How Do You...

[exiledguide]

I'd fish a suspending Rogue, Football Jig and pig and 5 inch Chompers salty sinker.Also I've started using a home made Jika rig and I would give that a try and I'd also try slow rolling a spinner bait. In the winter I usually fish a lot slower and try to keep in contact with the bottom and I dead stick the salty sinker either texas rigged or wacky rigged.

[RSBreth]

Suspending jerkbaits are my #1 followed by a 4" or 5" grub on a light 1/16 or so jighead slowly swam so it almost suspends. Jigs near the bottom work sometimes, but coldwater Bass suspend most of the time I've found them active.

Some kind of cover (rocks, trees) on the steapest banks is where I'd start.

[drew03cmc]

Went to school at Baker; remembered you lived there; lake sizes you quoted were about right. Just drove through over Maple Leaf and swung by the 'Old Lake' for grins. Did some prairie restoration work along the road to the county lake. Used to hunt quail below the dam. Other assorted shenanigans at both lakes.

And you didn't holler at me? For shame! No, I am eager to bundle up and see if I can't do some damage this winter on bigger fish.

[fishinwrench]

You kinda have to take into consideration (regarding jerkbaits) that most ponds and small lakes don't have shad so the jerkbait bite is going to be dependent on fish that are "out sunning" on calm sunny days rather than fish keying on sickly shad, per a reservoir jerkbait bite.

Back in my strip pit days (before polarized glasses and suspending jerkbaits) we would climb the banks and look for suspending fish in the late Winter and all the times that we were able to spot them they would be about 20-30 feet off the steep rocky banks and ALWAYS facing the shoreline. We could never catch them by casting from the banks and it drove us crazy being able to see those fish but not get a single bite. When I finally broke down and went to the trouble of dragging (literally) a boat in there it was game on!

Charlie Brewer Slider worms always caught us our first nice bass of the year, but they had to be worked from the bank out. Countdown to about 7-10' then slow and steady.

[drew03cmc]

Thanks for the help guys. I look forward to seeing what I can do to handle the cravings for bass fishing over the winter.

[rps]

When the water is cold ... 55 degrees or less, I have had the best luck fishing Charlie Brewer style. Simple, small jig heads with short straight worms, paddle tail grubs, and small profile jigs with deer hair and salt pork eels. Reel just fast enough to keep the bait moving along the bottom.

[Quillback]

I've become a big jerkbait fan the last few years. They should start working soon, caught my PB, 9.5 lbs. on a McRip and my fishing buddy Jeb caught an 8 lb. last winter on an RC Lucky-E-Strike jerkbait. McSticks, McRips (run a little deeper than a McStick), Luck-Strike RC, IMA Flits, Lucky Craft Pointers, and Lucky Craft Bevy Shads (for a smaller profile). On the local lakes here in BV, fish will suspend over brushpiles in the winter, find the right brushpile and you can get a dozen bass out of it. Get yourself a good lure retriever also.

[Kayser]

Classic red/white spoons fished painfully slow; chartreuse crappie jigs under a float once it get super cold; small husky jerks on a 3-way rig with a sinker, drug slowly across the bottom; 3" smoke grubs on a light jighead, slow on the bottom; light, partially white bucktail jigs; and finally, live minnows. The key here is to fish so slow you can feel every little pebble or leaf you're coming across, or let the wind shake your float n' fly rig. Slow enough that a turkey wouldn't notice if it were looking right at you.

Warmer days with big south winds are the most productive for me, even if ice is still partially on the lake. Fish will be near deep water, normally near a break and some brush, but can come up shallow towards rip rap on sunnier days.

[LarrySTL]

I'd go with small to medium size jig and pig with real pork rind. Black or black/blue if the water is pretty murky, otherwise experiment a bit with color. Small plastics like finesse worms or french fries, could work. Jerkbait if there is some deep water with a steep shoreline and with water clear enough you can see the bait at least two or three feet deep. Maybe small/medium size cranks on a warm or windy day; wiggle wart, etc. Work everything slow to medium.