Coldwater or winter fishing can be about finding the right targets. I can go back to my childhood and recall a statement I have learned to live bye as a professional fisherman, that being in the mist of winter fishing “the bass move to hard targets” like rock, bridges, or wood in the coldest part of winter or early spring. Those days where you are out on the water and it seems like you just cannot get a bite and it is the cold-water time of year, head to the hard targets and you will find the fish! I promise you it will work; it has for me for years and I still make it work today!
In fact, the reason I am writing this is, this past week, on our first stop, I headed immediately to the hard cover and we caught fish off their edges. The water was high and muddy, but the bass were hanging on the rock and exploited this old timers’ beliefs and it worked. Many times, one of my fisherman buddies will tell me when we get in the boat together that the bass just were not biting well, we will head to the hard cover and proved him wrong.
The best piece of advice I can tell you as you are dissecting the water for bites is do not be myopic use several baits and fish several depths around the hard cover until you find what they want! Today it was a jig tomorrow it might be a crank bait or flat side bait or even a swimbait. Work close to the cover then back off it until a depth and pattern appears and you start catching fish! The thing you can bet on is the bass are there and your job is to get them to bite and find something they will react too.
This day for me the hard target was rock but do not overlook wood, or stumps that are always a good hard target, it is also true that boat houses are also a strong contender in the winter especially if the boat house has 8 to 15 ft. of water around it. Hard targets come in a lot of forms explore them all and eventually you will score and have some great winter fun!
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry