It was past 9 a.m. when we settled in for the short ride to the creek arm of this river-connected oxbow, and the air temperature held steady at 35 degrees. Water temperature was 40 to 42. Jason Christie, No. 1 bass tournament angler in the world, wanted to throw a jerkbait and knew where to do it.
His target area this winter morning features a deep channel (9- to 14-feet) with lots of wood cover along the edges of the drop. During winter, bass normally hold somewhere near the drop into the channel, Christie said, but you’ve got to determine their preferred position and depth each day.
“They might be up on the shelf, holding near the old dead trees or out in the channel a little,” Christie said. “Last week they were up on the shelf and I caught two 30-pound limits. It was one of those days when every big fish in the lake wants to bite – a day when they knock 3-feet of slack in the line when they hit your Rogue.”
The day he referenced was Dec. 27, 2014, one of Pooh’s cold, blustery days with a cloud ceiling so low you could touch it from the front deck and intermittent sleet and freezing rain. Water was relatively clear with minimal current.
“It was an absolutely perfect Rogue day. It seems the worse the weather the better that jerkbait works. I don’t know about today though,” he said, glancing up at the bluebird sky. “The water has a bit more color and the current is kicking through here. The water color I can deal with, but the current is making it tougher to work the jerkbait, and may have those bass holding right on the bottom against the wood.”
Current is a factor many jerkbait anglers overlook. Because a proper twitch of the bait requires a certain amount of slack out, current can catch the line and make working the bait and keeping “in touch” with it difficult. More importantly, strong current will position the fish in areas where the jerkbait is ineffective – either super deep or hugged right up against the down-current side of breaks like stumps or rockpiles.Continue reading this article by Lawrence Taylor at this LINK.…
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