Last Chance for Bass

Theres not much worth while open water bass fishing left. Tomorrow might be good with the warm temperatures but I don’t see the fishing getting much better now. I fished for bass on Thursday, Sat, and today and caught 2 keepers between those 3 days so its not too hot. even the little ones are becomming more and more tight lipped day by day. If you have a spot that you know is holding good fish though, I suggest you try a shakey head worm. I’ve been experimenting with this technique the last 2 weeks and have been doing pretty good on it. Of corse, there have been a lot of small fish, but I can outfish any other plastic i believe with my shakey heads right now. Today i used a reaction inovations 1/4 ounce jig with a reaction inovations flirt. That worm has excellent action and gets the fish’s attention fast. If anybody has any reports of good fishing, please share, I would like to hear. Otherwise, Time to dust off the cobwebs on your ice rods boys

heres a whopping 14 incher from today

That is not the greatest news since i am probably heading out on a blast and cast trip thursday. i will start the morning duckhunting somewhere between Redwing and Winona. And then when the ducks get done flying we are busting out the rods and was going to try and catch some bass yet. Any pointers on wheres whens or how would be much appreciated. thanks and good luck to all. ike

Like I said in the report, I don’t have much idea on where the bigger fish are. but the only way I have been able to catch fish is either wood (docks, laydowns etc.) or Rocks…I heard fish are still hitting on wingdams but I can never catch anything when I try the wingdams myself good luck if you get out. I think i will be hitting the woods for squirrels or something.

Any one else got any words of encouragement for thursdays outing. Not looking for spots just loooking for ideas of where to find them and how to catch them. thanks. ike

We’ve still been catching quality fish on the upper pools. The key seems to be fishing near wintering areas with some current and wood in 4-8 fow. Spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, and tubes fished as slow as possible have been putting fish in the boat. If you catch one fish there are probably going to be many more in the area so fish it thoroughly. Don’t be afraid to fish areas with significant current either if they’re close to wintering areas.

Matt

could you please define wintering areas? everyone is always talking about “wintering” areas but I’m not really sure what this would be. I can figure out that the fish are going to go deeper, but what else should i be looking for? thanks,
Cade

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I can figure out that the fish are going to go deeper

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That isn’t 100% accurate…Have you ever been ice fishing in 3 ft of water and seen a 5 pounder swim by??

Having deep water NEARBY is something to look for, but not the only factor in finding a wintering area.

4 ft and less

Another

Like Slop mentioned, I have seen many LM in shallow water all winter. As long as there are weeds and deep water nearby they can and will winter in these types of areas. I know of 3 areas on pool 7 that hold large numbers of LM through the winter and 2 out of 3 areas are 6 fow or less. But, the thing they have in common is weeds, very light current, and deeper water nearby

Yes i Know that largemouth often winter up shallow…i catch them often on tip ups thru the ice. but I am not having success in these types of areas currently for bigger bass. I have tried shady maple, often none for good bass tip up action, and have not got a bite. I have fished shallow wood, and that is where the pictured fish was caught, but I can’t find an abundance of these keeper fish in the shallow areas. So i guess my question would be, What areas ARE holding the keeper fish? Because they sure don’t seem to be shallow, right now. Also, what kind of baits would the bass alow me to throw? This time last year i remember still burning spinnerbaits and traps, but we have had a completely different fall this year it seems. I have had a hard time w/ confidence in a big bulky spinnerbait or swim jig.

on a different note-
Smallies? I never catch them through the ice. I have been doing a lot of research and I plan to fish the channel some this weekend to try and find some. I’ll see if i can get my friend out with me with the camera and see what we find. I know some areas that should be good but I have no experience with bass fishing when the water is this cold, especially for smallies.

Any information anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to send me a pm. Thanks!
Cade

ok so where are you.

I would agree with most everything you guys bring up. To clear things a little I was speaking specifically of LM. As a general statement I would say a good place to start as to finding wintering areas is where the popular places to ice fish are. From my experience if an area is popular for producing panfish through the ice it generally (but not always)has a population of largemouth wintering in that general area as well. Some of these wintering areas I know of don’t have any deep water at all, the deep water is in the staging areas outside of the bays themselves. Once I find what I think is a wintering bay I then move out to the first secondary channel or where it intersects the main river. I’ve found most of my fish staging in these areas to feed until moving into the wintering areas as water temps dip into the 30’s

Matt

OK, so concerning the RIVER… we know Spring bass are moving shallow, Summer bass are mostly shallow, Fall bass are shallow and moving deeper, and Wintering bass are still near the shallows…

…can’t RIVER guys just fish for bass shallow year-round and be successful?

I caught all my fish shallow the other night on Pool 6. Biggest being 4.5lbs with another 15 fish around the 2lb range. The big fish came off a jig and most of the others came off of tubes.

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OK, so concerning the RIVER… we know Spring bass are moving shallow, Summer bass are mostly shallow, Fall bass are shallow and moving deeper, and Wintering bass are still near the shallows…

…can’t RIVER guys just fish for bass shallow year-round and be successful?

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After what I’ve learned and witnessed this year…that’s not entirely true. I guess it really depends on the day and water temp consistency in the fall. The “good” fish were nowhere to be found in the shallows. You would be lucky to pick up 2 14″ fish if you were lucky.

light to no current in 24 to 30 feet of water with jigs is what i’ve heard