Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Tuesday, 27 February 2024 13:48

The Cold of Winter
by Mike Gerry

When you get in your boat in the cold of winter and your bones reflect off the weather it’s not easy mentally or physically. You start to wonder where do I start? You look out over the lake and there is no visible grass, there is no obvious structure and your mind says where do I start and how can I put some fish in the boat?
I believe there are some obvious patterns, you just have to put a little thought into it; as every lake whether Guntersville or others they all form underwater points that make great winter fishing spots.
Bass move to contour breaks, points and structure in the cold, they become creatures of habit when those cold winter days are upon us you just have to locate the areas they have moved to. The first thing I suggest is you start surveying the bottom for depth change with your Lowrance HDS unit. Look for areas where under water points meet structure like deep stumps and old shell beds that form a hard bottom.

In most lakes the deep points hold plenty of bottom structure and for Guntersville it always seems as though the grass has formed somewhere along the underwater point and still has some relevance in the winter.
Now that you have located some possible structure and underwater points, I suggest you fish the point from deepest area to the shallow top of the point; I believe that bass will work up and down the point as the day moves on. Your job is to thoroughly work the area until you’re sure you have covered it completely. Working from the deepest part of the point to the top allows you to be precise and cover all the edges and drops around the point, and I believe in most cases the bass will hold at the bottom, puts you in position early in your fishing trip to find active fish.

Work all over the bottom structure in the winter as keeping contact with the bottom is key to catching fish in the cold, whether its 3 feet or 12 feet, the bottom is where the fish will be until they move up to spawn. Try depths from shallow to deep as warming winter water moves the fish.

Captain Mike