Scott Brown wrote:
Hi all,

I live in Western North Carolina, where the weather has been anything But
normal. It has been unseasonably warm here, and today I was going to take
the boat out, but wouldn't you know, woke up to high winds overcast skies
and a bitter cold snap in the air. Was wondering if any of you could tell
me what works best in winter. I have never really fished in winter as have
had no such luck, I have always thought, winter=Deep, and I hate fishing
deep. Is this true? I like boat docks or other structures, but hate deep,
although my tackle salesman has told me that verticle jigging was the way to
go this time of year, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in
advance,
Scooter



Bass in your part of the world don't actually have winter, do they?

I love late fall/winter fishing. By late fall/early winter I mean water
temps under 50 but warm enough that I don't have to cut a damned hole in
the surface to catch a fish. The bass bunch up in predictable areas now.
Some times (most times in many lakes, but much less so in others) those
places they bunch up in are deep. But in others they might only be 8 to
12 feet a lot of the time. Whatever combination of conditions offers
them the most environmental stability in any particular habitat.

Today where I was fishing, the air temp was in the low 50s and it was
cloudy and calm. The water was 39 to 41. I caught 20 bass, all on smoke
grubs fished on 1/8 and 1/4 ounce jigheads on light spinning gear. A
couple came from less than 20 feet, but most came from 28 to 34 feet.
They weren't giants, but it was a fun day. Here's the biggest one...

http://www.richz.com/fishing/images/...h-12-11-04.jpg