Fishless Fishing Beats Not Fishing

 

I failed to get out prior to last weekend’s winter storm, so with another storm forecast for this weekend, I didn’t want that to happen again. I had some lure photos I wanted to shoot for work and had reached a late-afternoon stopping point with office stuff, so I headed for a close-to-home river access.

You can probably guess by the title that I didn’t catch anything, and I only fished for a little more than an hour. Had I let the afternoon slip away without even trying, though, I’d have felt liken I’d missed an opportunity, and in truth I really enjoyed the river outing.

Don’t get me wrong. I always want to catch fish, and that’s the objective when I go. I focused on the areas where I thought they were the most likely to be and tried a few good winter presentations. Failing to catch fish doesn’t ruin a trip for me, though, and I knew when I left home that going fishless was a definite possibility.

Last weekend’s storm brought a lot of sleet and freezing rain and overnight lows in the low teens. Water temperatures undoubtedly dropped more dramatically than Georgia fish are accustomed to experiencing.

I also chose an area where shoal bass and spotted bass are the main sport fish species. Trout waters might have offered better prospects, given conditions, since trout are cold-water fish by nature.

That wasn’t my choice, though, so I won’t ever know. I’m just glad I chose to go fishing.

Vicarious Ice

The St. Paul Ice Show (which is a big one) was last weekend, and friends from the North and the West are starting to post pictures of lakes freezing, gear being prepared, fish from past winters, and even a few fresh ice catches from this season, and all that has me daydreaming.

Most places don't have good ice yet, but a few do, and conditions are changing quickly. I don't have any ice-fishing plans this winter, as of now, and I don't see where hitting the ice will likely fit with work needs, so it might be another winter of vicarious ice fishing.

Don't ask why someone who lives in Georgia wants to travel way north during the winter. I know I'm way in the minority, and it's hard to really explain. I really enjoy ice fishing, though, and I miss the ice culture when I don't get the chance to get up there. I'm originally from Minnesota, and one friend suggests that it's just in my blood. Maybe he's right.

Delightfully Miserable

It's not that I prefer awful weather. I like 75 degrees and sunshine as much as the next guy. However, I cannot deny that I find a strange romance in enduring harsh conditions through a day of fishing.

I can't really explain what is fun about wading waist-deep in a cold river with 33-degree air and a soaking rain falling all day -- like I did last week on Michigan's Grand River -- or kneeling on the ice on a bitterly cold and windy day when I can barely stand to hold my rod and reel in gloved hands. That fun undeniably exists for me, though, and is part of the reason why I commonly go north during the cold months, when most folks I know are venturing south.

The fishing itself is the main appeal. I don't travel north just to get cold. I could do that without fishing. I suppose enduring the conditions (whether hot or cold) is simply part of the adventure.

Winter Travels

When I planned mid-November travels to Alabama, I envisioned a late autumn sort of trip. I anticipated cold mornings, but it looks like I'm heading full force into winter. That's not a complaint. I'll never grumble about fishing and writing fish stories for a living. I just think it's interesting.

At the moment it's 41 degrees and raining in Rogersville, Alabama, which is where I'm headed, and there's a winter weather advisory in effect. Seems there could be a spits of snow tomorrow morning, and lows for the next couple of days are forecast to be in the low 20s, with strong northwest winds.

I'm well packed for the weather. In fact, seems every time I look at an amended forecast I add another layer of clothes to the pile. I haven't gone as far as grabbing the ice-fishing suit (yet).

It will be interesting to see what the fish think about the weather. Keep an eye out for reports.

Winter Coat Time?

A part of me doesn't like the notion of letting a beard grow at this particular time. The very fact that "No-Shave November" has become a popular thing makes me want to stay clean shaven for at least four more weeks. That said, the snow that capped Appalachian peaks this weekend and the cold morning temperatures have me feeling like it's about time to start putting on the winter coat. I also leave for a week-long trip this afternoon, and not shaving is undoubtedly handier than shaving when I'm on the road.

