Cold water patterns

[hooked2132]

Hey guys I'm new to the forum, and I'm glad to be here looks like this is a great community of guys sharing the same passion. Now, I have a question. Winter time has never been my strong suit of mine. What are some of your favorite patterns, lures, etc for this time of year. I know winter is just about up, but I would love to hear some ideas. Thanks, and I look forward to reading responses.

[egolfer]

Here in Maryland I fish a few ways in the winter. Typically when the water is under 44 degrees, I will throw Blade bait like a Silver Buddy and jigging spoons. I have also had success on dropshot rigs and jigs moved very slowly. Once the water is around 44 and up, I will start throwing spinner baits and crankbaits. The jigs and dropshot will work too, but they still need to be moved pretty slowly.

[hooked2132]

Thanks for the info man. I know this question depends largely on an individual's location as no two lakes are the same, but its good to hear ideas to try.

[BassMoJo]

What lakes or rivers do you fish egolfer? And the silver buddy is a great cold water bait

[screwballl]

Depends on location... right now pre-spawn is under way in south to central FL meaning they are moving shallower and into the bedding flats. Here in north FL, it is still in the upper 20s at night so they haven't moved yet, and further up north you would need to keep it deep and slow as they are still in the winter "only eat to survive" mode.

Steep drop offs, edges of vegetation they can sit under, stumps trees, logs... sometimes they will have their body right up against the trees/stumps pulling any heat they can get from it. Typically they sit anywhere from 6 feet down to the bottom, wherever is away from current or channels and has the most stable temperatures.

[egolfer]

Originally Posted by BassMoJo

What lakes or rivers do you fish egolfer? And the silver buddy is a great cold water bait

Pretty much only on the Potomac as of lately. But sometimes Black Hills and Tridelphia.

[screwballl]

wow I did not know there was another "Black Hills" in the US I thought that was unique to South Dakota

[jasonfish320]

I fish the frigid waters of Maine year round and my boat usually goes in when there is still slush and ice chunks floating around...I have found that in most lakes when the ice first goes out the best fishing is in the Northern end (typically N ends get more sun and they usually have moving water coming off the montains into inlets and small runoffs to elevate the temp)..check your topography..the last few seasons I have used a small jig with a black or all blue trailer or shaky head 6" black finesse worm and have done well...keep presentation moving very slowly and be patient

[BassinNC]

My fav cold water pattern would have to be me and some coffee sitting on the couch watching some good ol fishing shows. lol

[hooked2132]

lol I hear you BassinNC. That would have to be my favorite pattern, too, and its a lot warmer in Nashville this time of year than up your way.

[basstech]

I fish all through the winter here, I'm not a blade or spoon guy, have not really even tried spoons except a few times and never have gotten bit. I primarily use three or four things.
1.)softplastics. mostly 4" finesse worms or centipedes, ussually t-rigged with 1/8 oz. worm weight or on a jig anywhere from 1/16 oz to 3/16 oz. Also tubes work well too.
2.) suspending jerkbaits. I just use longer pauses and after getting the bait down with one or two sweeps I just twitch it, I try to keep it's movment to 6" or less when I twitch it.
3.) Small Bass jigs, Bitsy bugs in 1/8 to 1/4, or Eakins finesse jigs 3/16 and 5/16 oz. I prefer just to drag them very slowly across the bottom stopping every foot or two and twitch it a little before I move it again. When I feel a rock, piece of wood, weed or depression, I'll let it soak and twitch it every 3 to 10 secons. for up to a minute or two.
4.) if that water has gotten into the upper 30's I'll use a DT 10 or 16 and once I get it down, just reel it slow enough to keep it wiggling and on the bottom, works best with a good incline fishing from deep to shallow. I'm sure other deep cranks would work well for this too. I've just had a lot of success fishing the DT's as slow as possible. Hope some of these suggestions help. Good fishin' to ya.

[Rebbasser]

Hooked, this time of year I am a big suspending jerkbait fan. The colder the water, the slower you fish them. By slow I mean gentle twitches with loooooong pauses between the twitches. In real cold water I'll let them sit up to a minute between twitches.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by BassinNC

My fav cold water pattern would have to be me and some coffee sitting on the couch watching some good ol fishing shows. lol

I'm right there with ya NC! But as soon as the ice is off the water, jerkbaits, and chatterbaits are my mainstays. I'll also be pitchin jigs around brush.

[BigBassin144]

As soon as ice out comes, I hit the water with my Flukes, Jerkbaits, and Dropshot.

I work the Flukes pretty much like a jerkbait. Either on a weighted hook, or weightless. MY favorites colors are something white/silvery or watermelon candy. I'll throw the white on cloudy days and the watermelon candy on sunny days.

I also work my jerkbaits pretty much like a jerkbait (). Just after ice out, I like Rapala Husky Jerks and Smithwick Rattlin' Suspending Rogues. I have however bought a couple, what some consider the best jerkbait on the face of the year, Lucky Craft Pointers that I can't wait to try out this year. For colors, I like clown, chrome/black back, and then I like to have something that isn't glossy. I throw the chome/black back and Chrome Clown colors of sunny days, and stick to things like Rapala's Glass Clown and other matte colors on cloudy days. Also, from the recommendations from a couple guys on here, I'm trying the LC Pointer in Ghost Minnow.

And the dropshot. I won't go into too many details on the dropshot, because a quick search will bring up A LOT of good info on it. But for baits, I like Chompers 4" dropshot worms just don't open em up in your truck or it'll smell like garlic for a week, lol ), tiny flukes, and 4" SK elaztech finesse worms. One main thing in winter/early spring is I let my bait sit a lot more than I move it. For colors, I like things similar to my fluke colors. whites, watermelons, and green pumpkins.

BB

[Bassboss]

I always catch 'em pretty good on a wacky worm, drop shot or shaky head! Normally when you find the still alive vegetation, you find the fish, this stand true until the it grows back.Once you find that, I usually fish a wacky worm or drop shot over the tops of it. They kinda burro into the weeds as if it where a blanket. Once a drop shot, or wacky rig comes over top of it, they can handle and and nail it! Same thing happened yesterday, fished the whole pond 'till we found the coon tail, when we did, we started catching 'em! I bet if I had a small SUPER shallow jerk bait I could work over tops of it, that would catch some fish too!

[Cavs1123]

jigs,shaky head,what Ike calls a flick shake. A flick shake is a soft plastic stickbait wacky rigged on a shaky head. soft plastic stickbaits are great too.

[hooked2132]

Thanks so much for the additional input guys. It will help me tremendously. Keep it comin. I'm open to anything.

[screwballl]

I had a chance to try some of the cold water places and lures today but nothing worked... other than a few bites on the Tightlines worm they stayed put and didn't go anywhere. Today according to the solunar calendar was supposed to be a "very good" fishing day... oh well thats the way it goes.