Each year many anglers across the Commonwealth look greatly forward to the start of fall and winter. They fish when the north wind blows 20 mph and on the blazing blue days after a cold front comes roaring over the Blue Ridge Mountains. They fish in the rain and snow and on freezing days. They fish when others stay in the comfortable confines of their homes.
Why do they do this? Because they don’t want to miss a single opportunity to enjoy some of the best bass fishing of the year and the chance at a trophy. These are the diehards and this article is for them.
I’d like to share some proven “old” tactics for catching late fall/early winter bass and some new ones I think are still catching one and then also a couple predictions. I hope they help you where you fish this fall/winter.
The Old
Some of you will scoff at the ability of the following baits to catch today’s bass, but consider this: does a carpenter throw away his favorite Stanley hammer because of the advent of nail guns? No. He keeps it because there are times when that hammer is better than even a nail gun and that is why I continue to use traditional baits like a Dave’s Tournament Tackle Tiger Shad or Berkley spinnerbait, a three-inch swimbait, a Berkley Bad Shad crankbait (like a Rapala Shad Rap), even a bucktail.
The spinnerbait can be deadly when you find bass where you are fishing harassing baitfish in one to eight feet of water. Just get your bait into the school, let it sink and the blades flutter. If all goes well, bass will grab it before you even turn the handle or within two cranks of the start of your retrieve.
The swimbait is an extremely effective lure since it can be fished many ways. Burn it along the top when fish are chasing bait and won’t hit anything else. Cast and count it down to fish on your depth finder. Slow roll it along the bottom. Just match the size of your bait to the baitfish and you will have a great chance to catch fish with a swimbait in the coming months.
A tight wobble crankbait like the original Rapala Shad Rap is deadly in the cool water of late fall and early winter but they cast like potato chips. When Berkley introduced the Bad Shad line of crankbaits that resemble the Shad Rap but are made from high impact plastic the classic was improved.
The size 5 and size 7 baits are most easily thrown on seven-foot spinning rods using 10-lb. monofilament like Berkley XL but some anglers will also use 10-pound X9 braid. The tight wobble resembles a cold-shocked baitfish. These are great over rocks in 5-12’ when you cannot find any fish on bait shallow.
A football jig with a creature bait trailer is still a great choice for targeting winter bass on the bottom. This bulky bait gets down fast and permits you to dredge the bottom and bottom structure for those post front, bottom-hugging, pale giants that reside in your home water.
The New
FFS jig and minnow variations are too numerous to count and have been driving a lot of the overall bass tackle sales for over a year now. Anglers figured out they not only work on the BASSMasters and MLF circuits but also here in Virginia last winter. They are still new to many anglers and should be good again this winter, but it’s getting to the point now there are so many choices it’s confusing. Let’s try and simplify things for you.
Purchase a few types of these jig heads in 1/8, ¼ and 3/8 sizes. The jig heads should have some kind of premium lure keeper on them, high profile eyes, a super sharp hook and a 90-degree line tie. You want your jig to keep your minnow bait horizontal in the water column when you are strolling or shaking it to entice fish you see on your FFS depthfinder. Some hooks I like that permit this are the VMC Moon Eye, the Owner Range Roller, the Gamakatzu Horizon Head, the Damiki Rig Jig Head and the Buckeye Scope Head Jig.
What minnow does one use on that jig? Yes, that’s a good question. The Damiki Armor Shad, the Crush City Freeloader and Mooch Minnow, the Fitt Nottafluke, the Berkley Drip Minnow, the ZMan Graph Shad, the list goes on and on… My suggestion is to get a few and try them to find out which works best for you.
Don’t overlook the effectiveness of a flutter spoon this coming season. The 7/8-ounce Toothache Spoon is the top selling lure in the history of Lake Anna, and it works everywhere anglers fish it. Vertically jig it when fish are on the bottom or cast it out and yo-yo it back to the boat (fluttering) through fish you see on your FFS. There are many more fluttering, metal spoons now on the market.
The Potentially Great
The following is a speculative section on gear I think could become popular this winter. Time will tell, but you won’t know unless you try it.
The Berkley Triple Minnow Rig presents anglers something new in the art of presenting a jighead and minnow. Featuring three minnows working in harmony, the Triple Minnow Rig presents a discreet bait ball within the methodology of mid-strolling. Developed in the Berkley Labs, its line-through design ensures the main-line minnow rolls effortlessly, delivering flawless, lifelike action. Clear fluorocarbon and thermoplastic construction minimize visibility, making the rig nearly invisible underwater. Secured with precision, it stays in place without damaging the line while reducing tangles. One minnow has a hook and is on the line-through jig head while the other two are two attached to fluorocarbon arms to offer a bait ball presentation. You can purchase the whole kit, complete with Berkley Drip Minnows or just the arm if you want to dress it yourself.
Not much has been written about the use of bucktails with FFS. The 6th Sense Flock Hair Jig is a modern take on this classic bait. This bait was designed to redefine finesse and offshore ledge fishing and features a preacher jig profile enriched with premium silicone and mylar skirt materials along with bucktail hair and duck feathers. I think it could be an ideal combination for targeting bass feeding on shad this winter visible on FFS as it has good castability and signal return.
The Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flux Gill was bred from the relentless pursuit of intertwining scent dispersion and technique driven shapes to dominate pressured waters and entice the weariest bass. Scent dispersion is at the heart of the Flux-Gill, driving the unique flow through or ‘flux’ design that allows for water to pass through the body of the bait constantly dispersing fresh scent. Featuring Berkley’s exclusive PowerBait® MaxScent formula, this proven scent-release technology expands the strike zone and draws fish in and to deliver bites other baits won’t. The bait looks like a tear drop or half-digested shad with dozens of holes through it. I used one on a bass tank at the Green Top Outdoor Expo and the fish LOVED it rigged on a belly-weighted hook on fluorocarbon line.
Tiger Crankbaits’ Finesse Spider Bites should be on everyone’s list to try this fall/winter. This is a bait that follows the “fuzzy dice” trend certain pro anglers have been employing on their respective trails. Rig it on a dropshot or split shot rig and you can show bass something they’ve probably not seen yet and that could equal good action. The Finesse Spider baits consist of a nearly square hunk of plastic (looks like a die) with sections of silicone skirt material run through it. The bait resembles something out of Stranger Things versus something in the natural world, but I can say those bass tank fish at also couldn’t get enough of it.
Instead of using straight fluorocarbon line (which tends to be stiff in cold weather and knot strength is iffy) anglers may want to try a new line from Berkley designed specifically for forward facing sonar fishing. Berkley FORWARD Braid is said to give anglers more ability to put the bait where they want it to generate strikes when using finesse techniques using a proprietary longitudinal construction that maintains the line’s cross-section integrity over time to deliver longer casts than conventional braid and reduces fiber cross-over for higher sensitivity and an increased signal back to the angler. FORWARD’s smaller diameters also provide faster sink rates for finesse applications than typical braid.
Good luck on your home water this winter. Try some of these baits and tactics. Send us a pic if you land a giant!
