Pat Brown

I fish two small lakes - One has tannic clear water with a mix of grass and rock and wood cover and the typical sort of bowl shape with a dam. It's 20 feet deep in the deepest spots with an average depth more like 10 feet. 220 acre. One is clear shallow and has some rocky offshore structure and some isolated vegetation and lots of shoreline wood. It's closer to 800 acre where a fairly significant portion of the lake is 0-2 feet deep. Average depth 6-8 feet with some 12-17 foot holes and some neat offshore spots that get as shallow as 1 foot. Both receive a lot of pressure from great fisherman with far more sophisticated technology than I have and it's very difficult to catch anything at these lakes. I fish 4 small ponds. 5 acres. Average depth 2 feet deep. Super clear water. No vegetation or major structure. Some random holes where it's 5-6 feet deep near where the original creek channels hug the bank...but mostly silted in. People swear they're dead and fishless but I've caught numbers and giants out of all three during all seasons. Not really much in the way of river systems around here or creeks but I fish them when the opportunity presents itself. From year to year, water conditions change a lot. Last year we had very dirty water. This year the water has been very clear. Hard to say exactly why because both years had very similar weather patterns. I'm not sure if there is any one or two or three ways to say what makes some one good at fishing from far away but I struggle sometimes and sometimes it seems to rain big fish but I can usually catch a fish if that's my intention. One thing I do know is around here people fishing for bass say it's very very tough and I find that it definitely was until I started to understand the way they relate to the bodies of water and food sources seasonally.

In general, and some people are probably going to disagree with me here, I go for quiet entry waaaaay before I go for a long cast. 😉

Numbers: Jerkbait, Buzzbait, Jig, Worm, Underspin, Spinnerbait Size: Frog, Buzzbait, Jig, Worm, Lipless, Squarebill, Fluke, Jerkbait, Glide Bait, Underspin Standout products: Owner Flashy Swimmer Weedless underspin (multiple sizes and blade colors) Strike King Pad Perch Frog (white) Nichols Impulse Buzzbait (white chart gold blade) Accent Finesse Buzzbait (white silver blade) Berkley Stunna (Tennessee Shad) Lucky Craft Pointer (clear minnow) 6th Sense Quake (red craw) Strike King Red Eye Shad (green gizzard shad) Strike King Hybrid Hunter (green gizzard shad) Siebert Swim Jig (shad patterns) Siebert Brush Jig (black and blue) Berkley Frittside 5 (black chartreuse) Berkley Money Badger (red craw) Bizz Baits Compact Tandem (TN Shad) Savage Gear Glide Swimmer 9" (white ghost) Savage Gear Shine Glide 7" (gizzard shad) Honorable Mention: Caught some good fish and numbers with very little effort on the 'poop baits' and I'm looking forward to tossing them more this winter. Soft Plastics that worked well for me this year: Berkley Power Worm (motoroil red) Berkley Chigger Craw (labbatt) Berkley Pit Boss (black and blue) Berkley Bottom Hopper (black) Zoom Finesse Worm (gooseberry) Zoom UV Speed Craw (blue sapphire) Zoom Super Fluke (blue glimmer) Zoom Super Fluke jr (blue glimmer) Zoom Z Craw (tilapia magic) Zoom Craw Worm (white/Cali Craw) Zoom Super Chunk (black and blue/watermelon) Zoom Big Salty Chunk (blue or red) Zoom UV Speed Worm (Junebug red) Zoom Mag II (plum apple) Zoom Magnum Lizard (Junebug) Strike King Rage Craw (blue sapphire) Strike King Scounbug (blue craw) Strike King Rage Menace (green pumpkin purple swirl/motoroil red/blue sapphire) Strike King Ocho (KVD magic) Yamamoto Senko (baby bass) Yamamoto Tanuki (shad/brown craw) Yamamoto Twin Tail Grub (cinnamon purple/black and blue/watermelon) Yum Christie Craw (blue/green) Yum Dinger (green pumpkin purple) Yum Scottsboro Minnow (shad) Storm Largo Shad (shad) X Zone Swammer (shad) Gambler EZ (red ear/Golden shiner/shad/black and blue) Gambler Boxer Craw (black blue tips/blue craw) Z Man GOAT (the deal) Missile Baits D Bomb (GP3/Bruiser Flash/Hillbilly magic/White) Missile Baits D Chunk (blue/green/shad) Missile Baits mini chunk (blue/green/shad) Manns Jelly Worm (grape fire tail) Big Bite Baits B2 Worm (plum apple) Big Bite Baits Craw Worm (blue/green/black red) Bizz Baits Dizzy Diamond (red bug) Bizz Baits Killer Craw (blue sapphire) Bizz Baits Cutter Craw (blue sapphire) Probably leaving something out but this feels pretty accurate.

In NC the surface temps rarely dip below 45° in the dead of winter around here. Tending to bottom out closer to 48 or so in general. Weather in the winter in NC? There is no real consistent normal winter weather. We get some snow, some ice, some rain, some sun, some really cold, some normal 32° days and some warm days throughout almost every winter. Spring is the same for the most part with a slow trend upward in temperature at night with increasing photoperiod after the winter solstice.

