Seasonal Strategies – Six of the Best

There’s already been snow on the Berg, a few major fronts have battered the interior with rain and frigid temperatures, while baitfish for the most part have begun to drain out of shallower pockets towards the main basin. Winter is just upon us and bass are on the move. Here is our selection of the tried and tested patterns that will unfold across the country this month. Shallow water Power Fishing “Covering water” can be regarded as an extremely broad term, but in autumn you can work on one general rule - when the bass are shallow, if you can see it is a hard object and its underwater, cast to it! Burning a spinnerbait around shallow cover can pay off big time in late Autumn. This approach calls for two baits, a small-profiled spinnerbait in the 1/4oz - 3/8oz range, and a shallow running square-billed crankbait. Start off by targeting any rock, timber or even man-made jetties or hard vertical cover in the back of bays, making numerous presentations from different angles to trigger the bite. If the water has a visibility of more than 2ft you can really crank up the speed of your retrieve, running the bait a foot or more below the surface. Here actively hunting fish will be prepared to travel to get your bait, and the faster the retrieve, the more aggressive the bite. Pitch Isolated Cover During the warm months as the day progresses and the shallows begin to warm you usually migrate to deeper water, but not in autumn. Stay with the shallows as the warming water increases the bass’ metabolism so you have hungry bass looking for cover. As the bass use this cover as a transitional zone before feeding, in low light conditions they will position tight to vertical patches of weed. Areas, which have not been as adversely affected by the cold and have the greenest vegetation, will hold larger concentrations of fish. Pitching a single-tail ¼oz Texas- rigged grub or creature bait and letting it fall directly next to the vegetation will trigger strikes from suspended bass. If you haven’t had a bite on the fall, pitch to all sides of the cover before moving on. When pitching isolated cover in this manner be sure to free spool line to let the bait fall vertically. Bites will usually be a flick in the line or the fish will just begin swimming off. Buzzing style toads like Berkley's Rib Toad are great search baits to find bass feeding in the shallows. Buzzing Toads and Buzzbaits As the water begins to recede and expose shallow backwaters, bass won’t pass up the opportunity to snack on a meal from overhead. These pockets, which are often separated from the main dam by weeds and vegetation, can literally be gold mines. Position yourself as close to the bank as you can, making long casts right up onto the bank and then slow roll the frog back. It is not uncommon to find bass with fins exposed in less than a foot of water and you need to be careful not to land with your line on top of the fish as it will spook the entire spot. The frog bite will improve from midday and can continue well into the evening, even when the air temperatures are far less comfortable for us anglers. If you miss a fish have a follow-up rod with a weightless stickbait ready to go, as anything that falls in the vicinity is dealt with swiftly when bass are aggressively feeding. Crank Rip Rap As the sun gets overhead switch your focus to targeting hard cover such as rip rap, dam walls and rocky banks with a mid-running crank. Target these areas at 45 degrees to the bank, maintaining bottom contact for as long as possible. When cranking rip rap ensure you maintain bottom contact at all times. On steeper banks you need a crankbait that dives steeply such as Berkley’s Dredger series in order to maintain bottom contact for as long as possible. Once you’ve determined how the bass are relating to the rock, slow down and pick it apart with a 1/4oz finesse jig paired with a grub trailer or a mojo rigged fluke to targets less active fish. If the wind picks you can also alternate between spinnerbait and a jig to target active fish on the edge of the depth transition. Yo-Yo Lipless Cranks When bass hunker down in deep water on those post-frontal days put down the dropshot and tie on a flat-sided lipless that shimmies on the fall. Match the hatch when fishing a lipless in the colder months. Image supplied by Japie Botha. This technique shines when you’ve isolated bass on your sonar and follows a simply strategy: drop the bait on a slack line until it hits the bottom and then lift and drop the rod roughly 10-20cm up and down letting the bait shimmy back to the bottom. With the advent of spot lock technology you are able to target these fish vertically keeping the bait in the zone for long periods of time. Bite detection is crucial as fish will knock slack in the line similar to a plastics bite; to set the hook simply reel in until you feel pressure on the end of the line. A quality Loskop bass taken on a deep diving jerkbait while fishing a channel bend close to the bank. Jerkbaits on Points It goes without saying that when the nighttime temperatures start dropping you better have a jerkbait tied on. Target main lake and secondary points that run closest to main lake channels and areas with 45-degree banks that offer quicker transitions as these will generally produce better results. Target isolated rock, timber and vegetation paying attention to the angle of the sun as positioning factor for bass to hunt from. A synoptic chart illustration cold and warm fronts. Understanding Cold fronts Frontal systems are synonymous with cold water fishing and can have dramatic effects on how bass position and on their activity levels; being able to read the weather will greatly improves your chances of success. Air Pressure: Before Passing – Falling – Bass will be more active and shallower – Use reaction baits; While Passing – steady rise – Bass will move deep into cover or deep water; After Passing – Slight rise followed by fall. Cold fronts are often associated with inclement weather and high winds. On weather maps blue lines with triangles on one-side represent cold fronts - the direction the triangles point is the direction in which the cold front is moving. A red line with semi-circles on one side represents warm fronts where the inverse generally occurs in terms of fish activity.