Chris

We have tons of info on this forum on smallmouth and largemouth. What about spots? We don't talk much about this power hitter here on the forum. What are some tactics that work for you?

Thanks guys for the welcome ;D and welcome RW and LBH

Bass still need to have a comfort zone. There will always be an area that has a temp that will hold the most fish. Sometimes weeds or dark bottoms hold heat and draw bass because of the temperature difference. Other times bass will suspend because at that depth is the temp they like. The difference is that in the northern lakes temperature, oxygen, and what the baitfish can tolerate are the driving factors of where the fish will move to. Southern water don't have the dramatic change in temp and oxygen but they still move to warmer water if available. Bass still stage and move in the same way but on a different scale.

Jigging spoon: This is a great tool for cold water and in the summer. If you pay attention to your depthfinder you can watch your spoon fall to the depth that you see the shad on your graph. It looks like a thin solid line. Make sure when you jig this bait that you follow it down with your rod on the fall. It is a boring way to fish but if you locate a good school of fish it can be deadly. This is a great tool for suspended fish. Standing timber, creek channels, drop offs, humps, and points this bait works. Jerkbait: I love this bait ;D The thing to remember is you need to mess with the way you work it a little to figure out what the fish want. The colder the water the longer I let the bait just sit in one spot suspending. This is a great bait for points, or suspending bass. Do not overlook the spoonbill model of this bait. The spoonbill I reel it down to the max depth and stop the bait. I then sweep my rod between 1ft to 4ft depending on what the fish want then let it sit there suspending. Deep cranking: My bread and butter In cold water I try to reel this bait just fast enough to just touch the bottom. Pay attention because the bite takes concentration to feel. Fatfree shad, DT, and a Bandit are what I throw the most this time of year for deep water. I mainly fish them on clean bottoms or I try to bump stumps and structure with them. If what your throwing can't touch the bottom change to 10lb test line or another bait. Just remember slow down its not a race. Pumping a trap: A rattletrap style bait is another bait that you can count down to a depth and you can also jig it like a spoon. In cold water fishing it that way works but what I found to be the most productive is pumping the bait as I reel it in. I cast the bait out and count it down then sweep my rod to a 11 o'clock position and let it fall on simi slack line then reel up then sweep it again. Thin crankbaits: In clear water this can be the way to tempt cold water bass. I use more flat sided baits than thin but it is what you should throw. I guess I am just thick headed :-/. A thin bait mimics the slight tight action of a shad this time of the year. Lure speed: Cold water everything is moving in slow motion including the bass. If your bait is moving like it was living in hot water your not going to get many bites. You need to remind yourself to slow down. Countdown baits: You know those PITA (Pain in the butt) bass that suspended out in deep water? Well, this is a way to get them to bite. Not always but it does work. Mark the fish on the graph and count down your bait to their depth. This is not a dead on accurate way to hit the depth but if you work at it the bait will be close enough in the zone to tempt a strike. This is when I break out the countdown Rapalas. I cast the bait beyond where I had them marked and count it down to the zone. As the bait falls strip out line other wise it will swim to you under the tension of the line. After you count it down to the zone start reeling at a slow pace and about every 10 ft of line recovery count it back down 2 ft. Another way to work the bait is to cast it beyond the marked fish and engage your reel then raise your rod to a 11 o'clock position and count without reeling. Let the bait fall with tension on the line then start reeling when it counts to the depth you need. Watch for your line to tick (Its a bass). The third way is to cast it to the bass let it fall and raise your rod then follow your lure with your rod as you reel. Your bait will jig up and down much like a spoon. Topwater tips: When fish are busting shad I like to use a Spit'n image (not pop'n image). I use this bait over a spook for one reason you can make it closely match a shad. What I do is cast the bait beyond the schoolers and spook it like normal. When my bait gets to where the bass are slamming shad I position my rod to the side and drag the bait. When I do this the spit'n image turns on its side and skips the surface just like a shad trying to get away. When I am just trying to get a topwater bite in cold water (not schoolers) I use a spook puppy or a pop R and walk the dog. Buzzbaits I use black for no other reason than it works. I tip it with a pork chunk to help slow it down also and or double skirt it. Graphite for light bites: Most bites in cold water are very light and almost feel like pressure. They can be hard to detect so you need to be in tune to exactly what your bait is doing at all times. If you like to use a glass rod it would be wise to put it up just because of the light bites. I do understand the benefits of glass but if your having a hard time catching fish don't say I didn't warn you. In deep water it's almost critical to use graphite. Tubes: This bait can be killer in cold water. A tube don't have the action of a curl tail or legs flopping around it's kinda a do nothing bait. Well, a shad or other baitfish in cold water moves slow and don't do anything fancy and that's what this bait mimics. You can jig this bait over suspended fish which works also. What I do most of the time is fish it like a crankbait on a jighead. I cast it out and count it down then crank. Sometimes you can drop it down to the fish as you watch it fall on your depthfinder (it looks like a thin solid line that arching). When it reaches the right depth hop it to make sure its where you want it while you watch your depthfinder. You should see that line on the graph move. Now just slightly shake the tube and hang on!

