Fishing Tip of the Week – 01/22/20

Fishing Tip of the Week

Friday, 31 January 2020 14:10

Dead winter vegetation by Mike Gerry Winter fishing can often be all about location. On a lake with lots of weeds, like Lake Guntersville, finding the right kind of weed, the correct time of day or conditions, is imperative. There are a few distinct things that you can count on to occur during the winter when it comes to the often hidden, yet prevalent vegetation. The key is, there is a big difference between dead vegetation and the green grassy type as the dead grass uses oxygen, and the green grass produces oxygen during certain parts of the day. The first thing is that low-light days or the early morning affects the vegetation. Dead weeds consume oxygen and give off very little oxygen to the fish that might want to hide around it during the early morning. Dead vegetation uses most of the oxygen around it trying to survive. This pushes the bass off the vegetation area during the low-light time of day, rainy or overcast days and can last all day long. The key is that bass like vegetation, but during the low-light hours of the day they will be off the vegetation, around the outside areas where there is more oxygen. Concentrating your fishing just off the edges or the drops around where it’s a little deeper can be the key to finding fish. Look for areas of grass that seem to come to a drop or have an end. This change, where the grass ends, will be where the bass concentrate until the sun comes out. As the day moves on and the sun comes out, the plants start giving off oxygen again as the sun aids the plant in using the light to help them grow and produce oxygen. This once again pushes the fish back into the grassy areas making grass patches much more productive during the sunny afternoon. We are experiencing this right now on Guntersville as the hours from 11 a.m. to about 3 p.m. is producing fish in the grass. In the low-light time we are having to find them along the edges. Oxygen is key to winter fishing, just like it is in the heat of the summer. It just reverses some of your thought process. Captain Mike