Ive been fishing now for about 5 months, and everything was going good until winter hit.  I have not caught a fish in 2 months now.  I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help improve my odds.  I fish in a small lake, the water is slightly stained, the water temp is around 45 degrees F.

haha ya winter will definitely slow down the bite. A good day on the water in the winter will be a lot slower then a good day in the summer.

Slow stuff down, use a crank or jerk and use long pauses between jerks. Slowly dragging and deadsticking soft plastics work ok to.

I don't fish much in the winters as my lake is an icecube. Good luck bro!

Look for the streams or springs that feed the lake.

top left of home page. winter fishing articles galore

thank yall for the help. ill try all that, and if anyone else wishes to add anything to what they are telling me, feel free every bit of help helps.  Thanks again for the help

I was doing well till the lakes turned hard up here(2 weeks ago) but extra large fathead minnows under floats were doing the trick

Thanks for the tip, and does anyone know what colors of jerkbaits would work good, and also how do you fish a jerk bair?

I use an X-Rap shad color. I cast it out reel it in a couple cranks to get it down, then I start jerk, jerk, pause the whole way back to the boat. Some of the pauses I let sit for 10 seconds or more. Most strikes come on the pause, so be ready to set the hook.

8-)

Once the water cools down, a slow presentation is key soft plastics could work around visible structure, slow rolling a spinner bait might increase your odds.

Good luck tell us how you made out!

I have haven't had many bites lately, but the ones that I have had have been from presenting tube baits and senkos slowly.  I hear this a lot, but i feel that it is true...If you think you are fishing it slow enough slow down even more.

Also carrington.

What part of chesterfield are you from.  I live in the chesterfield area and am wondering what lakes you fish.

read the articles, use them as a guidline, but don't set them in stone. Best bet is to experiement and see what works best, then keep doing it.

People think slow down in winter, and most of what you read will say so. My last time out, I caught 3 fish in about 5 minutes burning a money minnow.  I got nothing fishing slow.

Slow it down and when you think you are going slow enough, slow down some more.

Slow it down and when you think you are going slow enough, slow down some more.

read my above post lol. 

You need to spend some time reading through

our library: "Fishing Articles" and "Tacklebox"

at the top of the page. Read every article and

the attached links. As a beginner, you'll get far

more from the articles than from the forum.

Another feature is "The Best Of BassResource"

which covers a number of topics.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?virboard=gen_bass;num=1253486034

-Kent a.k.a. roadwarrior

Hmmm, when I first read the subject of this post I thought it was going to be a question about how a guy can get away from his talkative wife to do more bass fishing. :-?  (Don't aske me why.)  LOL

But seriously...

Under those conditions I've done best with a black 1/4 oz jig/pig around sharp breaks/points.  Fish it as slow as you can stand.  The bites may not feel like much.  Sometimes you line just feels mushy.

Remember, hooksets are free!  So if the line feels different give it a good set.

Good luck.

Ive been fishing now for about 5 months, and everything was going good until winter hit. I have not caught a fish in 2 months now. I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help improve my odds. I fish in a small lake, the water is slightly stained, the water temp is around 45 degrees F.

Thats normal. Jigs are a year round producer.Jerkbaits like previously mentioned,Rat-l-Traps can produce. Metabolism slows in the cold water,as does their willingness to chase. Slow everything down.

Ive been fishing now for about 5 months, and everything was going good until winter hit. I have not caught a fish in 2 months now. I was wondering if anyone had any tips to help improve my odds. I fish in a small lake, the water is slightly stained, the water temp is around 45 degrees F.

Thats normal. Jigs are a year round producer.Jerkbaits like previously mentioned,Rat-l-Traps can produce. Metabolism slows in the cold water,as does their willingness to chase. Slow everything down.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Where we are in the Pac NW I haven't had great luck using jerkbaits in mid winter> I catch an occasional fish on lipless. Use mostly worms & jigs, fished stupidly slow. But that's here, water temps in the low 40's. Usually the fish are pretty good size but not many of them.

Thanks for the tip, and does anyone know what colors of jerkbaits would work good, and also how do you fish a jerk bair?

again, check out the fishing articles tab and click on bass lure techniques then jerkbait. really hot articles. ive learned more there about bass fishing there than i did about anything in highschool

As mentioned before I also recommend just reading all of the articles.

I know it's probably been said like 10 times by now, but read the winter weather articles. They help a whole lot.

Try suspendin jerks with a long pause in between jerks. Another option is senkos, work'em real slow. Also try using a carolina rig it's been productive for me this time of year.

Bass are jus real lazy when the water gets cold so ya gotta slow it down.

take a jig and fish it very slow, let it sit and give it a quick jerk, and repeat.

I'm going to tell you another route, although the mentioned methods are deff worth doing.

I have little patients, so using jerkbaits and deadsticking just don't do it for me.

First thing I do is find bait balls, sometimes just getting lucky with sonar, other times from schoolers busting shad. Sometimes they swarm them under the surface and you find them by finding hte dead or dying minows on the top. Then, I use the ole white spinnerbait. Once I catch 2 in a spot, than I KNOW the fish are there and I am more willing to slow down. then I go after the other fish with these proven methods. Remember, you have to find the fish to catch the fish.

There are days that I get 3 fish in 5 minutes, and not another bite all day. I call  them "glory fish". There are other days that I catch 3, then the spinner quits prodicing and I catch 10 more on other baits like jerkbates and senkos.

scale your baits down and slow down a suspending jerkbait is always good and work it slow. ive had luck on 1/4 finesse jigs and half ounce football heads. if the water is stained try a black and blue jig or something like that. dark colors show up better in stained water. try a ratl trap too something with a tight wobble.

I like to find fish in the winter in deep water off points, drop offs, etc. and fish them vertical with spoons, jigs, drop shot.  Just keep the bait in the depth the fish are showing on your depth finder and have some patience.