I fished a Winter League event in late November. It was a real eye-opener, and a reminder that what’s old and timeworn to us can be new and tempting to the fish we’re trying to catch.
The situation we faced was pretty typical for New Jersey at this time of the year. The lake is fairly small and shallow in most places except down near the dam. The water has an almost tannic look to it and was between 38 and 39 degrees except for a brief period of time when it touched 40 late in the afternoon.
My partner and I followed our usual strategy when we’re looking for a true winter bite. We throw power baits first, and then, if they don’t work, we switch to finesse stuff. Our lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits and ordinary crankbaits didn’t do a thing. It was like we were fishing the Dead Sea.
When the time came to make a switch we avoided the usual winter finesse baits in favor of hair jigs.
My partner ties a unique hair jig. It’s a kind of specialty lure that’s really good when the water is cold. He ties a ton of hair — synthetic, deer, marabou and anything else that’s handy — on a small, lightweight VMC head. That gives the bait bulk and makes it fall real slow but, at the same time, keeps it light.
Yesterday, to give our lures even more bulk and to slow the fall even more, we cut pieces of plastic worms into thick, washer-like discs and pushed them up the shank of the hook. This increases the flair off the jig, even when it’s wet. That’s a trick you should try. At times it’ll make a world of difference in how many bites you get.
Our “luck” changed immediately. We started catching fish and ultimately won the tournament.
You’ll notice that I’ve been using the word fish in this column, not bass. That’s because we also caught pike, pickerel, crappie and perch. In our Winter Leagues that’s no small thing.
You see, we add two extra side pots — one for the biggest pike or pickerel and another for miscellaneous. (Miscellaneous is for anything that swims and is legally caught besides a bass, a pike or a pickerel.)
I’m telling yesterday’s fishing story for a couple of reasons. First, we all need to remember some of the older baits. I, for one, had almost forgotten about hair jigs. I can’t remember the last time I fished with one before yesterday afternoon. That doesn’t mean the fish have forgotten about them, though.
The other reason I’m telling it is because I want to emphasize that we shouldn’t stop fishing just because it’s winter. You can learn a lot of things that’ll improve your fishing when the other guys think it’s too cold to be out on the water. That can be a huge advantage.
Before I close this one out and go hang Christmas decorations, I want to say that Becky and I hope everyone had a wonderful and thankful Thanksgiving. Our blessings are many. We don’t ever want to forget that.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
