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  • Cold Water Baits

    Its always tough to decide in the winter what baits to choose and which of them have the best chance at being successful. To me it narrows itself down to a few that can be used for a multiple of depths and speeds. Meaning you can choose a bait that is generally known to cover water but by slowing it down you make it a bait that can be used for slow winter lethargic fish.


    Let’s take a few examples; I certainly love fishing a swim bait, it covers water and can be fished at many different depths and by using it as a count down bait you can run through suspending winter bass. You can also use this bait to search by fan casting it from your boat covering lots of water. In the winter however, you can go a little heavier slow it down and roll it over, through and around cover making it a great winter bait. I have seen this bait catch winter fish just by sitting on the bottom and just shaking it. Making the bait a multi-purpose versatile fast or slow-moving bait. This can be said about many of your favorite power baits; baits you have used to trigger reaction bites in 75-degree water.


    Another favorite is a jerk bait; these present themselves with fast and furious pulls and jerks to get reaction bites. In the winter this becomes the ideal bait that you can let it suspend and the water current will rock it in place and look very life like around rock or over cover. There is no bait like it, as a jerk bait will pull bass up from 20 ft. depths and cause competition among bass in the cold winter water. Slow pulls, long pauses and cadence all make this the ideal winter reaction bait by just letting it sit and rock for seconds at a time.


    Lastly a rattle bait is also a great winter bait when used accordingly. In warm water we speed reel it and cover water; in the winter you yo-yo this bait let it grab the bottom and drop erratically some and let the bait cause a winter reaction. Take a rattle bait and slowly roll it over grass it will deflect and cause bites as good as any bait on the market.