As we approach the colder winter months and I start looking for the winter bite, I get reminded why the upper river appeals to me for my winter search of bigger fish. My first reason is shallow water has its advantages in the winter; next I’m better at fishing shallow than deep water and I’m better working baits around grass.
I know many fishermen that would rather work deeper water but for me it just doesn’t do it. The real reason is as the cold water temperature pushes into the lake, the bass have much more open water to go to in the mid and lower part of the river. To me when you start fishing the bigger open bays the bass have more territory to travel on any given day and hence their daily movements cover more water than they do where the river narrows and begins to restrict their travel. Bass by nature do not travel endless miles like others species of fish do, in fact bass may not move a mile during the best of their feeding times. So to me this gives me an opportunity to find them where the river narrows in the upper river very close to where they would be in the spring. Some of the bigger creeks up river the deepest areas are only 10 to 14 feet deep, so as bass move to the deeper water in the colder water temperatures their instinct of not traveling miles on end puts them shallower than they would be in the lower part of the river.
In the upper creek areas, the structure is very definable, and the points are not as long, nor do they run off to really-deep water as they would be in the open areas, hence the bass to me become easier to find. Not only are the bass in more defined areas but the sun warms the creeks first and cause more activity daily, where in the deeper open mid part of the lake the fish don’t feel the water temperature change as quickly and the bass tend to suspend more and longer into the spring. The upper river has always offered better fishing and bigger bass in the winter and I prove it every year with better catches and bigger fish.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntesvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry