Fall and Winter bass pattern Qs from a newbie?

[Conn]

Ths is the first year in a long time that i've fished a lot, especially since i've got a boat now. I had a slow season in the spring and summer, not catching much. Had lots of days I didn't catch anything at all. I mainly fished at Cedar Creek, since it's close to home, but also fished Wilgreen lake in Richomnd, Taylorsville, Cave Run, Herrington and once at Laurel.

I'm curious as to what the "typical" bass patterns in colder weather. The last time I fished was back in September, up until yesterday. Water temps at cedar looked to be about 50° with the air temp around 65-70°.

Typically, where are the largemouth going in this kind of cooler weather and water temps? Deep? Shallow? Cover? Channels?

where is a good place to find some down to earth fundamental reading on weather patterns and how they effect the fishing around here?

i'm an old country bumpkin that still kinda has hte "farm pond" idea to fishing. just throw it in the water. it's a pond, they don't ahve too many places to go! haha.

i still feel like lake fishing is new to me, even though i fished religiously from May to September at several lakes.

Thanks.

Conn

[DaveR]

http://www.bassresource.com/ good articles.

A crankbait is a good all around choice between 45-55.

Or slow rolling 3/8 or 1/4 oz spinnerbaits on around wood cover.

I always look for wood in cold. others will probably say something different. There is usually never just one pattern or bait that will work. Watch or read about the pro tournaments, top 5 typically have different approaches. Best of luck. Taylorsville is slow for alot of people,

[DJD]

DaveR is right, there will be more ways (lures) to catch bass on any given day than most people realize. This time of year i always throw a jig or tube on isolated wood or off the bank structure and i can't pass up rock walls that have been soaking up the sun all day. I prefer stained water and days with some clouds in the sky. The bluebird cloudless days are pretty but usually tough on an angler.
Get a map of a lake and go out and ty to find some of the structure you see on the map like road beds, rock piles, channel drops and such then fish them with your favorite baits. This time of year that should be jigs of tubes...:-) Good luck.

[the_donger]

What is slow rolling?

[MsgMills]

Throw'in out a spinner bait and turning the handle just enough to get the blade to rotate as the lure slowly moves back to the boat... Bass seem to love this sort of retreive.

[the_donger]

Thanks for the reply. I fish alot, just not for bass and sometimes the lingo is unfamiliar. I appreciate the lesson.

[fishhunter]

try a silver buddy the bass at willgreen just love them in the winter. And winter fishin is just plain tough. Throw the spinner and cranks keeps you moving. I hate fishin as slow as you have to in the winter. Happy huntin and dont give up!

[findincrappie]

Fishing can be tough however they must eat to surive. Bass will bite an alot of people like to throw the jigs n pigs or the tubes. NOT me i will throw a black worm but size is a matter in this game. a 6 inch worm is good when u pinch off an inch or so. work deep drop offs. like the guy before said fish standin timber. find the shad on ur depth finder in taylorsville. also in the summer when its like 100 an to hot to fish. fish will not bite unless u find them with a drop shot rig or fish at night. well winter time fish those deep ledges in 20 feet an u'll be amazed that same pattern worked in the summer will work now. I have actually pulled bass out of woods creek lake with snow on the ground. i was usin a lizard HONEST an they would hit it. i was on that same lake fishin for trout an it was the monday after christmas. i got up before the sun came up. it was cold but i had the lake to myself. after an hour i seen another boat he looked like he was fishin for crappie. now woods creek is deep/ well not to long he had a bass that wood push 5 pounds in his hands. so i wander over to where he was. he showed me whar he was doin. he was fishin rock piles with a spoon. droppin it down an watchin his depth finder. so there for i went off an found a deep ledge. i through a split shot an after a few hours hopin i'd get a bite i felt a fish peck. well i reeled it an then popped it. a 16 incher. well lets just say that rigg has worked in creeks rivers in the winter. well if ur ever down around taylorsville lake hit me up man.

[Dave Stewart]

Conn:
I wrote something that I think might help you out and get you on the right track a couple of years ago. I am referring to the "Fishing 101" section of the website www.explorekentuckylake.com You might want to check it out.

[cgable8009]

Conn in my opinion your channels will help you more than anything in late fall and winter you have to visualize the bass as they would see it using the channels and ditches and feeder creeks as road ways to migrate. Bass are natural bank feeders ( littoral zone ) so I look for areas that have quick access to the channels. A turn in a channel usually has a flat that is the first step to the access point and if I can find a feeder creek or ditch near a bend like this I will focus on the those areas where the flat comes up near the outside bend. This is the exit ramp that bass have that they move up and down on when they make migrations in spawning and weather changes. Using a map before you go to the lake can help allot concentrate on four to five channel areas and look for the shad or bait fish and the depths that they are in then put a lure in those zones I like to fish either from the bank (with the boat parralelling the channel) to the channel or get on the flat and pull my baits up the channel edge to the the shallowest portion of the flat. I dont always agree with the notion of fishing super slow when water is near 51 degrees I have found that a bait can still be fished at moderate to fast speeds. I have a philosophy of slowing down when the water drops below this mark but if its near this I fish as I would during most times of year. I think that bass will move up to feed at these times in smaller numbers due to the fact that the metabolism of bass slows with cooler temps so those fish that have found a meal are just not going to feed if thier belly is full because its going to take longer to digest what they already have in their stomach( you may get reaction strikes but I feel it is allot tougher)I have attached a typical channel bend( terra server link) that you can see the flat on the outside bend with a ditch going up into the bay. This would be the type of area I would look for when fishing early spring, late fall, and winter I actully tried to pull Cedar Creek up on Terraserver but could not get the topos. They usually have it on the site but for some reason Kentucky is only on the areial portions. I also suggest learning to visualize the declination of the sun. The reason this is important is combined with the cocmmon jet stream of the Northern hemishpere which we live in you will understand how to look at a map at differnt months of the year and see the areas that will get sunlight more than other areas in turn giving you warmer water which in turn makes plakton grow bringing the plankton feeders that bass eat to feed the bass. Hope that made sense but basically the sun does not pass directly over head it atcually changes each month falling more across the horizon so the opposite horizon would get more sunlight. a channel swing with a bay that is open to that horizon will get more sunlight. I just read a great article in Bassmasters magazine about allot of the opinions on channels by the top pros. I think it was actually in this months issue it has some great insight on where to fish and when on channels. I think that Bill Dances was the best of all of them and I usually scoff at his repeditive tips ( although they are wonderful tips I just watched him so much I can repeat them verbatem, Location, presentaion and time of year lol you might even apply that I think its one of his favorite sayings) but it was really a good analogy of channels. Hope this helped and if you need anything my information is on here for the Ky fishing reports Ohio River Cannelton Lock.
Good Luck Chris
Oh yeah my Dad is a regular at Cedar creek I can give you some areas to start if you need.



http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.c...709&Y=9185&W=3
http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biom...RESHWATER.html

[thompmd]

Newbie,
Dave has given you good advice. I live in Northcentral Indiana and we caught 9 kepers Friday and 3 Sunday and the water temp is 39-40deg. I will say that we have NO luck on anything except Jigs(would not look at a spinnerbait,crankbait). We were catching them on 5" twintail Yamamoto Hula grubs and a 3/16oz weedless jighead. The fish for the past 2-3 weeks have NOT been on the banks but definitely on wood. They have typically been on the bottom in 5-15' of water in and around brush(and not a lot of brush). The other thing is that it is not uncommon to not get any bites then catch 2-3 back to back. The other advice I would offer is to make sure your fish the area thoroughly once you get a bite as the fish have been pretty bunched up. good luck.