Anything that's over maybe 50 feet is a long cast to me. I make a lot of short casts and very few long casts. I make longer casts with: Jerkbait Crankbait Spinnerbait Buzzbait Swimbait Swimjig Chatterbait Etc etc Horizontal lures benefit from longer casts sometimes!

I have shame. The monkey is very pleased. 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 Weedless Ned heads, Cali Craw Snipers and custom color swim jigs from @Siebert Outdoors. Blade Runner Spoon True Image UV Shad 3/4oz Blade Runner Duh Spoon UV Black Crappie 1 1/4oz Nichols Flutter Spoon Bombshell Shad 3/4 Nichols Mojo Flutter Spoon Bombshell Shad 1/2oz Damiki Axe Blade Holo Real Shad 3/4Qty: 1 Jackall Deracoup Dera Shad 1/2oz 6th Sense Gyro Tail Spinner Shad Sense 3/4 SPRO Wicked Weather Full Finger Gloves Camo XL SPRO Wicked Weather Full Finger Gloves Camo LG Huk Liner Gloves Hunt Club Camo Small/Medium Zoom Salty Super Fluke - Tennessee Shad Zoom Salty Super Fluke - Fools Gold Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Huckleberry Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Watermelon Slice Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - California 420 Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Raspberry Shad Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Black & Red Glitter Zoom Super Fluke Jr - Arkansas Shiner Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap Original (RT) 39G GOLD TENNESSEE SHAD ON GOLD Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap Original (RT) 25G CHROME GREEN BACK Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap Mini-Trap (MT) 1/4oz 05 SMOKEY JOE Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap Magnum-Trap (MG) 25G CHROME GREEN BACK Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Kentucky Flash - 3-1/2in Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - PB&J - 3-1/2in Zoom Super Fluke Jr - Lightning Shad Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Motoroil Red - 3-1/2in Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw - Killer Blue - 3-1/2in There will be heavy metallic baits stuck at the bottom of central NC fisheries this winter. 😎😎😎😎😎😎 And hopefully down big basses throats maybe a couple times too. 😌🎣

Last year all the ponds and lakes froze hard for a week - something I had never seen in my life and one of the first times I was forced by nature to stop fishing for a week since I got into it. Here in NC, they're calling for snow next week on account of El Niño doing it's thing this year. I try not to take the luck we have with weather for granted when it's good at any time of year! I'll be fishing if the water is wet!

Well if he's ice fishing I'm gonna be worthless as far as advice goes. I saw something about some vegetation in the post and figured maybe still got water. 😂🤷🏼‍♂️

I love fishing a chatterbait and have never caught a fish in the cold on one. This year I only caught 3 fish on it mainly focusing on other techniques during warmer months. I think this winter, I may have to change this to 'i have caught a fish out of cold water on a chatterbait' 😎🎣 Thanks Glenn!

I got some of the Damiki Vault to try this winter when I see the right kinda stuff happening. There's a member here who has posted videos catching the snot out of bass in the winter in Alabama on this very bait including some big ones! I'll let you know how it goes 😉

@king fisher sure does make it look easy down there in Mexico! 🎣🎣🎣 I'd love to have a crack at some of the action south of the border someday. Seems it would be a fun time for sure.

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I caught my two biggest fish in July and February and that came after PBs of 6.86 and 7.0 in April and November of 2022. I have 'big fish tingles' during just about every weather condition and season now and it really helps these tackle companies keep all of my surplus income! 😂😂😂

Been catching them on rock and wood up shallow near deep water and up the lake at the muddier shallow end in remaining vegetation. The water is clearer than it's ever been in my life right now so fish finesse and clear water presentations and not the normal NC power fishing stuff in general.

Boys, those are some HAWGS y'all throwing down this fine day! It was slated to rain all day. Now it's not. It's going to be 70° and it's been steady warming three days. Hoping to join y'all on the board later! I'm excited. Can you tell? 😎😂🎣

I like to search for shallow fish with smaller jigs and plastics without much flapping action and lighter line when it gets super cold. I would focus most of your efforts on the bank that gets hit by the sun throughout the day this time of year and try to fish a variety of shallower and deeper looking drops. That 3 ft rock sea wall could be very good or it could be vacant! Just have to check it out with a bait. The logs in 12 ft could be great! I'd try those with a jig or a t rig really slow. Look for subtle points. Even a spot on the bank that just subtly bumps out a bit instead of being a straight line can be a magnet to fish this time of year. One thing I've definitely noticed is that this time of year bite windows become very defined. I catch fish a lot in flurries and then an area will seem dead but the fish have just turned back off. They usually aren't gone. Things that can turn areas on: light breezes, the sun coming out, light rains, wind stopping, wind starting, baitfish schools moving through an area etc etc. Sometimes you can 'fire up' a school this time of year and fish a spot hard when you find where they're condensed and find the right bait and make repeat casts. If you have living vegetation left on your lake, fish it. Edges. Top of it. Underspins, buzztoad, buzzbait, frog, fluke, worms. They're gonna be in that stuff til it's gone regardless of water temps.

