|
|
Posts: 135
| Went out to a small lake yesterday to wet a line, no luck but it got me thinking about presentation in such cold water (34-35 degrees) what does everyone like to do when it that cold? I was throwing jigs with swim shad tails, Super D and slow gliders. So, anyone ever have any luck when the water's that cold?
Edited by whit65 12/22/2008 8:51 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 2361
| I fish exactly the same and hit the best spots 2-3 times, maybe more. I generally fish quite shallow and as a result catch them where I fish and they hit the same baits as spring and fall. I have not found any positives by slowing down or changing baits in these locations. I will say clouds are good, dusk is good, rising water is good, and dirty water for whatever reason, is generally very bad, so go to somewhere the fish can at least see a little.
I would expect people fishing other lakes and locations to have vastly different answers, because location is going to influence technique a lot, and I am kind of forcing fish to be shallow by my presentations. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1636
| Have to agree with the above that the same lures that work well in spring and fall work good in the winter. Gliders, 6-10 inch jakes, superd's and other plastics. I havnt experienced the absolute need to slow down in the winter, but it sometimes helps during post frontal conditions. Good luck! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 688
Location: Northern IL | The 1st thing I love about fishing in the late fall is the water temp is "stable",, from top to bottom, (39*) with that being said we must be willing to fish in all depths with no limits. That means fishing where the fish are, if they're in the shallows we need to fish for them there, if there in 35' or 42' then presenting lures or bait at that depth will get the job done. It's extremely difficult to predict where the fish will be on any given day and even tougher with only a single day. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 219
Location: Ohio | Ripping bulldawgs through schools of shad and jigging blade baits off the bottom work well for me in the winter. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 105
| I noticed that know one has mentioned Suckers. Is there a point that as fall turns to winter that you stop using suckers or can you use them right into spring. When do you guys stop using them?
M4L |
|
| |
|
Posts: 574
| A few years back twitchin 10 inch cranks caught a bunch of fish for a friend of mine. Multiple multiple fish days for him while I kept somehow loosing fish on suckers. I cant remember temp exactly but it was the last week of open water for sure. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 202
| Now what we are talking about goes way beyond fall fishing, this is winter fishing. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to fish these conditions often and have managed to boat a good number of fish using two different tactics. Number one is suckers, they are without of doubt my best producers for fishing in cold water conditions. While I drag suckers I also combine this with one of two casting techniques. First when I am in water deeper then 12 feet I cast bulldawgs either weighted or unweighted. The unweighted seem to work better when the fish are extremely slow and you can barely move the lure, however due to there lack of weight they are painfully slow to work being that normally you are fishing at least 10 ft down so discipline and concentration are needed to keep the lure in the strike zone for the majority of your cast. The weighted get down faster but don’t hang in the fishes faces as well. The decision on which one to use is normally a matter of trial and air on a given day. On the other hand when I am fishing water less than 12 feet I like to cast suspending twitch baits. Anything that really hangs in the water will work. I generally make my pauses longer the slower the fish are; somewhere between 2-5 seconds is a good rule of thumb. Sense the key to this tactic is allowing the lure to hang in perfect balance I have found that straight tying floro to the lure is a good choice so the clip does not make the lure nose heavy.
Here is a picture of a fat upper 30's fish that ended up in my net this year using these tactics. It was one of the five fish we boated that day and although it was not the biggest however it definitely made the best story being that the fish bit within only feet of the ice’s edge. Be sure and note the ice in the back of the photo.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 202
| Guess it did not load the imagine last time
Attachments
----------------
 phpRRMfFYAM.jpg (33KB - 220 downloads)
|
|
| |
