Six weeks back my doctor told me that I wouldn't be able to
fish for about a month due to a back injury.
This forced time off the water gave me an opportunity to organize my
tackle and prepare for the oncoming fishing season, but I wanted to get back
out there. After another visit to the
doc, I got the green light just in time for one of my favorite things…..
Wintertime Bass!
My weekend started on Thursday when I presented a bass
seminar at the ARC in Hampton. There was
a great turn out and I gave some insight on the tactics I use to target bass
during this tough time of year. Then on
Saturday I went out and put my winter tactics to the test against some
coldwater fish.
When I launched my Cuda 14 the fish finder read a water temp
of 38.9 degrees. I knew that these fish would be glued to the bottom, and
really sluggish. I looked for ledges in
10-15 feet of water with some brush on them.
I hit several spots before I hooked up on my first fish, a 19.5in
pickerel. On the next cast I hooked up
with a small bass. I was throwing a finesse
Carolina rig with a small straight tail worm.
After a few more cast I moved on to the next ledge. This had everything I
was looking for. It was a cut bank with
a small shelf in 10 feet with some brush.
Off the shelf it dropped out to 17 feet.
I pitched my PTL stone dragger jig with matching T-rigged jig
trailer. It didn’t take long before I was
hooked up on a nicer fish. I landed a
nice bass that measured 19 inches, my first good fish of 2015. I kept fishing down the ledge alternating
between a Carolina rig and a jig. I picked
up a few more small ones up to 15 inches.
Next I decided to fish a small ledge that my dad found over
the summertime. My dad had already
pulled a few small bass off of it today and had some good bites. I threw my jig on to the top of the ledge in
about 13 feet. I started slowly dragging
my jig into deeper water when it was hammered.
I gave the fish a really good hook set and the fight was on. I knew right away that this was a GOOD
fish. It pulled some drag and stayed
deep. Once I worked the fish up towards
the kayak I got my first good look at the fish.
This was a STUD! I carefully kept fighting the fish waiting for it to
get tired. I finally landed the beast
and could feel the weight of it. This fish
easily weight over 8.5lbs and was probably closer to 9lbs. It measured out to 24.5 inches and was nice
and healthy. After some pictures I released
her back to the ledge and called it a day.
Since it was MLK weekend I had Monday off from school. I took
the opportunity to fish a different lake.
Rain the day before muddied up the water and made for some tough fishing
conditions. I caught several small bass
pitching a jig into some deeper cover. I also caught a decent 18 inch
largemouth out of a shallow laydown. I was
heading back to the ramp when I stopped at one last brush pile in about 8 feet. My dad and I already hit this spot pretty
hard, but it was too fishy to pass up. I
pitched a jig up into and started slowly crawling it through the branches. I felt a slight bump and leaned back into the
fish, but nothing moved. It felt like I had
snagged a branch. I was working my kayak
over there to un-snag my jig when the branch started moving. The fish had been wedged in the pile almost
like a Tautog. I worked the sluggish
fish towards the boat and grabbed it, and once again it was another BIG
fish. It measured to be 23.5 inches and
weighed around 7lbs.
This time of year can be really hit or miss. If you hit it right, however, it can be an
awesome day. As long as you put in some
research and time the big bass will be there.
