Two things stand out about winter bass fishing: The fish get a little bit pickier about where they want to be, and anglers don’t want to spend as much time running a bass boat around a frigid lake trying to find them. Thankfully, the key to overcoming both is a good map and some expert knowledge on what to look for. Here, pros Ron Shuffield and Michael Neal, both avid winter bass anglers, share their advice on how to map out reservoir bass when the mercury plummets.
Situational analysis: Water temperature is relative to region. In Ron Shuffield’s part of the Ozarks, the “winter bite” kicks in when the water temperature reaches about 53 degrees, usually spanning from the middle of December through February.
“I think a lot of bass follow a migratory movement, chasing bait in the fall, and they pull back out into the channels and stay in deeper holes in the wintertime,” Shuffield says. “Depth is relevant to the type of water in the immediate area. The very back of a creek might have a channel swing that’s 5 to 10 feet deep on top and 15 or 20 feet deep in the bottom, but it could be as shallow as 2 or 3 feet deep on top and 8 or 10 in the channel. It might only be a 15- to 20-foot-wide creek or a feeder ditch that courses through a flat area. What matters most is that there is a depth change.”
Attack plan: Hard, rocky bottom substrate and baitfish are the essential ingredients. Fish might set up anywhere along a creek channel, but Shuffield begins his search on outside bends. If he strikes out on the outside bends, he moves to inside bends, especially where scattered cover exists for bass to ambush prey.
“Some days they’re on the inside, usually when actively feeding, but they’re bunched up more on outside turns,” Shuffield explains. “You get better numbers on outside turns, but the bigger ones are near stumps or wood or rock on the inside turns.” Continue reading….