The cold waters of winter force many anglers off the lake. Cold winds and sluggish fishing conditions require correct preparation, both for clothing and tackle. The fish still have to eat. The patient angler can catch winter fish. There are schools of fish out there that are never fished for properly. The body temperature of the fish is always the same as the water. The angler that is aware of this fact, can make very effective presentations for these fish.

Food sources are always smaller, because there are not as many shad hatches during the colder months. Anglers will find huge schools of shad roaming the lake and depths may be as deep as 40 feet. These small shad make up the winter diet for almost all the bass, spots and largemouth included. The spoon jigging technique is the deadliest way to get to these winter fish. With a medium heavy action bait casting rod and some 14 pound test line along with some metal spoons, anglers can get started.

One other piece of equipment that is required for this technique, is a high quality depth finder. Adjusting the depth finder to manual settings will allow anglers to see more schools of bait fish and the game fish at great depths. Turn off the fish identification feature on the unit. It works better with this feature off.

Schools of shad can be found all over the lake. Concentrate on creek mouths and using the trolling motor and the depth finder there are bait fish and game fish right under the boat. Start by using the big engine and idle over these areas.

Once the combinations of shad and game fish, drop the spoons straight down to the fish. Lifting the rods in shorts jerks of only a few inches will imitate the action of a dying shad. Cold waters in the winter kill of lots of shad and the bass can simply wait under the schools for an easy meal.

Bass suspend in the standing timber in the creeks waiting on the shad schools to pass over them. Drop the 1/2 ounce to 3/4 ounce Flex-it or Strata spoons to the schools of bait fish and drop just past the shad schools. Now lift the spoon and drop it on a tight line. It’s important to keep these lures over the fish because they will not follow a spoon after it passes under them. Spoons are great winter time lures and even on the coldest days of winter, schools of fish can be caught.