Now that we narrowed down some of the water and pinpointed prime spots to fish slowly what the heck do we throw. Here is the who, what, where, when, and why's that you never wanted to know ... well maybe you did ;D First thing I am going to tell you is it's easier to fish for cold water bass in clear water than heavy stained water. OK what to throw: Suspending crankbaits: What you need to understand with this style of crankbait is that it will run a foot or two deeper than a floating crankbait of the same style. This can be important when your trying to reach a depth but want to use the same profile of a floating bait. A great way to catch bass is to use a suspending crankbait like a worm. Cast the bait out and reel it down to the max depth then stop the bait. Now drag the rod to the side and stop the bait. Fish it this way all the way to the boat. Depending on the mood of the fish you need to adjust how far you pull the bait and how long you pause it. Swimming jig: This style of fishing gets better as the water gets colder. I use either a pork swim chunk, or a zoom swim chunk. If I am fishing points I try to swim the bait as close to the bottom as I can. If I am fishing a bluff I count it down and keep my rod high to feel the bite. The bait will swing to the boat and the bite will either feel like a tap or the bait will just stop. Mess around with how deep you count it down until you make contact with the fish. With just shallow points and humps I just count it down and with my rod low and just reel and lift the rod if needed to move the bait over stuff. Spinnerbait: Laydowns is where I throw this bait. I slow roll the spinnerbait making sure its tight to the tree as I bring it out to the end of the tree. I then drop the bait and let it free fall. In cold water I use a #11 pork chunk for a trailer and a single colo blade. If I am fishing the edge of grass I use a double colo bait and just slow roll it. Carolina rig: Cold water I use a fry or a do nothing worm. A senko works great too. Short drags I found works the best or long pauses while you shake it in one spot. Points, roadbeds, dragging it on the edge of a drop or bringing it to the drop from the shallow side is where it shines. Drop shot: If you never took the time to learn this technique summer and winter is prime for this rig. Remember that bass school up tight in the winter and this rig can rope in the whole school. Points, roadbeds, patches of grass, humps, it works great. You can keep the bait right in the fish's face for a long time which is key. Something I do a lot is position my boat right on a drop and toss my rig on the shallow side. I then push my boat out on the deep side and hang the bait out suspended over the edge. Deep jig: When I fish a jig in deep cold water I use a 1/2oz jig or 1oz. I am not worried about the fall rate because I am fishing the jig on the bottom. I am worried about feeling the bait and the bottom so that's why I do it. I use short hops (the jig moves inches as it hops) and if I am fishing a hard bottom I try to make my jig tap the bottom. Sometimes I shake the bait as I lift it so that it just skims the bottom. This is also when I use a pork trailer. Flip jig: Mainly I am talking about pitching a jig around docks, rock banks, ends of trees, or rock bluffs and the like. You can slow down your jig by bulking it up, use a bigger trailer, or use a lighter jig. There are times that the fall rate is everything. This time of the year it is that important. Grubs/swim bait: Don't overlook these baits in cold water because sometimes its the only thing that will work. Cold water balsa: The thing about balsa (wood baits in general) is that it takes very little movement to start a wooden bait. With most plastic baits you need to reel it some to get the bait to start wiggling and it also needs to be reeled at a certain speed for it to maintain the wiggle. If you slow down the bait it doesn't wiggle as much or stops wiggling. A wood bait still maintains its wiggle even at slow speeds. This means you can slow the bait way down and the bait will still have a good action.

