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Winter and Prespawn Bass Tacticsby Kevin Patton
Illinois bass fishermen have more obstacles to overcome than others according to one national bass pro, such as ice-over and fewer bass in our fisheries, but he insists that since bass follow the same seasonal patterns everywhere, his advice applies equally to Illinois bodies of water. FLW Bass Pro Chad Morgenthaler gave a seminar about winter and prespawn bass fishing Feb. 27 at Midwest Marine in Heyworth. "Bass spend most of the winter in main lake areas, but start to feed beginning at ice-out," says Morgenthaler. He advises starting your search for bass by noticing the water temperature, but warns not to put all your faith in it. His seminar was about fishing from ice-out to when the water temperature reaches 55 degrees and "things change drastically." "Fish in colder water can still be caught," says Morgenthaler, "and sometimes they are bunched up in huge groups. The colder the water, the tighter that bass bunch up. When the water warms up they spread out more, which causes the fishing patterns to change." Water clarity is important when fishing cold water, notes Morgenthaler. He says that bass will bite fast moving baits in cold water, but that cold, muddy water is "the worst" until it warms up enough so that bass move shallow onto structure. "Target clear water in the winter," he maintains. "In lakes that have water clarity of at least five feet, the colder the water is, the better the fish will bite," he added.
Stickbaits "My number one bait until the water temperature gets to about 50 degrees is a stickbait," says Morgenthaler. He targets submerged vegetation and uses a "twitch, twitch, pause" retrieve. "The pause draws suspended fish in clear water, but be sure your baits suspend and float level," he emphasized. He likes to fish stickbaits in water that has clarity of at least four feet and suggests changing your retrieve or lure color if bass are being hooked on the outside of their mouths rather than swallowing the bait. "From ice-out on," he said, "they work best on clear, calm days. You can catch bass on stickbaits in murkier water, but you must fish slower by pausing longer or switching to a brighter color such as firetiger." Morgenthaler uses a few colors in which he has confidence, but pearl is his favorite. One problem he warned of with stickbaits is losing fish because they pull the treble hooks out of their mouths. He uses line that has some stretch such as monofilament or fluorocarbon line, a limber rod, and adjust his reel drag to be very loose to help keep fish hooked. Lipless Crankbaits Morgenthaler says that lipless crankbaits start to catch fish when the water temperature reaches 38-40 degrees, especially on lakes with vegetation. He uses the 5/8-ounce Yo-Zuri bait or the Xcaliber Rattle Bait, which you can reel very slowly and still get good vibration. He suggests trying various brands of lipless crankbaits because they all have different sounds. "99 percent of my bites come from ticking the top of vegetation and ripping the bait free," says Morgenthaler, "but try different retrieves if bass aren't swallowing the bait." His favorite color of lipless crankbait is red, but he also uses chrome/blue, crawdad candy, and gold/black on dark or windy days. He tries red crawfish and phantom green in clear water and red crawfish in murky water.
Diving Crankbaits Morgenthaler fishes several brands of diving crankbaits from ice-out until the water temperature reaches 50 degrees. He mostly fishes them with a slow to medium retrieve, using either a loop knot or an oval split ring attached to the line tie. One bait that can be retrieved fast is the Storm Wiggle Wart. He fishes it when targeting largemouths in major tributary creeks where there are channel bends. "They work best on nasty, dark, windy, cold-front days," says Morgenthaler, "and they have an erratic action that triggers strikes when bounced off structure." Another crankbait that he "always has tied on" is the Bandit Series 200, which he starts to use when the water temperature reaches 38-42 degrees. He uses this bait during all seasons, in crawdad colors with splatter back and olive/chartreuse. Rapala's DT10 crankbait is another favorite of Morgenthalers, in shad, perch, or hot mustard colors. Jigs and Jig Trailers Morgenthaler mainly uses two styles of jigs during cold water periods. He prefers to use a 5/16-ounce round-headed Eakins finesse jig in shallow areas and switches to a 1/2 to 3/4-ounce Chompers football-head jig when fishing deeper water. "75 percent of the time, I use either a brown or black/blue jig," he says. Sometimes he switches to a green/pumpkin jig, swims a white jig, or uses a jig with a purple hue in very clear water. To make his jig more compact with a smaller profile, Morgenthaler trims jig skirts at a 45 degree angle or "collars" his baits by trimming the skirt evenly around the front of the jig head. He adds rattles to his jigs if the water is dirty and uses scents to cover negative odors or when he is fishing very slowly. Morgenthaler primarily uses four jig trailers: brown Zoom Critter Craw; Zoom Super Chunk Jr.; Chompers twin-tail grub; and a NetBait Paca Craw. He sometimes uses the Paca Craw by itself on a plain Chompers football-head jig. "I change trailers a lot and use green/pumpkin much of the time, even on a black/blue jig," says Morgenthaler. He added that he uses brown jig trailers in all water colors except muddy water.
