As Winter Approaches by Christie Thomas
June 20, 2011Do I continue
looking for bass in their summer habitat whilst it is still hot during the day,
or has it cooled down enough to start looking for bass in the shallows? Fishing at this time can
sometimes be really confusing. The
answer to this question is a bit of both.
Bass are in a transitional mode right now, getting ready to move to the
shallows but not quite there yet. 
There are a couple of tools you could use to help
track down these fickle fall fish. As
the daylight hours shorten and the nights lengthen, bass instinctively start
reacting to the change. They know that
the time is approaching to ‘stock up the larder’ for winter. Bass will slowly start the migration up to
shallower water, with the occasional trek to forage in the shallow water
gradually escalating until they can be found shallow for the majority of the
day during the peak fall fishing period.
The most important tool is your depthfinder. Use it to identify key structural elements which bass will use to stage on, or around, during their migration. Migrating bass will start moving toward the back of bays, up smaller creeks, or to shallower staging areas. They will stage anywhere there is cover on structure along this path. When we talk ‘shallower’ most of us tend to literally think of shallow water (2- to 10-foot) but often, especially with dams like Mokolo where the majority of the water is very deep, it can also mean deep water bass rising to a shallower stratum in standing cover, such as flooded brush or trees. Another important tool is your temperature gauge. Even when the weather feels frigid outside, the water temperature could still be relatively warm. During the early fall your cooler water will be key, whereas during the winter the warmer water should hold more bass.
As for tackle, you may want to carry a wide variety of
lures suitable for different applications, anything from drop-shot, to topwater
lures, spinnerbaits, deep-diving crankbaits, jigs and worms. During the peak autumn period bass often feed
quite aggressively; this is when fast moving baits should work well. Do not be afraid to fish with larger lures as
the food supply has had a whole summer to grow to mature size.
Posted by fishingfanatix. Posted In : Winter Bass
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Christie Thomas is a Bass Master extraordinaire. Her rapport extends all over the world and she is a respected Bass Angler who has competed at several national and international Bassing Competitions. She is a freelance angling reporter, who writes articles for various big angling media like Tight Lines Magazine and www.fishingfanatix.com. Christie has her own website www.christie-thomas.com.
