Bigger bass in the winter?

[seaphantom]

heys,

I've talked to the lake manager of the lake I now live on, and the guy said that they catch the largest bass during the winter...

...how is that? I thought that bass are the toughest to catch during this time. You guys ever caught any big boys that time of year?

thanks,


seaphantom

[Rodman_Rob]

the larger bass need more calories to maintain their weight, therefore eat a bunch to prepare for the cold weather/water. I'm getting ready, the big bass bite should be on here in a couple more weeks.

[KH.]

yeah ive heard that too,live bait is the best,big shiners

[chuck n]

Seaphantom,
The bass bite gets real good during the winter months in Florida. Water temps cool down and they become more active. In southern Michigan, the ice gets about 2' thick and the bass's metabolism slows way down and they eat very little. So it depends on where you're at. I caught all my big bass during the winter months when I was living in Florida.

[H2O]

"big boy"? lol... I thought boy never grows up big on any water.

It really depends on where you fish! I've read a lot of stories about big bass in FL. However, for me, the only big bass i can catch in winter will be from TBASS 4 on my computer HD.

BTW, any recommendation about computer fishing games?

[Fish2win]

It depends on the area of the country that you live in as to when that happens. Some of the best big bass fishing here is in November and December.The water temps are usually in the 50 degree range by then . The end of December through January usually all but stops the LM bite. The water is inthe mid to low 40 degree range, The smallmouth bite for big SM gets real good in Jan and Feb, The SM suspend on steep main channel banks. The float n fly or drop shot catches a lot of big SM then. Late Feb the LM start to move back up to get ready to stage for the spring movement. I catch more over 4 lb LM and SM in the early winter and late winter than I do post spawn. If you live in SM country where the water does not freeze you need to learn the Float n Fly method of fishing for these special fish.If your lakes feeze and cabin fever takes over come south where you lures will land with a splash instead of a clunk.Fish2win

[KH.]

here there killing tikis,but of course its only early fall,last month for three weeks they didnt hit them,only cranks,but now they are starting gorge themselves,even the little
7 inchers,they will hit anything they can get there hands on,or in this case thier mouths

[Rebbasser]

Here in Texas most of the big ones are caught December-March with the most caught in February-in the pre-spawn. The big girls start staging depending on the water temp, and most it seems come on a jig-n-pig.

[seaphantom]

I live in Northern Georgia... not in the mountains though.


seaphantom

[Mac1]

Just reading from another board, the consensus being that one of the best ways to catch them in the late fall, water temp between 50 and 40 is to slowly fish jig n pigs, and also by slowly drifting tubes. The edges of weedbeds, even though starting to die can be good places to try. In the fall, on the same lake, some catch them 40 feet deep and some catch them under docks in inches of water.... The warmest time of the day can be the best time to fish, but a little breezy chop seems to help.

I hope I learned the correct tips from reading. Good fishing, Mac

[zooker]

mac please note some of us are in fall patterns we have not approached winter patterns yet..the guy from ont will reach winter first about the end of this month..
as we fish deep into december here in nc with the same fall pattern. winter for us is normally jan and feb.warming in late feb.

zooker