everythingthatswims

WOW! Good job!

I would probably use a 3/8. If there is grass or muck/gunk/etc you could go lighter so the jig doesn't dig down in it. I personally don't do well using jigs lighter than that, unless I'm fishing a finesse jig, but that's a whole different ballgame. This time of year, I would be dragging a compact football jig with a twin tail grub trailer. SLOWWWWW

Nope all largemouth there. The only bodies of water in VA that I know have spots in them are the James River, Claytor Lake, Gaston, New River, and South Holston. I have never caught a spot in VA, my first was when I went to Kentucky Lake. Now I have caught plenty here in WV.

Where are your fish pics?

Southernmost Trout Eaters Also if there's two Revo Beasts on the deck that should be a giveaway

Definitely worth a shot. They are far from a magic bait (I fished one for a whole year before catching a bass on one), but just as with any other bait, there is a time, place, and condition that they can excel in, making them a valuable tool for bass fishing.

My little brother watched a blue cat take out a gosling

Day length and angle of the sun tell the fish a whole lot unfortunately

There was still ice covering all the trees when we got there from the steam blowing off the lake at night. It is a wild place for sure, not for the faint of heart!

The final day of the Costa High School National Championship was by far my favorite day of fishing in 2016. My partner and I brought in 18lbs-9oz of Kentucky Lake bass to jump 8 places giving us a 2nd place finish only 12oz off the lead. We had 5 for about 10lbs and thought we were done for the day and had run out of fish. We had decided to just go try to catch a smallmouth on some rock bluffs for dun but had one last idea in mind. Went back to where we started, moved out a little deeper and I put a solid 5+ in the boat on a spinnerbait. 30 minutes later in the same area I land another 5+ on a drop shot and we were losing our minds!

Got away from campus today with a friend and headed to a powerplant lake in the middle of no where on top of a mountain. Air temps were in the 30s all day, wind blowing 7-10mph, and for Mount Storm that is considered mild weather. It is located on the Allegheny Front and basically that means it is one of the windiest places east of the Mississippi. Most of the water we fished today was 50-53 degrees, 60-63 at the discharge from the plant. Almost all of the bass I caught were on a Vision 110 Junior. In the water that was in the low 50s, I was giving the bait a 5-10 second pause, and usually I could watch them swim up to the bait, and as soon as I gave it a rip when they did that, they ate it. We probably put between 30 and 40 bass in the boat today, none over 3lbs, but fun nonetheless. Brown fish in a lake is a strange thing for me, since the only ones where I am from live in rivers, pretty neat! Not sure when I'll be able to get out and bass fish again, it may be a while!

The elites are sweet

I just put bronze gamakatsu round bends on everything. I really hate heavy wire trebles on anything but a big swimbait. For me, if I hook a fish on a treble hook, I am playing it lightly regardless and I want the hook to penetrate easily.

They don't see it, they feel it!

I would throw a moving bait, I tend to lean towards moving baits in colder water, you can pretty much use any moving bait in 50 degree water. I would lean towards a chartreuse spinnerbait with Colorado blades or a black and blue chatter bait in that water clarity. Some fish will be shallow in that clarity, the shallower water will be warm.

I like the mornings during summer, and evenings during spring and fall. At least where I am from, usually in the summer you are looking for the water to be at its coolest combined with low light, which is in the morning, and in the spring and fall you want it to be at its warmest with low light, which is in the evening.

Winter threads on BR are considerably cooler than both

Keitech 4.3" Fat is a nice size for many approaches and you can do a whole lot of different things with that bait.

How do we know they are bass? Seems like something a pike would do in my opinion.

Wow, that is a gorgeous fish!

Had a pretty good redemption today, my little brother has a tournament on the 19th so we went to look for some fish on Lake Anna. Found them in 35FOW and put a dozen in the boat, biggest was the low 4 I'm holding, she wouldn't sit still on the scales but I wanted to get her back since they can have a tough time coming from that deep water. I apologize for the scratched out background, that was for a little fun to send to his friends who will also be fishing that tournament, then I realized it was the only picture I had of the fish! I think this was my last outing before I head back to school, gonna be a long winter

Giant!

With the Calcutta 50 (had it on a medium composite cranking rod because I could sort of make it load up) I was drifting eggs with some split shot, very simple and casting was difficult but I made it work, I only did this for a few fish before I went back to the spinning rod, I mainly did it for fun and to see if it was possible. The bigger fish were caught on 3" gulp minnows on a 1/8oz jighead, I caught several small trout doing this as well. I basically just keep the bait within a foot of the bottom and hop it every time the slack in my line tightens up as it drifts. In the cold water they would only hit on a cast quartering downstream that would swing the bait in front of them and keep it in front of them long enough for them to chase it down. In the fall or spring I like to make my casts perpendicular to the flow of the stream, but this isn't very effective in strong current with winter water temps. Everything I did was on 6lb trilene mono. I usually use 6lb red label fluoro, and the mono was a big hindrance but it was what I had at the time so I made the best of it. Sensitivity, diameter, visibility, and the low stretch for hook sets makes fluorocarbon far superior for trout. Light braid 4-6lb with a leader is also very effective because you can easily see your line and again low stretch for hook sets and excellent sensitivity. In VA, they say they clip adipose fins, but this isn't always the case as I have found, and I am not sure if all hatcheries in VA do this. The adipose on the fish in the photo with the Calcutta is definitely clipped, but that is obviously a stocked fish just from appearance.

Study topo maps and look for lakes with the least amount of winter time habitat, this will let you fish areas that you know the bass will have to be concentrated in, so you can get a grip on it and expand to other waters. As others have stated, a blade bait is the way to go this time of year. Don't overlook an Alabama rig either, I have found it to be effective even in the 40 degree water temps I am currently facing here in VA, make sure to use keitech swimbaits so you still have good action on a very slow retrieve. The Alabama rig is a good way to cover water and find bass that you can jig up with blades. I also will drag a jig or texas rig very slowly, pausing for the same amount of time that I would with a jerkbait, but only in areas that I KNOW are holding bass, because it is so time consuming to complete a retrieve doing this. Oh yeah, if you think you have shallow fish, SHAD RAP

That you did! I think I may end up doing some of that stuff when I go back to school here pretty soon.