I saw it this morning that's really cool ;D

(Rough figures) Illinois 60-50 Fall 50-30 Winter 40 degrees or less is when it gets interesting. Florida 75-60 Fall 60-40 winter 50 degrees or less is when it starts to get tough. That's why people don't talk about temps because it depends on where you live or even from lake to lake. One lake may be in Fall and the lake down the road may be in late summer and a third lake would be in winter. Its like the spawning cycle each lake will be at different stages of the spawn on the same day. The key factor is volume of water that the lake has and how shallow it is or even what kind of bottom it has also.

Drop a 3 inch senko, or a smaller tube through the small baitfish. If bass are feeding on baitfish they are feeding in the upper water column. Worms will work when you get a front or something that will put the fish on the bottom. Rattletrap, crankbait, or spinnerbait with small blades would work too. Zoom super fluke JR. can be deadly.

Lets expand: Fall/Winter Creek channel-because bass are following baitfish they chase them into the backs of the creeks. Bass will station themselves right on the edge of the channel right close to feeding flats. Bass will also stack up on the channel bends and will take up positions on stumps, rock, and logs. Watch your depthfinder when you follow the channel for anything different. High percentage places are where the channel swings close to a feeding flat so keep an eye out. Places where the channel branches out or makes a series of bends can hold fish like mad. Grass-If your lake still has underwater grass try to find the stuff that is still green. Sometimes you will see small patches of grass on your depthfinder. When I locate the patch of grass I sling a crankbait to rip out some of the grass to see if its still green. Bass will stack up on a small patch of green grass if everything else is dead. Some lakes the grass never completely dies out. Places like this can be loaded with bass so take your time when fishing it. Roadbeds-This is another place that can be loaded with bass this time of the year. Bass might move up and down the roadbed from day to day but when you locate them you can cash in on numbers. Try to find a drop on either side of the bed or any broken rock. Standing timber-fish use this kinda like a bluff and they can move up and down the timber as they suspend. Fish the outside edge and the sunny side of the trees. Baitfish will follow the edge and timber that sits close to a drop or channel is prime. Docks-Bass hang around docks and boat ramps a lot this time of the year because they hold heat and its a short adjustment to deeper water. The deeper the dock the better because they don't need to move far to be comfortable. Sometimes if you have an odd warm day bass will move up right under the dock to soak up the warmer water. The sun heats the dock and the dock heats the water. If you find a dock that extends close to a channel it could be loaded with fish.

For my own spinnerbaits I use a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier swivel because both ends spin and I get more thump and my blades turn easy at slow speeds. The major difference between a crane swivel and a ball bearing is that a crane is cheaper and the blade don't spin as freely as one on a ball bearing. Most ball bearing swivels have one end that don't spin and the other ends spins real easy. This makes a blade easy to start and the vibration is uninterrupted. A crane rusts easy and can hang up sometimes. If your building to sell a ball bearing spinnerbait would sell better than a crane and you will get more return business. Look up Stamina on a web search because they sell some less expensive ball bearing swivels.

I catch and release so that I give a bass an opportunity to grow big and so that you me and other people have a chance to catch a trophy.

Deep water means an area deeper than the surrounding area. When a lake first turns over it kinda gives the bass a large area to live because most of the water from top to bottom is around the same temp. On one side it has large rocks and boulders and goes about 10 to 15 feet and this is where I have been having sporadic good days.(keep fishing it because your on fish and it will get better when the lake finishes turning over) The lake I fish goes to 45 feet at the bearm. Does Oxygen play a role here ( I fish some old mines that are 50-100+ft deep but I don't catch fish that deep because of lack of deep forage in my lakes can fish be that deep yes. oxygen, food, structure play a role)

Turn over means that the warm water is on the bottom and cold on top in the fall. When a lake first turns over it kinda gives the bass a large area to live because most of the water from top to bottom is around the same temp. The oxygen is the same for the most part also. This is why turn over stinks for fishing because they can be anywhere from top to bottom and are hard to locate. When the lake finally turns completely over then it narrows down what the bass can use. As the lake cools down going into winter then it becomes a comfort thing for the baitfish and bass and become predictable to a degree. Deeper can mean 4ft deep if that is the deepest part of the lake. It depends on the lake but in some of the lakes around here I can catch fish 10 ft or less all winter long in other cases 5 ft or less depends on how much water is in the lake. Some lakes take longer to cool down than others.

