Fishing in the winter

[Fishnngolfn]

I know it is a bit early but I am going to ask anyway. Since this is my first spring and summer that I have become "serious" about bass fishing, I haven't had any experience fishing during the winter months.

Is fishing during the winter months very different than the spring and summer? I am in Alabama and I know the warmer months actually extend into October at times. I was just wondering if the bite is the same in the mornings and evenings when it consistently is cold outside (Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb). Do you guys fish different lures, techniques, different times of the day?

[JB]

Its much slower here in the north, the fish leave the bank and group up in deeper areas of the lakes

[doc]

In my experience (very limited ) fish tend to bite better in the warmer part of the winter days, rather than the daylight and twilight magic hours. I did catch the fish in my avatar on febuary 9th, fishing a suspending jerkbait.

[Jim80]

up here i fish a lot of jigs, cranks and spinners in the colder months , as long as you can deal with freezing temps you should be alright up here we just fish everything super slow and aim between 8 ta 20 feet of water also pop out to the page of this site before the forums and there are a few good reads about diff conditions and baits .

[BigBassin144]

1. Drill hole in Ice.
2. Find depth.
3. Drop lure to correct depth.
4. Watch fish on underwater camera.
5. Set hook when fish bites.
6. Bring fish up through hole in ice.

That's about it for us in the winter.

For you... PNJ, Jerkbait, dropshot or other slow finesse techniques.

BB

[lowrider]

don't let ol' doc fool ya, that 10lbr in his avatar was caught on feb 9th this year using a rapala jerk bait. the water was around 50-53 degrees, 7ft down in 12 ft of very clear water.

i usually take off dec and jan to duck hunt and wait for the water to warm up to at least 50. like everryone else said, your presentation will have to be slower cause in the cooler water everything slows down (i.e. baitfish) if a bass sees a crankbait sailing by him at mach 2 he will know something isn't right.

[pignjig]

F&G- Colder water is some my favorite fishing. You might not catch as many as warmer water but, as doc demonstrated with that hawg above, the quality can be great. Like the folks wrote before, be prepared to ssslllooowww down. Get a few suspending jerkbaits painted like the common bait fish in your area and stock up on a bag or two of smoke colored lizards/grubs/Senkos. Bass like to go deep and vertical when it's cold. throwing a jerkbait parallel to ledges or dragging a C-rig up ledges can be real productive. Also, read up on the float 'n' fly technique- That works great and it's always a blast to hook a big sow on light line.

[Jim80]

another point when you think you have slowed down enough, slow down some more almost crawl .

[Lilmoosecountry]

Rattle'N Rouges real slow!!!