This article will walk you through some simple tricks on how you can catch lots of bass in winter. Winter bass fishing can be incredibly productive once you know what types of lures to use, and how to locate bass in the cold water months. These tips in here will provide you with a list of the best baits in the winter. Plus, help you know the key things to find bass. Apply these tricks on your home waters, and you will be amazed how good bass fishing can be in the winter.
How To Catch Bass in Winter
One of the things you need to know in order to catch bass in the winter is how bass behave during this time of year. There are a lot of misconceptions around winter bass fishing. Bass still need to eat, and they can be caught quite easily. How you approach bass in the winter needs to be adapted. You need to use presentations to mirror how things are behaving in the cold winter environment. Once you know how baitfish and other forage behave in winter, you can dial in your fishing to keep catching bass all year long.
The following information will show you the best presentations for mimicking baitfish and forage to catch bass in the winter. Also, you will find some helpful tips on where to find bass in the winter. Once you get the presentations right, and know where to find bass, you will be on your way to catching some awesome bass. Even in the cold months of the year!
Best Winter Bass Fishing Presentations
The key to matching what the bass want to bite in the winter to imitate what the bait is doing. During the winter small baitfish suspend barely up off the bottom and sit very still. When baitfish start dying during the cold they do a tight quivering action. Just picture a tiny baitfish up on the land. When they are out of the water they quiver extremely fast. Also in the winter bait will just lay super dormant on the bottom.
Use presentations to match these types of behaviors from the bait to catch more bass in winter. Things like suspending a small lure, tight vibrations, and bottom laying techniques work best. Check out this list below of 3 good techniques to mirror these suggestions to catch you a big ole bass this winter.
Float n Fly
The Float n Fly is a lethal rig in the winter time for catching bass. This presentation presents your lure as a small suspending baitfish. The float and fly is so irresistible the bass eat it easily in the winter. Here’s a couple things you should know about the float n fly. Make sure you are fishing the right depth. Adjust the leader length from your bobber to your fly regularly to find the perfect zone. Also, shake the bobber in place to draw strikes. The shaking makes the little hair jig dispel those tight vibrations to trigger bites. This is such a fun way to fish. The visual strike of the bobber is addicting.
Carolina Rig
A Carolina Rig presents such a smooth natural presentation in the winter for catching bass. This technique works so well in the winter because it keeps your bait down on the bottom. Plus, your bait won’t move as far with a long leader on your Carolina Rig. This creates a realistic action for winter conditions. Use big baitfish presentations on your Carolina Rig. In winter bass love to eat other fish. Fish this rig with an unusually slow drag and an occasional hop to get a bass to eat bite.
Bladed Baits
Tight vibrating blade baits stimulate a bass’s lateral line to trigger them into eating in the winter. Using baits with a lot of vibrations imitate quivering dying bait fish. You will have a lot of success in cold water in the winter using a chatter bait, spinnerbait, and other types of tight vibrating lures. These lures are pretty easy to fish, and help you cover some ground to locate fish in the winter to catch.
Where to find Bass in Winter
Here’s a couple places to look to find bass in the winter. The first is ledges. Deep rock ledges hold a lot of suspended fish in the wintertime. Look for the steeper banks on your lake, and you will find more bass to catch in the winter. Second, look for points out deep on the main lake. Bass want to be in areas where they don’t have to travel to find food. Lastly, deep holes hold bass. Especially in shallower lakes. Remember, the warmest water is at the bottom of the lake.
Another secret to finding bass in the winter is to find the warmest water on the lake. Bass want to be warm. There is more active fish for bass to feed on in warm water. Locate places with stained dirty water, or rocks on the south facing banks. These spots are usually warmer than the rest of the lake and will hold concentrations of fish in winter.
- Ledges
- Warm Water
- South Facing Banks
- Main Lake Points
Winter Bass Fishing Video
This video contains some action of what you can expect to find deploying these same tricks for winter bass fishing in your neck of the woods. This video happened in the middle of winter with snow on the ground. Watching this video will help you see how to use these tricks, and what you can do to catch bass in the winter time.
Additional Winter Fishing Tips
Keep these additional winter fishing tips in mind to help you be more successful. First, don’t buy into just sitting in one place and moving slow. The bass usually will eat something if you put it in front of them. You need to move around more to find bass because they aren’t moving to you in the winter. One other thing is don’t be afraid to look shallow for bass. Sometimes if the water starts rising the bass will move up shallow to feed on creatures on the freshly flooded banks. Sometimes bass come up shallow because they want to feel the warm sun like us.
One more thing, the links above and below in this post are affiliate links were you can pick up baits, rod’s, reels, line, and anything else I use to “Krak” some bass winter fishing. Krakenbass receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. These links are supposed to be helpful for you, and not for the small amount I make for the sale of the products. I hope these products can help you “krak” some bass like they have for me. Thank you for your support!
As Always,
Stay Stoked!
One Response
Nice video! 38 degrees, really?