First bass of December caught tonight and a nice one caught just as sun went down on the zoom super fluke. Also caught two monster crappie and a bluegill on the lucky craft pointer as well as a small bass!

I wouldn't assume fish are in the deepest water. Bass are shallow creatures and will often live shallow all year long. During the winter they will move to main lake structure that allows them to relate vertically. Bluff walls, sea walls, steep banks, shallow water near deeper water. I caught a bass today and it was in one foot of water on a fluke. I was dead sticking it on a sea wall.

I caught my PB twice this year. Once in February 9.1 lbs and once in July 11.5 lbs. Gonna be a while before my next PB post I reckon 😭😭😭😂😂😂

Owner Flashy Swimmer (small one) with a small swimbait in a shad color worked very slowly. Finesse jig with a small chunk or no action trailer. I go as light as I can efficiently fish the bottom with. Texas rigged worm. Never ever write off a t rigged worm dragged around structure and cover. It just works. Smaller and thinner and slower usually work better right now. I like the Zoom Finesse Worm and the Zoom Mag II right now. Hard or soft plastic jerkbait. Just throw it. I like to work it a little 'gentler' and with slightly bigger pauses on really cold still days and I go nuts with it on sunny or windy days. Lipless crankbait. This is just another one you just gotta throw it in cold water. Try a 1/4 oz and get it to where it's steadily ticking whatever is down there and occasionally stop it or speed it up briefly. Another good retrieve in the winter is letting it fall to the bottom, reeling up the slack and lifting your rod tip to about 11 o clock and holding it there and letting it pendulum back to you. Deadly. Buzzbait. I know. You're thinking 'topwater in the winter!?!?'. Brother, I'm from NC, which ain't far from you and all I can say is if you got a sunny warm afternoon or morning without a lot of wind and you got 1-4 feet of water and some hard cover. Throw it. I like big ones worked as slow as they can go without sinking with a skirt and a trailer hook and a trailer this time of year. Indiana/Colorado spinnerbait. If you get some stain or fish early or late in the day, work this bad boy real slow near the bottom around main lake structure and cover and hang on tight. Don't be afraid to do a lift and drop with these as they often get crushed on the 'helicopter' fall. Bladed jig. This is another bait that is absolutely deadly in colder water but you really have to adjust your presentation. I like lighter ones and I reel them slooooooooow with occasional pauses or reel twitches. (This is a theme in terms of retrieve for most horizontal baits this time of year). Times I like to speed up my retrieve: windy days or warm fronts that linger for a few days. The key to catching bass any time of year but ESPECIALLY the winter is location, location, location. You gotta find where the sun hits all day this time of year. The shady banks are often 3-5 degrees colder than the main lake and ever colder still than the warm sweet spots. Identifying these sweet spots and where they intersect with ambush points and shallow cover near deeper water seems to be the key but the best place to start looking is the sunny bank. The shady banks can be productive in the dead of winter on cloudy days and on days where a cold wind is being buffered by that bank and it's creating a break. Most days I avoid strong winds or shade in the winter. Also super shallow water with no deep water nearby or super muddy water are tough this time of year. Good luck!

Hard to summarize what I've learned here but some nuggets: Don't worry about what the bass are doing, worry about what they eat and what it's doing. 😉 Depth and Speed are about the only two major considerations when it comes to presentation and lots of baits will work when fish are active. Bait selection is more about efficiency and what cover you're fishing. Size/profile matter a lot more than sound or color or action on a bait. Rate of fall is a critical thing to be concerned with when vertically presenting baits in and around cover. Bass seasons have almost nothing to do with our calendar or even the temperature. Lot more to do with the suns angle in the sky and how much daylight is happening per day. Bass don't slow down much at all in cold water. It's their food that slows down.

Got my first fish on a Ned rig in the freezing cold last night. It wasn't a bass but I caught a fish. 😎😂 Then this morning I swung by the pond for the sunrise and nailed a tank on the flashy swimmer largo shad!

The Christie Craw is legit. Yum Dingers are legit. Often on clearance. They have Rat-L-Traps and Strike King baits that I need sometimes. My son gets his panfishing stuff there also and it's got a nice selection. I actually bought the Ozark combo and it caught me many fish but the reel needs some love at this point.

This particular technique was incredibly effective during the dead heat of summer when it was almost impossible to get a bite at the very shallow pond that I fish. It saved me on a lot of days where I probably would have skunked otherwise and even caught me a few good fish!!! They make weedless EWG Ned heads and I have some to try this winter but pegged Texas waited small baits are definitely in the rotation for me right now. Don't be afraid to try smaller finesse ribbon tail worms because those have been very productive for me so far this cold season!

Oh I think we all have those experiences if we fish enough and they're around! It always pays to fire a shot on the 'other' side of the boat now and again if you're around em IMHO. I've caught plenty that way too! I often find that these random casts happen to coincide with key structure or underwater cover that we didn't know we were casting to but not always!