Shakey Head Worm- Using finesse worms on a shakey-head or drop shot rig is a technique that Morgenthaler uses during all seasons, but he feels it is especially effective from ice-out to spawning and any time that fishing gets tough. He uses 1/16 to 3/8-ounce shakey-head jigs, selecting 3/16 to 1/4-ounce in deeper water or windy conditions. He prefers Reaction Innovations jig heads because they have line tie eyes that are horizontal to the head rather than vertical and the eyes are close to the jig head, which helps keep the jigs from hanging in brush. A four-inch Zoom finesse worm in green pumpkin, seedless watermelon, or junebug is Morgenthaler's choice to use on a shakey head. He sometimes uses a watermelon candy color with a purple hue in very clear water. Other favorites include a Reaction Innovations Flirt in watermelon/green pumpkin or watermelon/red and Berkley finesse Power Baits. Morgenthaler uses a "deadsticking" retrieve when bass don't respond to shaking the bait. He casts the bait and lets it sit on the bottom, not moving it. "If I am fishing in 25 feet of water or deeper, says Morgenthaler, "I use the same worms on a drop shot rig that I use on shakey head jigs." He prefers a 3/8 to 1/2-ounce weight for drop shotting and keeps 10-12 inches of line between the weight and hook. Adding a swivel above the bait helps eliminate some of the line twist created when fishing a drop shot rig.
Rods and Reels Stickbaits and crankbaits- Morgenthaler uses a 6- 6 1/2-foot, limber rod with a relatively short handle. He feels that the limber rod tip allows for longer casts and helps absorb the energy of a strike and hook-set. Lipless crankbaits- He uses the same limber rod as stickbaits when fishing vegetation with braided line, but switches to a heavier action rod when fishing with fluorocarbon line in open water. Jigs and soft plastics- His favorite choice is a 7 1/2-foot rod, using a lighter action model when using finesse jigs in shallower areas and a heavier action rod when fishing football jigs in deeper water. Shakey head and drop shot rigs- Morgenthaler prefers to use a spinning outfit for these methods, adjusting the action of the rod as he does for jig fishing, based on how deep he is fishing. Reels- His choice of reels is the Abu Garcia Revo reel with a 6.2 to 6.4 retrieve ratio. When he feels the need to change his lure presentation, he adjusts his retrieve speed rather than the reel gear ratio. Lines and Hooks Stickbaits- Morgenthaler mostly uses 6-8-pound fluorocarbon line. Crankbaits- He uses 10-12-pound fluorocarbon line for Wiggle Warts and 10-pound fluorocarbon for Bandits and Rapala DT10's. Lipless Crankbaits- Morgenthaler prefers braided line when fishing in vegetation, which allows you to tick the top of grass and rip the bait free when necessary. He switches to 15-pound fluorocarbon when fishing them in open water. Jigs- His choice is 10-15-pound fluorocarbon for finesse jigs and 20-pound and heavier fluorocarbon or braided line when fishing the heavier football jigs. He warns that using braided line with no stretch forces him to use a lighter action rod to keep hooks from ripping out. Shakey head and drop shot rigs- Morgenthaler uses 6-8-pound fluorocarbon line when fishing a shakey head worm or drop shot rig and 10-pound test and smaller fluorocarbon for all other slow-moving baits. Morgenthaler chooses fluorocarbon line because it sinks, causing lures to run deeper, and is invisible in the water. Brand Suggestions- He recommends Maxima green monofilament line; Maxima, Seaguar, or Gamma fluorocarbon lines; and Power Pro and Spiderwire braided lines. Hooks- He uses light-wire hooks on stickbaits and lipless crankbaits and often changes from a No. 4 treble to a No. 2 treble if he wants his bait to run deeper. He advises changing all the hooks to the same size to keep the bait level in the water. He occasionally uses red hooks, but always on both ends of the bait. Morgenthaler recommends using Kevin VanDam's Line and Lure Conditioner to extend the life of monofilament and fluorocarbon lines. He uses it to take memory out of the line and to enable longer casts.
Special Situations Power Plant Lakes- "During winter, the mid-lake bite is often the best in power plant lakes," says Morgenthaler. He maintains that mid-lake areas of power plant lakes are affected more by nature and weather elements than hot water discharge areas, making the fishing there more consistent. "At Lake of Egypt in Southern Illinois, for instance, bass suspend over main-lake points and humps in winter," he says, "and some of them can be caught by working a Lucky Craft stickbait near submerged vegetation, which is usually 10-12 feet deep." Standing Timber- Morgenthaler fishes standing timber near channel swings during winter with a drop shot rig or jerkbait for numbers of fish. "When bass first come into the deeper coves, they will suspend in timber on the outside edge of the tree lines near the mouths of coves," according to Morgenthaler. If he is looking for big fish rather than numbers, his favorite techniques is fishing vertically in the trees with a 1/2 to 3/4-ounce jig on 15-20-pound fluorocarbon line. He pitches the jig to a tree and strips line from his reel to ensure a vertical fall straight to the bottom. He then retrieves the jig up through the tree branches with a pumping or jigging motion. For this techniques, he targets the biggest trees or isolated trees with something unique about them that attracts the biggest bass. He adds that the schools of smaller bass will be somewhere else, but possibly nearby. Final Tips One lure that Morgenthaler occasionally uses in cold water is the new style of lures called Chatterbaits. He catches fish in cold water with them, especially around vegetation, but notes that landing fish can be a problem with these baits. He sometimes uses a trailer hook on them to keep from losing fish. He prefers the original Chatterbait rather than imitations because he feels that they have a better vibration and he fishes them on braided line with a 7-foot medium-action rod. His most unusual tip of the evening was to recommend using car wax to polish your hard baits so they have less water resistance, making them track truer and run deeper in the water. Morgenthaler ended his seminar by suggesting that because of increased fishing pressure, more fish are suspending year-round except for during spawning. He stated that they relate to baitfish and can be caught using the right techniques. Chad Morgenthaler's web site is located at: Midwest Marine and Tackle is located at 14251 E. 200 N. Road in Heyworth and is sponsoring a series of fishing seminars this spring. For information call 309-473-9200 or visit: www.midwestmarine.com |
