigs as I need to get a bit more proficient in jiggin since I've never caught on a jig before.

Yeah, back when I was lurking around here I always use to watch BassFeverJohn to see what was working for him. He's been MIA for a bit. I hope to hook up with him one day for some fishin in the Jacksonville area.

[Jrob78]

Welcome to the forum BBD!
I'm in North Texas and the fishing is slow here too, probably similar weather patterns to you guys up in Fl. We have been catching most of our fish lately on jigs, and swimjigs.

It looks like you've got a decent selection of cold water lures. I would concentrate on jigs, jerkbaits and lipless cranks. I've had a lot of success with 3/8oz H20 lipless baits during cooler weather. Fish slower and be patient, bites won't come fast and furious like they did earlier in the year.

[BigBassin144]

Dropshotting is one of my go-to cold water techniques, although I'm talking about right after the ice is off the water, not Florida "cold."

The Bomber Fat Free cranks (in all sizes) are good cold water cranks, as are the original Storm Wiggle Warts.

Jigs fished slowly, suspending jerkbaits, and Zoom Flukes are also good cold water baits.

BB

[BBD]

Jrob and Bigbassin - GOT IT!

Gonna give all the advice a try today and see what I can't come up with.

As far as the Zoom Flukes, are you drop shotting those or just weightless T-RIG? What kind of retrieve for the super flukes based on how it's rigged?

[WatterBoy]

Hey, BBD - welcome to the forum! I'm in MN, so my "cold" is probably more like BigBassin's than yours, but I had tremendous luck all season long with a 5" Yamasenko -- either just plain wacky-rigged or else wacky-rigged on a dropshot rig. Just as a frame of reference, bass season here opens Memorial Day weekend and we closed up our cabin in early October this year. I don't know how the water temps at those times here compare to what you're experiencing now, but I'd give a slowly worked senko a shot if none of the other suggestions is working.

We have also had good luck with the Storm Wiggle Warts when our water here is colder.

Good luck!

.

[BBD]

Fished for two hours today before the sun went down. This is all I could manage. A Chartreuse colored chatter bait caught him.

[bamabassman]

those are some nice "little" fish (scarasm inserted), hahahaha. i hope you get some hawgs on yer next rtip buddy. dropshot is another tech i forgot about. thanks for the pics man. ya'll don't go crazy down there, lol with all the cold weather ok?

[keithdog]

Hey BBD, I found this photo to show you. This was a few I caught back in the day when I would winter fish for bass with my father down in Florida. They were all caught on that Rebel jointed stick bait, about 100 yards off shore over the tops of large submerged weedbeds. It was the only bait we would have success with. Everything else the bass ignored. By the way guys, this photo was taken back when catch and release was a phrase few had ever heard of yet. I don't keep stringers of bass like this anymore. Now days I'll take a couple home "sometimes". By the way, that reel attached to that rod is an old Bantam Shimano Tournament 1000. I still have that reel, haha. Works too! This was taken around 1980.

[BBD]

Damn Kieth!

I know a perfect lake with the same type of weed-bed's you speak of!

Vintage picture right there!

[WTL]

BBD, you just gotta work, they are still there.

A week and a half ago, I fished a pond in montogmery over an hour, and landed several bass slow rolling a 3/8 oz spinnerbait, single gold colorodo blade with a chartruse skirt and light wire. The key was slow, as slow as you could go and still feel the blade thump. Bass were on the edge of the pond, responding to the big rainfall we had.

I would just pick the high percentage spots and forget about the others. That means channels, current and grass. Find those 3 together, and wear your arm out until you figure out what they are on. Cause in florida, if you can find a channel, next to grass, with current, its a fact that your bait will be in front of fish. Finding fish is the 1st step.

What I mean is, slack water will also hold fish, pads, rushes, grass, but they are less concentrated and less prone to bite. The combination of those two means a lot of 2 fish days. You just have to maximize how many fish see your lure, so thats why, again, go where you know there are fish all year long. In summer when bass are active you can run and gun and cover water. This is the time of year to go with as sure of locations as you are gonna get.

And if you are on a pond or a lake with no current, or channels, just try and find deeper water and structure and grass, and claw your way into a pattern.

Good luck.

[screwballl]

It pretty much shuts down here in the panhandle... my brother in law caught a few smaller LMB on the yellow river in slow eddy areas where the sun warms it up fast but everywhere else has been no bites, no catches.

[walkeraviator]

You live in FL... this is the time of year to find monster speckled trout... i would be out lookin for those and let the Largemouths rest til spring...

[BBD]

Well guy's, if you haven't seen this in my Jig thread, here it is. I caught all these fish on jigs/swim jigs in the last two days. Winter is looking hopeful.

Fish #1.

Fish #2.

Fish #3.

Fish #4.

Fish #5.

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Gew! I will be trying some more jigs when I get home. Nice haul fo sho BBD!

[BBD]

Well it seems you guy's are on it! The bites are slow but when they do bite, it seems as though the quality fish appear.

My buddy just caught this 6 pounder today out of an 8 year old retention pond behind a subdivision. What a SOW!

He was using a June bug colored culprit twirly tail, texas rigged with a small bullet weight.