How do you find winter patterns ???

Our fish definitely seem to have gone into winter patterns. The scattered
feeding fish I found a week ago are gone. I did spot a feeding school of
stripers on Saturday, but by Sunday even those seem to have disappeared.
What is your method for locating winter fish?

Deep water isn't really an option here as we just don't have any... well
not the kind you would think of. There are occassional deep holes, but
mostly everything here is 1-10 feet with the vast majoriy closer to 1 than
10. I do know which side lakes and backwaters have larger areas off 10 foot
water, but it just has not been producing for me.

We worked cranks, senkos, and drop shots most of the day, but about mid
afternoon I said the heck with it and headed out to the main river to flip
heavy brush on current swept banks where I put our only two keepers in the
boat. Frustratingly, one of my buddies hooked several excellent fish
throwing cranks in back waters. The same thing we did most of the day with
no success.


--
Bob La Londe
Fishing Arizona & The Colorado River
Fishing Forums & Contests
http://www.YumaBassMan.com







--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I just posted what About calls a "hub" pulling together all the
articles I have written on winter fishing - covers everything from how
to dress for the cold to pictures of winter catches.

In one word for winter fishing in my part of the world - jig and pig.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

My pattern for winter bass fishing:

Don't get more than 10 minutes from the warmth of the cabin!

First session...take my spinner bait rod and try all of Joe's spinner
bait tips. About twenty minutes to see if that is producing.

Second session (after a hot cup of coffee)...take my worm rod, cover the
same water using all my worm tricks.

Third session (after I put on another layer of clothes)....take the rod
that produced something from the first two sessions...skip third session
if the first two sessions didn't produce anything!

I accept the fact that winter fishing isn't like spring fishing.

My winter bass fishing motto...."If at first you don't succeed, try one
more time, if that don't work, quit.....no use making a damn fool of
yourself!".

John

John, I'm up to fourteen retrieves now
(http://secretweaponlures.com/retrieves.htm), but I don't use all of them in
really cold water. For that, I sometimes drag a short-arm spinnerbait along
the bottom like a jig, or I move it just fast enough for a big Colorado
blade to revolve around the blade shaft.

A man I met on the bank of Hickahala Creek gave me a 1/2-ounce, red-headed,
chartreuse & white short-arm spinnerbait and told me to toss it out past a
cypress tree. As he coached me, I let it settle to the bottom and then
pulled it through the knees, too slowly for the blade to swivel, until a
three-pound bass slurped it up. No strike... just squishy weight on the
line. A few weeks later the events I recounted in
http://secretweaponlures.com/swe03.htm occurred. That story was written
about a frigid winter day -- January, I think.

Joe
--------------------------------------------------------:~ 0")))
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"John B" wrote in message
...

My pattern for winter bass fishing:

Don't get more than 10 minutes from the warmth of the cabin!

First session...take my spinner bait rod and try all of Joe's spinner
bait tips. About twenty minutes to see if that is producing.

Second session (after a hot cup of coffee)...take my worm rod, cover the
same water using all my worm tricks.

Third session (after I put on another layer of clothes)....take the rod
that produced something from the first two sessions...skip third session
if the first two sessions didn't produce anything!

I accept the fact that winter fishing isn't like spring fishing.

My winter bass fishing motto...."If at first you don't succeed, try one
more time, if that don't work, quit.....no use making a damn fool of
yourself!".

John

John, I'm up to fourteen retrieves now
(http://secretweaponlures.com/retrieves.htm), but I don't use all of
them in really cold water. For that, I sometimes drag a short-arm
spinnerbait along the bottom like a jig, or I move it just fast enough
for a big Colorado blade to revolve around the blade shaft.

A man I met on the bank of Hickahala Creek gave me a 1/2-ounce,
red-headed, chartreuse & white short-arm spinnerbait and told me to toss
it out past a cypress tree. As he coached me, I let it settle to the
bottom and then pulled it through the knees, too slowly for the blade to
swivel, until a three-pound bass slurped it up. No strike... just
squishy weight on the line. A few weeks later the events I recounted in
http://secretweaponlures.com/swe03.htm occurred. That story was written
about a frigid winter day -- January, I think.
Joe
-----------------

Joe, I couldn't get the first link to work, but the second one was a
great read.

The back lake here looks a lot like that creek...lots of cypress trees.
I have had some luck with the small arm spinners, just kinda bouncing
them along the bottom, exact same color as you mentioned....but I have
had better luck with fishing some of my go to worms the same way, just
bouncing them along the bottom through the cover, and also wacky rigging
them on a Texas rig. But it is really slow compared to the rest of the
year....I got spoiled this spring!

I also rigged up another rod today with Ronnie's winter
recommendation....jig-n-pig. Never ever fished that combo before, but my
son also endorsed the idea.

