Cold Weather = Big Bass

By: Michael Manning


       Earlier in the week I drove by a small neighborhood lake and immediately said to myself "there has to be bass in there."  Luckily it had a public park right on the water so it was game on. That's the great thing about having a kayak; you can pretty much fish anywhere. One of the best resources a kayak angler has is Google Earth because a quick satellite view around your address will show you every little hidden pond or lake that doesn't get pressured like the big lakes.

 

       Throughout the week the temperature rose quickly and it almost hit 80 degrees on Friday. Even though an abrupt cool down to 40 degrees was coming on Saturday, those few days of nice weather warmed the lakes and ponds up enough to get the bass moving back up to the shallows to feed. Saturday morning was 40 degrees with light rain and 15-20 mph winds. We dropped in at the new pond and started casting everything we had with no love from the bass. After a couple of hours we packed up the trucks and headed for another lake to try our luck.

       The second lake looked promising with plenty of rocks, docks, and submerged bushes. With the cold front still pushing 15 mph winds across the lake, I went around throwing a heavy jig, drop shot, and jerk bait at every cove, point, and piece of structure I could find with no luck. With no love on the slow baits I decided to speed it up a bit with a crankbait diving 4 to 6 feet. As soon as I start casting it my buddy Jesse lets out a yell and I turn around to see him hooked up. When I paddled over to him I saw a massive mouth come flying out of the water beside his kayak. He landed a nice fat citation largemouth on a crankbait similar to one I had just tied on.

 

       Now it was my turn. I picked apart the two coves with a little shelter from the wind with no luck on the crankbait and I was starting to think that I was leaving with a big skunk. I noticed that the crank bait was quickly hitting the bottom and the jerk bait didn't work, so my last chance was to slow roll a spinner bait at all depths to see if the slow change would work. Second cast with the spinner bait and it was game on. After a nice fight while dodging tree limbs in the wind, I landed my fatty of the day. She fell about 1 inch short of a length citation, but that fish made the whole day worth it.

      The warm weather days of catching double digit bass on topwater seem to be gone, but the bass don't head south for the winter. These fish will move off the banks and you may have to slow down your presentation to catch the lethargic bass in the winter, but a slight temperature change in the water can get them chasing baits again. Don't think that just because the weather cooled down the bass fishing over, these hogs will bite all winter. With a little research on winter bass fishing, you can catch these fish all year long. Comment with any questions about catching bass in the winter.