Usually when you see an article about fishing for bass in the winter the author always tells you to fish deep water. I am here to tell you just the opposite....fish shallow water in the winter.
The lake I fish most of the time is pretty small. The whole lake is 41 acres. Yep, that's not a typo, it's 41 acres. I fish this lake all spring, summer and fall but like to fish it in the winter a few days after a cold front passes and the temperature warms up just a little. Since I fish it all year, I know where the wood in the water is in the shallows and that is the area that I fish. The bass will come up to the edge of the bank in a couple of feet of water to warm themselves up. I like to fish a tube in these conditions but have caught bass on a jig quite a few times too. I use a dark color jig usually black or blue with a splittail trailer and swim it down the side of the log.
I will also use a coffin-bill crankbait and bump it off the wood, be it stumps, trees or logs. When it hits the wood and reflects off it is when I get my most strikes. The bass just seems like they can't stand it when that lure has an erratic movement from bumping off wood.
Another place I like to fish the jig is in shallow water with big rocks. The bass will come there to warm up since the rocks radiate heat from the sun. I have found the bass will be suspended in 2-6 feet of water above the rocks. I use SuspenStrips on my lure and run it down a couple of feet and deadstick it.
As you can see, your winter bass fishing doesn't need to be in deep water that is boring to fish. I have caught bass where the water around the edge of the lake thaws and the other parts of the lake is still frozen. The bass like warmer water and that warm water and the bass both can be found in the shallows.
Charles has owned two tackle shops in his life and fished with the pros in Florida. He has fished from California to Florida and has caught over 6,000 bass in his lifetime with his largest bass going 12 pounds 14 ounces.
Charles now lives in Ohio where he grew up and has his website at: http://www.bassfishingohio.com where you can get bass fishing tips to catch more and bigger bass in Ohio.
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