Bass fishing in Louisiana can be outstanding through most of the winter. Barring the post cold front conditions, with a little planning you can usually find a pattern and catch some bass. The best part is that more often than not, during the winter, the fish you do catch will be quality fish in the 3-5 pound range and occasionally you’ll hit one out of the park and get an 8 plus pound bass.
However, this past weekend was a no hitter from the fish. I stepped up to the plate both Saturday and Sunday and swing as I might I was unable to connect against mister bass. We had a front move through Thursday so come Saturday the fishing should have been picking back up. My problem, seeing it in hind sight, was that I was still fishing at the same pace and with the same lures that I smoked them on Wednesday, the day before the front. You see on Wednesday I had a great rattle trap bite going in 45-46 degree water. Find a little bit of green grass and you could pluck a couple quality fish, had one at 6.3 pounds. The chill we got on Thursday’s front dropped the water temperatures to 42 degrees and just those couple degrees put the brakes on our fish.
Instead of continuing with the rattle trap bite I should have slowed down to swimming a jig or even a stickbait either hard or soft. Wrapped up in the success I had just a couple days before, I tried to force feed them what had been working instead of trying to find what they would be willing to eat. While it was a fishless day on the water, it reinforced things I already knew but for some reason have trouble putting into practice at times.
1) Things change; you have to recognize it and roll with it. This can happen from day to day or hour to hour.
2) Pay attention to water temperature, when it’s cold, just a couple degrees, can make a huge difference. I.E. shad can still survive and be active near the surface in 45 degree water, but in 43 degree water the weak are all gone, and the strong have moved to deep water.
3) Calm winds and blue bird skys are a death sentence in winter bass fishing. Recognize these conditions and SLOWWW down! I’m talking jerkbaits with 10-15 second pauses (as a minimum).
4) Keep plugging away! Keep looking for a new pattern! How is it said, “Never Give Up!”
Get the Net it’s a Hawg
Mike Cork
