"Scott Brown" wrote in message
. ..
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


Can't comment on Winter out west Scott, but I'm in Raleigh and fish Jordan,
Harris and Falls Lakes with some regularity during the cold months (no
skiers or PWCers to deal with) and some adages hold true sometimes, and
other times, they don't.

If it is a clear, chilly and low wind day, absolutely, fish deep or don't
fish at all around here. I look for the thermocline on the LCD and fish
ledges that may criss cross that warmer water in the water column. Fishing
is usually slow like this, but when you do get bit, it is normally a better
quality of fish.

The absloute BEST days to fish in cold weather around here (again, being the
Piedmont of NC and not the mountains) is to wait for dreary days, even in
light rain. Usually I like to go after a day of rain, if it is still
overcast, as it sets up what has been my best pattern to find/figure out.
The runoff is usually at or above the lake water temp, which causes warm
water pockets in coves (or anywhere runoff is apparent near a bank), and it
also stains the water up some. Mix that with overcast, and the fish will
usually move up and appear to feed regularly. My largest bass ever caught
have been in this pattern, with bright (chrome usually) rat-l-traps, in
anywhere from 1' to 10' of water. If the water isn't so stained, go to a
quieter crank bait, and one with a baitfish color if you have one (shad,
tenn shad, and bleeding shad all work good in clearer water here). I find
Rapala's line of crank baits to be good, just enough rattle, good baitfish
paint schemes, and their bills can take a beating on submerged rocks and
brush without causing them to swim funny (lakes around here have rip-rap
rock in areas where this "warm water runoff" occurs, near bridges etc).

That said, the "pros" and "guides" around here will tell you to find
dropoffs, and deep flats, and fish dark color jigs/pigs too. I've done "ok"
trying that, but you literally have to be on top of the fish to catch them
that way so the swimming bait tends to "find" more fish for me to catch.
I've caught more fish during Dec-Feb slow rolling small spinnerbaits in deep
water than I have jigging for them, but I ain't a pro so my advice is worth
exactly what you're paying for it... :-)

Good luck out there. We're going to spend Christmas and New Year's at our
cabin up there outside Valle Crucis (near Boone, Foscoe, Linville, etc).
Hoping to see some snow on the ground this year for Christmas, figured for
us flatlanders, our cabin would be the best bet. So, do you ever do any
trout fishing up that way? Our land up there abuts a legal "fishing portion"
of one of the local streams and I've toyed with the idea of learning to fly
fish sometime for those little trout up there...