Winter is on the way...

[Baarsmeister]

Ive had a look at the 7day weather forecast for northern natal and it is definitely getting winter very quickly.

Fri - min- 9 max 22
Sat - min 13 max 19
Sun- min 8 max 15
and it just gets cooler from there.

I want to go fishing the weekend but I have no idea what tactics to use. I'm so use to casting hollow body frogs & spinnerbaits and retrieving them quickly. I'm going to need to slow down that I know,but am not use to do it. Deadsticking senkos? Carolina rig big worms? Pitch some jigs into the reeds?

What do you guys recommend? How do you fish in cooler weather?
Weather looks sunny but its time to put on the beanie and jacket and have a cup of hot coffee.

[Riprap]

Jislaaik boet, we have our annual interclub this Sat and the max temp is 11 degress!! Will watch the answers carefully. :blue-rolleyes: :blue-cool:

[Ninja]

Fish slowly and once slowed down completely ..... slow down a bit more. :blue-biggrin:

[breedesmallie]

+ one Ninja, and remember as soon as you think yo fish slow enough, slow down because you are fishing to fast.

[Frogstar]

I was watching the 2013 BM Classic. Was amaised to see how well they were doing in 0-5 degree water using suspending jerk baits.

I've had good success in winter fishing weightless senkos.

[Baarsmeister]

thanks for the slow indication. Rather too slow than too fast? hmm should be careful not to go into reverse then hey...

What lures do you generally use? Topwater? Mid or bottom? Surely bit hard to slowly drag n spinnerbait on the bottom.

[breedesmallie]

Baarsmeister you would be suprised what a slow roled spinnerbait can do during winter.
Best bait for winter is a jig and for the older farts like me jigging a spoon over deep suspended bass in winter is a killer. For deep suspended smallies there is no better bait on the market as the good old school hair jig. You will outfish any other bait with a hair jig and that is a fact, I dont care what other people think of that and I can proof that.

[Frogstar]

Baarsmeister you would be suprised what a slow roled spinnerbait can do during winter.
Best bait for winter is a jig and for the older farts like me jigging a spoon over deep suspended bass in winter is a killer. For deep suspended smallies there is no better bait on the market as the good old school hair jig. You will outfish any other bait with a hair jig and that is a fact, I dont care what other people think of that and I can proof that.

Hi BS, the hair jig is and interesting one. Do you fish it on the bottom? CBC reckons you suspend one from a float and they cant leave it alone.

[breedesmallie]

Hi Frogstar, depends on what style you want to do your jigging. I've got footballhead hair jigs, swim hair jigs like most styles you have with the convensional jigs. The hairs on the jig is just more livelike and it appears more natural during winter. In clearwater dams the hair jigs come to their right in full. I will post pics of mine in my Breederiver smallies part 2. The float a fly one they are using is more effective on highly pressured waters during summer. I've got more than a 100 hair jigs of different styles I am using. I still believe it's the best bait for all kinds of bassing till somebody else can proof me wrong.

[Kassie]

Jislaaik boet, we have our annual interclub this Sat and the max temp is 11 degress!! Will watch the answers carefully. :blue-rolleyes: :blue-cool:

Rip, you okes are going to need to cuddle for warmth. Anything sticking out is gonna catch frost-bite and wind-burn.
Can you cuddle and drop-shot at the same time?
You won't need to twitch, the shivers will generate a natural twitch! :blue-lol:

[Riprap]

OB's boet, OB's..........you coming? :blue-rolleyes:

[BillyBass]

Here is a very cool video with plenty of advice on how to fish jerkbaits in cold water conditions.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://advancedangler.com/?p=2502">http://advancedangler.com/?p=2502</a><!-- m -->

[Riprap]

Billy, cool boet and thanks, looks interesting - will check it out tomorrow evening as the bandwidth a bit slow at home. :blue-cool:

So, Kassie, you in or out boet??

[Baarsmeister]

thanks for the responses guys.

So to sum it up, winter time bass suspend in the middle of no-where in the water column?

Would thought they might hide deep in cover in shallow water as that in my mind would be the warmest water to be found.

I'm considering using a Carolina rig with a z-man plastic like the flukez or the senko tipes that float upwards that would suspend off the bottom. Guess a dropshot would work well, as well.

Time to get to old fly tying kit out of the closet and tie myself a hair jig then.

Any specific size or colours that are recommended for wintertime? or does the general lure colours for the entire year apply?

[Riprap]

Hey Breede, what's your take on this jig?