John

I also rigged up another rod today with Ronnie's winter
recommendation....jig-n-pig. Never ever fished that combo before, but my
son also endorsed the idea.

John

Glad he thinks that will work, too. I am sure he knows a lot more
about fishing that I do.

You have seen my post that in the past two weeks I have won and got
big fish in one tournament and got big fish in another with the jig
and pig. A jig and pig is known for catching big bass.

If you are fishing a lot of shallow wood cover like cypress tree roots
and knees I would use a fairly light jig - 1/8 to 1/4. A heavier jig
will drive you crazy in heavy wood. Also try to find a jig with the
eye set at an flat angle to the head - if it is at a right angle the
head will hang on every limb.

Did your son have any color suggestions? I basically use brown and
brown in clear water and black and blue in stained water.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

On Nov 26, 10:54 pm, (John B) wrote:
John, I'm up to fourteen retrieves now
(http://secretweaponlures.com/retrieves.htm), but I don't use all of
them in really cold water.

Joe, I couldn't get the first link to work, but the second one was a
great read.

Take the "s" off retrieves and it works.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

Joe, under no. 14 (doodle) you mention a baby bottle nipple and a treble
hook. As all my granddaughters are now in sippy cups we have a number of
bottles sitting in the back of the cabinet. How is the nipple rigged? I"d
like to play mind games with my fellow bass clubbers.

--
Shelby Foles, Realtor
Property Systems Real Estate
Foreclosure Specialist
General Listings and Sales
Direct Phone 678-409-7891
Toll Free 1-877-522-5577, ext 8074
www.propertysystems.com
www.shelbyfoles.com
"Joe Haubenreich" wrote in
message . ..
John, I'm up to fourteen retrieves now
(http://secretweaponlures.com/retrieves.htm), but I don't use all of them
in really cold water. For that, I sometimes drag a short-arm spinnerbait
along the bottom like a jig, or I move it just fast enough for a big
Colorado blade to revolve around the blade shaft.

A man I met on the bank of Hickahala Creek gave me a 1/2-ounce,
red-headed, chartreuse & white short-arm spinnerbait and told me to toss
it out past a cypress tree. As he coached me, I let it settle to the
bottom and then pulled it through the knees, too slowly for the blade to
swivel, until a three-pound bass slurped it up. No strike... just squishy
weight on the line. A few weeks later the events I recounted in
http://secretweaponlures.com/swe03.htm occurred. That story was written
about a frigid winter day -- January, I think.

Joe
--------------------------------------------------------:~ 0")))
Subscribe to our mail list for intel briefings and
chances to win free tackle every month at
http://secretweaponlures.com
Better designs = better performance = better results


"John B" wrote in message
...

My pattern for winter bass fishing:

Don't get more than 10 minutes from the warmth of the cabin!

First session...take my spinner bait rod and try all of Joe's spinner
bait tips. About twenty minutes to see if that is producing.

Second session (after a hot cup of coffee)...take my worm rod, cover the
same water using all my worm tricks.

Third session (after I put on another layer of clothes)....take the rod
that produced something from the first two sessions...skip third session
if the first two sessions didn't produce anything!

I accept the fact that winter fishing isn't like spring fishing.

My winter bass fishing motto...."If at first you don't succeed, try one
more time, if that don't work, quit.....no use making a damn fool of
yourself!".

John

On Nov 27, 9:00 am, "Da Chief" wrote:
Joe, under no. 14 (doodle) you mention a baby bottle nipple and a treble
hook. As all my granddaughters are now in sippy cups we have a number of
bottles sitting in the back of the cabinet. How is the nipple rigged? I"d
like to play mind games with my fellow bass clubbers.

--
Shelby Foles, Realtor

Some of my uncles used that rig many years ago. Stick the eye of the
treble thru the hole in the business end of the nipple from the
inside, with the three hooks sitting around the bottom of the nipple.
You can fish it from a long pole and short line. Just kiss the surface
of the water with the bottom of the nipple - makes a sucking,
popping sound if you are doing it right. At least that is what they
did with it.

They also use a balloon - hook an uninflated balloon to a hook on the
long pole with a short heavy line and skitter it along shoreline
cover, keeping it on the surface.

They had lots of tricks. Some of them worked.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com

I also rigged up another rod today with Ronnie's winter
recommendation....jig-n-pig. Never ever fished that combo before, but my
son also endorsed the idea.
John
======

Glad he thinks that will work, too. I am sure he knows a lot more about
fishing than I do.

Ronnie
======

Thanks for the tips on working the jig Ronnie, and the link correction!

As for the kid knowing more about fishing, he would be the first to tell
you....most good fishermen are created equal, after that, it's all about
time on the water! And that's one thing the kid is not short of.
grin.

John