Anti-Freeze Fishing
Don’t let frigid weather put your fishing on ice
The thermometer outside my kitchen window wasn’t much more than a little red stub this morning. My old hound dog’s water bowl in the garage held a solid chunk of ice. By the time I tugged the stiff cover off my boat, hooked up the trailer, and slid into my rig, I was shivering so violently that I had trouble fitting the key in the ignition. Ears stung and wooden fingers were stiff from cold. I cranked the heater on full blast, but several excruciating minutes passed before the warm blast thawed out my hands and limbered up my knees.
Am I nuts? Maybe I should leave the lake to Old Man Winter on these chilly morning. He clearly likes to have the water all to his own in January. Why do I scrape the thick frost off my windshield, load up the boat, and risk slipping on an icy ramp this time of year?
Only two things can get me out of the house and on the water in January: a good chance at the biggest fish of the year and memories of spectacular mid-winter fishing trips of years past. So tempting are these that the short hours of winter daylight find me on the Tennessee River below Watts Bar, Nickajack, or Chickamauga dams or on the headwaters of TVA impoundments two or three days a week.
Tennessee River fishing is better this winter than it’s been for years. A series of storms dumped on the region last fall and flood gates ran wide open for months. Big fish stacked up to feed below the dams, and they remained there into the winter. It’s been decades since I’ve seen so many 15-, 25-, and 35-pound rockfish and hybrids caught below the dams!
As early as December many of the sauger and bass I caught looked ready to drop, just busting open with eggs. They seem to be ahead of schedule this year, and whereas most times I’d look for smallmouth and spots to move into pre-spawn staging areas in February, they’re already there now. White bass, rock fish, hybrids, and spotted bass are thick below the dams, on sun-warmed river ledges and mussel bars, and there’s little chance that you’ll be crowded by other boats.
Don’t let frigid weather slow you down. Bundle up, call a buddy, and head for the river. I’m going to suggest four or five red-hot wintertime baits that will burn the chill right out of you.
Wintertime and hair jigs seem made for each other. You don’t have to get fancy when it comes to hair jig colors; burnt orange, purple, black, or brown with a black chunk will produce for you day in and day out. Rig this on a six- or seven-foot medium-light power spinning rod with eight pound test line, and bump it slowly along the bottom.
A red lead-head jig with a white curly-tail grub is hard to beat, too. To perfect it, dip the tip of the grub’s tail in some Chartreuse Spike-it dye, and fish it slowly.
Jigs and grubs will not only net you a limit of spotted bass but will reward you with a mess of delicious sauger, too.
At this time of year, I postpone getting on the water until several hours after sun-up. Winter’s daily rhythms are different than the other seasons. Feeding activity picks up after noon rather than just after dawn. It takes several hours of sunlight to warm shallow areas. Warm water attracts bait which, in turn, draws predators to feed, so getting on the water at first light isn’t necessary.
Concentrate on north banks that are exposed to the sunlight all through the day, especially those with rock bluffs that work like reflector ovens to heat up the shallows.
While you wait for the shallows to warm, move out to ten to twelve foot ledges and motor slowly along above the break. In places you’ll graph fish stacked up like cord wood. Deeper twenty- or thirty-foot river ledges don’t hold many fish. Instead, you’ll find fish suspended on the first break so they can move shallow to feed on shad that ball up on the nearby flats.
Work the first drop-off with metal vibrating lures like Ledbetter’s Vib-blade. I’ve been yo-yo’ing blade baits like this on Tennessee River impoundments for many years, and they never fail to produce cold-water fish. I prefer spinning outfits with 10-12-pound monofilament line for these lures. Simply lift and drop the lure on a semi-slack line, working it up and down just above the bottom along the break. Be alert for any drop that doesn’t reach the bottom. Sometimes fish will open their mouths and slurp in the bait as it falls and you won’t feel a bump. Whenever you suspect a fish might have taken the bait, snap your rod quickly to set the treble hooks.
On sunny winter days the most productive hours are from mid-afternoon until sundown. Scan the skies between casts for flocks of wheeling and diving gulls that signal feeding fish. White bass, hybrid stripers, and Kentucky bass herd schools of shad to the surface where they’re easy pickings for the birds. Usually they will be right above shallow bars and south-facing banks.
Cast your lure across the shad churning the surface and retrieve it with an erratic stop-and-go motion. This is a good time for a Secret Weapon or Assassinator spinnerbait, too. Either one will load your boat in a hurry. If you have some quick-change spinner blades for your Quickstrikes or Sidearms, clip on several small, nickel willowleaf blades and run them through the densely-packed schools of baitfish. Kill the retrieve every now and then to let the blades swing up, flashing and fluttering like injured minnows as the bait descends to the marauding bass down below. That’s the technique I used few days ago to catch thirty smallmouth and spots in an hour or two.
Another hot January bass bait is a small, chrome stick bait. If I’m targeting trout, gold works better, but chrome will fool fish that are keying in on silvery shad. I like ones that are weighted to suspend or sink slowly which can be worked very slowly back through the strike zone.
Just because the temperatures are bottoming out doesn’t mean your fishing must, too. With the right lures and tactics, January fishing can kick off the best fishing year of your life.
In cold weather, dress in layers, pack spare clothes in a dry bag, wear your PFD at all times, and fish with a buddy. Remember to take a kid fishing. And let’s all resolve to keep the lakes and streams clean in 2010. If you pack it in, carry it out.
Benny Hull
The Ol’ Stump Bumper
Fishing Hall of Fame Member since 1972
