Winter Fishing
Victor Leake

Winter fishing can be a lot of fun, catching the sun shining for a couple
of days will often get the fish moving even with 42 degree water. I have
been out on the lake most every day, some days better than others but can usually find something to stretch my line.

The white bass can all most always be found off wind blown points, if not the main lake points then move into the coves and fish the secondary points. Lead headed jigs with white grubs work very well as will the lipless crank baits like the rattle traps. In line spinners work well on these fighters year around, try some with just a bit of Chartreuse color in them.

Stripe bass can also be found mixed in with the sandies, I have also
found them in the backs of coves around brush. Usually these fish are open water feeders but they seem to have forgotten that, I have talked with a few crappie fishermen who report they are catching some strippers inside the docks around their brush piles. Any bait that looks and acts like a minnow or shad will catch these hard fighting fish. On a resent outing with Jamie who came in from Canada to fish a few days here, we found some strippers in standing timber, Jamie even caught a 7 pounder on a jig&pig combo while searching for large mouth bass.

Crappie are biting well around that magic 12 foot range they seem to
like so much. Tiny jigs and minnows produce the best. I have been told and have seen that you will catch several small ones for each keeper size fish.
The larger crappie come on larger jigs a little deeper, if you can get the lure
past the small fish you stand a better chance of catching some nice crappie.
The brush around the oil derrick and under the 51 bridge as well as around the private docks are working best.

The large mouth bass have been the hardest to catch of late. Slowly
working a jig around wood seems to be the best pattern that I have found. On the days that the wind lays down, so that you can work the areas very slowly the bass will still feed, but their strike zone is very tight; miss it by two
inches and you will not get bit. For that reason, make sure you place the lure
around every lay down and hit every fish holding spot on that lay down. To catch a few bass the other day we had to flip 5 or 6 times to each tree before we would get bit.

Catfish don't seem to mind the cold water, as they are still feeding very
well around the creek channels and off rock ledges. Cut shad is still the
top bait for these fish and the blues are top producers right now. Flat head
catfish have slowed down in the main lake area, but channel cat's and blues or feeding well from 12 foot down to 20. Jug lines that are drifting seem to produce the best as they cover more water for the roving schools of catfish.
Schools of catfish can be found far out away from shore just looking for the shad, for this reason the drifting jug lines work the best.

When going out in the winter be sure to tell someone where you are going
and about when to expect you back. A small slip into 42 degree water can
kill within minutes, carry extra clothes and some way to make a fire or to get
warm, little things like that can mean the difference between discomfort and
death.

Fish often, catch all you want; keep just what you need, and release the
rest for the future.