Well go catch'em ;D

They school up tight because of pressure systems and from a bass in the area feeding on them. If they are MIA then they moved. They might migrate to a feeder creek or roam out deep. You need to change your sensitivity level on your graph because of floating stuff in the water.

yep because they want a comfort zone and deep water means warmer water and more active fish than the fish on the flat. The bait become more open water fish also for the same reason comfort.

I flip or pitch a bait when I am fishing calm water or I need to get a bait in a tight area. I flip when I had a bad front blow in and fish are tight to cover. I flip when I have high water. I flip when I am fishing tough conditions when the fish don't want to bite. I flip when I need a vertical presentation. I flip in the afternoon when the sun is high and the fish are tight or in the thick stuff.

If your fishing a lake that all of the shore is flat here is some tips. Find the drop! Any drop or change in depth it doesn't matter how slight the change is. Watch the laydowns and look up on shore to see and find a tree with a trunk of the same diameter. This will give you an idea of how far the tree should come out. Look at the angle that the tree enters the water. In some lakes you can bypass all the trees that lay flat and just fish the ones at an angle. If all the trees lay flat fish the ends. If your lake was full of weeds in the summer figure out where they ended usually its a drop or change in bottom. If the old cat tails are still standing fish the edge. Fish will use that weed line or the ends of the trees much like a bluff. Fish will use old stumps like little humps and laydowns like points. So look beyond what it is and key into how they are using it. The bass don't know the difference.

OK lets talk about Fall/Winter fishing. Fall: Bass mainly largemouth follow the baitfish more this time of year than any other time of the year. They roam greater distances and become hard to locate for this reason. One day they are there the next day they are gone and your left wondering why. Bass this time of the year do not relate to cover or structure as much but they do relate to bait. They might hang in a area for short periods of time but when the bait is gone so are they. They will chase large schools of bait out in open water and suspend a lot. Points, and humps are places where a bass have a obstacle and you will find groups of bass waiting for feeding time as they suspend above the structure. In the fall fish feed often to pack on weight for the winter. Winter: For the most part bass will be located in the deepest part of the lake. Well that's half true to be honest they will hang next to the deepest water in a given area like a main drop or around bluffs, channel ledges or banks. They will also be on the ends of points or on the deep side of the point or hump. Deep water means an area deeper than the surrounding area. Water temp can play a big role in weeding out unproductive water. Just a few degrees can make a major difference. Most of the shallow flats and slow tapering points hold very few bass this time of the year. You need to fish banks that drop off close to the shore or on the edge of the flat where it dumps off or sharp points with a deep side. Dams, bridges, and steep banks with chunk rock can be very productive this time of the year as long as it is on a steep angle. This gives a bass a place to move up and down in the water column without moving far. Pay attention to the weather because even in winter you might get a few days that are in the 50's which will move bass back to shallow areas that have rocks or docks. Sometimes they also move back to the flat areas for a short time so watch for a change in the water temp after a few warmer days.

Yeah I have had a few break at the head. I was not a happy camper. I busted one then I was like well I got some extra. I then broke three more in a row same color broke in the same place. The color was called parrot and it was last fall now that I think about it.

Bandits catch fish I am not thrilled by their flat max but the other bandits are a must have.

I fish Illinois Bass Federation Region 2. I don't pay out of pocket for my tournaments. I fish club and open tournaments also.<~Does this make me better fishermen...no! Being on this site and teaching you something you didn't know makes me a better fishermen because most will not take the time.

Understanding the limitations of each bait.

A point is like a road way that leads to deep water. On most points on either side is a sharp drop. When a lake or any other water way rises and falls bass don't need to move much to find a comfort zone. A point represents an obstacle that a bass can use to ambush food. Some points are rock and sand which crawfish love. When the wind blows across a point it positions fish and bass become more predictable. Points are relatively easy to fish because there isn't much of an area to fish. Any point that has cover on it like weeds, wood, rocks will produce more than one that don't have any but also look and see if it has one deep side or maybe a dog leg that forks off. Its things like this that will make one point better than another. Sometimes the degree that the point leads to deep water can be a factor of which point is better.

Jed Dickerson?