Fall/Winter Bait Questions...Not frozen temps!

[Jinxd12]

I have been committed to swim baits this year, and not putting them down for stupid drop shots or whatever catches dinks.

Soooo....now I have questions and need feedback. It doesn't freeze here so fishing all year is achievable. I do t have the patience to CRAWL a HUD on the bottom.

Do people throw and catch fish on the same baits they used all spring and summer? Yes I know conditions change so baits change, but Cali/Az etc, water doesnt freeze.

Will throwing a rat, a crawler, TK, gills in the shallows as they were all summer still get fish? Or is the answer "sure but not the best tool for the job". 

Opinions, theories, ideas all welcome!

 

 

 

[bigpoppabass]

It is all about water temps. 

[Rogervang]

I'm in california and I mostly throw soft baits on the bottom during winter. I can get away with the wake bites during fall. If I really want a wake bite during winter, I'll fish a spotted bass lake. They are usally more aggressive than large mouth and even with that, the spotted bites slows down also.  I dont have any luck fishing gill profile in the shallows but I do fishing them deeper. As the weather gets cooler the deeper the fishes move. Atleast in my lakes. I've caught very few fishes within 10ft of water during winter but they are there. If I do fish a gill bait, itll he a bigger gill profile. By the way, 99% of the time I'm night fishing. 

[azsouth]

It is going to depend if you are staying urban or going to the regular lakes. 

[Amistoad]

I fish a power plant lake mostly. Winter means finding the right structure, bait, and cover. It can be shad offshore in 18’ or frogs and tilapia shallow near reeds and pads. Find the bait and structure, then use whatever technique necessary to fool the bass. Like mentioned above, bluegill in 10* feet is a good tactic for me too. 

[Jinxd12]

9 hours ago, azsouth said:

It is going to depend if you are staying urban or going to the regular lakes. 

Both! Obviously the urbans stay warmer and I'll have to experiment.

If I'm fishing salt river pockets, I'm thinking the same tactics will work along shorelines, and beating the bank.

[azsouth]

yes as far as urban, stick to the same game, usually with less bites but better fish..... main lakes dragging hudds and glides.

[gradycodd]

Fishing all the spots you were catching them in the summer sounds super unproductive in the winter. Fish move deep. Im not saying they wont go shallow now and then, but you're going to be putting the bait in barren water the majority of the time. Gotta be willing to adapt and follow the fish and the forage. This is in reference to lake fish, I have no clue what city fish do.. 

[Jinxd12]

9 hours ago, gradycodd said:

Fishing all the spots you were catching them in the summer sounds super unproductive in the winter. Fish move deep. Im not saying they wont go shallow now and then, but you're going to be putting the bait in barren water the majority of the time. Gotta be willing to adapt and follow the fish and the forage. This is in reference to lake fish, I have no clue what city fish do.. 

Agree, 98% of my fishing is from the bank. So fishing deep is really not attainable. 

I've seen guys using drones to drop lures in the ocean...maybe I can try that, a 100 yard retrieve!! J/k!

I know the fish move deep, but they all don't move deep...or do they?

[Mossypumpkin]

Deep is relative to your water body. We have some ponds with a 14’ max depth. Deep is anything over 8’. Look for a part of the pond with any current. Unless the pond is fed by underwater springs, it has current somewhere. Current makes channel. Channels are deeper. Inlet or outlet. Could be a dam, bridge, or even a small culvert. Deep is usually attainable from shore. Just gotta know where to look. And they may not necessarily be deep, they may just be VERY close to deep like on the upper part of a channel edge in 4-6’ but only a tail kick away from 10-12’

[dylan628]

Tune that Tk as a jerkbait. I’ve done that before in winter here in NY and have had amazing results. Fish it the same as you would a jerkbait but instead of a 110mm bait you’re throwing a swimbait. For the tune what I do is turn the tail I believe mode A with the original lip throw slightly heavier hooks on so it has a super slow sink and target those “deeper” waters. 

[charlie.m.jr]

Like others have said here, deep is a relative term. I live in the land of TVA lakes where fish are known for their off shore haunts. With that being said, in the spring and fall it does amaze me how shallow our fish get. Especially in the fall. I mean dirt shallow, like how do you not see them swimming where you got bit. That being said, they are always close to "deep water". Deep water being the river channel, creek channel, or a ditch.  Even in the early spring or late fall (water temps in the mid to upper 40s, + ) there will be fish that do pull up shallow to feed. A lot of it here is just covering water until you find them and capitalizing on the opportunity. Where a bait that doesn't get down to the bottom will shine, is this time of year. A lot of our fish here suspend over the deep water just off of the ledges and they are notoriously hard to catch like that. That's where a big slow lazy glide comes into play and you can wreck them on it. It is the same principle and mentality as what Dylan628 said about jerk baits, but with swimbaits instead. 

[Jace D]

I’m sure that the point that is being made about fish going deep in the winter is probably true for a lot of the fish and for a large portion of the day. However, over the years I have caught enough big bass in the cold temps of winter in water 10 ft or less to convince me that the fish will go wherever the bait is. So, I’ll say this, if you have trout or Kokanee or any other type of cold water fish in your water, you will find huge bass in very shallow, cold water in the middle of winter. If the preferred food is shallow then the bass will be there. It definitely seems like it becomes more of a timing deal where the fish only come shallow for a short time, feed, and then move back to deeper water or to some kind of warm structure (trees, sunny rocks). Also, the bait doesn’t necessarily have to be moving ultra slow when the fish are actively feeding even if it’s really cold. When they’re ready to eat it can get crazy for those short periods and you can catch big ones on nearly every cast. Just try to figure out the times when the fish want to feed and be there when they are. 
 

It’s just my own theory, but I don’t actually think that the really big bass ever go very deep. I could be wrong, but how many times have you heard of a 10 lb bass being caught in 50+ ft of water on anything? Again, I may be totally wrong, but I’m fairly convinced of it. 

Keep throwing the stuff that you have confidence in and fish areas where you know the fish come to feed. Eventually you’ll see something or you’ll catch some and it will teach you what you need to know to repeat the process again and again. 

[boylah]

I'm in norcal so it's colder but never hard and what to do been said already but here's recap:

- fish slower...hud, glides or big jerk bait. wake not your best bet.

- fish deeper (relative to your water)...it's warmer at the bottom

- fish will still come up shallow for bait, time of day...look for hard structures/cover

I've done poorly in winters but above seems to resonate. I don't throw slow huds but when conditions were right, on a warm winter day, i caught a nice 7.8lber on a Baitsanity glide.