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Winter is good time to go for smallmouth bass Kentucky Afield Outdoors: Although seemingly rough, Smallmouth Bass fishing in the snow is highly productive, especially at nearby Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow Lakes From Commonwealth News CenterDepartment of Fish & Wildlife story Frankfort, KY We have experiences in the outdoors that can be transcendent, although the conditions are rough. Catching crappie after crappie in cold March sleet, bagging your biggest turkey ever in a chilling April downpour or taking a limit of ducks in weather so cold hot coffee quickly freezes on the rim of your cup make great memories. Although these encounters test your mettle and enrich your life, few outdoor pursuits compare to December fishing for smallmouth bass in the snow. The activity seems incongruent floating in a boat on ice-free water with white frozen snow lining the banks. You seem completely out of place, casting a hair jig, the float and fly or a shiner with snow in your eyelashes. You feel you should be at home; that it is dangerous to fish in such weather. Except it may be the best weather condition for catching the largest smallmouth bass youll ever hold. On an overcast snowy day, light will be greatly diffused, said Gerry Buynak, assistant director of fisheries for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. This brings the smallmouths up shallower and they can be easier to fool. They are more likely to strike an artificial lure because of less light penetration. Anglers should take advantage of this. In our premier winter smallmouth lakes such as Lake Cumberland, Dale Hollow Lake and Laurel River Lake, anything than can get smallmouth out of their usual deep-water lairs is a blessing. These lakes are so clear you can see where you chipped paint from your jig head in 10 feet of water. This water clarity pushes smallmouths deep for most of the year during the day, but snowfall and a leaden sky bring them up to feed. I also think it is a pressure-related thing, said Ted Crowell, former assistant director of fisheries for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife. Snow brings along with it low barometric pressure. It is just like when it rains in summer. This turns fish on. Crowell has spent many a winter day chasing smallmouths at Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow. It is unbelievable, the fish you can catch in December in the snow, he said. Theres nobody else on the lake. Theres nobody in the parking lot. Its great. Also, unstable weather places predators at an advantage over prey. The changing weather of a snow storm and the cold of winter disorient baitfish and smallmouth bass gobble up all they can. This is especially true for larger female smallmouths who must store up fat reserves for egg development in early spring. They need to eat. The plummeting water temperatures of December also stress baitfish such as shad or alewives. They swim in circles and quiver as they fight death. This is why the float and fly technique is so deadly in winter. A small, light craft hair or duck feather jig suspended on light line 8 to 12 feet deep perfectly imitates baitfish in their death throes. Another highly productive technique is suspending a large crappie minnow or medium-sized shiner under a bobber 6 to 10 feet deep off points. The bobber flutters on top until it abruptly torpedoes toward the bottom. Smallmouth bass that hit live bait in winter dont fool around. They strike fiercely. Both of these techniques produce, because the baitfish suspend in the water column in tightly packed schools in winter. Smallmouth bass cruise under these schools looking for those alewives or shad acting peculiar and pick them off.A black 1/8th to 3/8th-ounce rabbit fur or bucktail jig swum just above bottom and down those main lake points produced winter smallmouths for your grandfather and they do the same today. The old-school pork rind is still the best trailer. Find the smallest pork rind possible or cut a bigger one in half. Although the soft plastic chunk trailers prove much easier to handle and take on and off the hook, pork is still the best choice in cold water. Main lake points from Beaver Creek down to the dam are great places to try on a snowy December day on Lake Cumberland, while the Spruce Creek area is tops for Laurel River Lake. Try main lake points and cuts near Phillips Bend in the mouth of Wolf River on Dale Hollow Lake. Youll be fishing the same waters that produced David Hayes 11-pound, 15-ounce world record smallmouth bass in 1955. Those cuts and points closest to the old Wolf River channel are best. Dont let snowfall scare you from chasing bronze this winter. Don some waterfowl hunting clothing or coveralls and a pair of warm boots. Grab some hand warmers, a thermos of strong coffee and your fishing rod. Five-pound smallmouth bass are waiting for you if you brave the elements. This story was posted on 2008-12-21 03:28:29
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