So what does this have to do with fishing. Not a thing. I'm pretty sure the fish don't care. Of course, I do think my cold-season pictures have more of a wintery look with the Viking beard on my face.

Jig a Spoon for Winter Fishing Action

Without much question, a jigging spoon ranks one of the best lures made for winter fishing, and it produces pretty much every kind of fish that ever eats shad or herring. Find a good group of baitfish near the bottom in a  wintering area, and you're apt to catch white bass, stripers, bass, catfish and more. A simple hand-poured and painted white spoon is one of Gary Dollahon's mainstay lures during the winter, and he catches pretty much everything that swims on his spoons. Dollahon looks for areas near the mouths of major creeks, where hard bends create wind protection from multiple directions and form holes that offer the baitfish and the gamefish a nice range of depths to use. The fish can be down in the channels or up on the structure, so he normally does quite a bit of looking with his electronics and drops a marker buoy before he begins fishing. Dollahon also mixes up his presentations for different situations. The video below demonstrates a "shaking" strategy that Dollahon finds especial;y productive when the water turns extra cold.

Thursday Tips - Use Extremes to Your Advantage

I won't claim that Nathaniel and I mastered the fish at the Nantahala yesterday. We only landed three trout. However, I lost two others almost at the rod tip, had a few trout hooked briefly and had a handful of other hits. Given the long icicles hanging from the bluffs, the rocking river and the relatively low number of trout we saw in a few "indicator" pools that provide a decent gauge of what remains from fall stockings, I feel like that was decent success. The key to drawing strikes, I think, was taking advantage of the conditions we were served.

 

Very high water puts a lot of fish in survival mode, and it makes much of the river inaccessible. However, it also positions fish in certain protected areas and puts those fish in ambush mode. Virtually all our fish came from moderately small protected eddies behind boulders and in broader areas of moderated flow and most hit on the first or second cast to a given area.

 

Cold water was the other major controlling factor. Although the day wasn't too bitter, starting in the high 20s and rising into the low 40s, we're in the latter half of January now, and the last several days' lows have been very low in the North Carolina mountains. Stream-side rocks and rapids were ice coated and icicles dangled from the bluffs. When the water gets as cold as it will be all winter, slow and low presentations become critical. I caught one fish on a Rebel Tracdown minnow, which I was swimming slowly and steadily in an eddy behind a big rock. Most other hits were on a Road Runner Pro Marabou or a Lindy Fuzz-E Grub being dead drifted or twitched very slowly.

 

Any time you get extreme conditions, whether in the form or flood waters, ridiculously low flows, heavy stain, extreme hot or cold or whatever else, consider the limitations the conditions create for the fish and then use that understanding to your advantage. You'll catch more fish.

 



Thursday Tips -- Get Vertical

One challenge brought by winter is that game fish of various sorts use deeper water overall than they do during the spring or the fall, and often the best fish-holding spots are separated from any visible casting targets. The good news is that once you find deeper fish, you can position a boat directly over them and drop baits right in front of their noses. Whether the fish are relating to structure, baitfish or both, vertical presentations allow you to be extremely precise, to keep your lure in the strike zone all the time and to use your electronics to watch the fish you are targeting.

Creek-bend holes in the lower ends of a reservoir's major arms tend to hold fish of various sorts during the winter. The fish might not be down in deepest part of a hole, but the range of depths available and protection against wind from multiple directions make hard bends in a channel very attractive to baitfish and gamefish alike. Pick a big bend in a creek and spend some time searching the areas with your graph, looking down in the hole, over slopes and atop adjacent flats or points for bait schools and for larger marks that might indicate game fish. Toss a marker buoy or two over the most interesting areas and then position the boat directly over the fish.

Specific bait and rig choices vary according to the species and size of fish that call a particular body of water home. However, most of the best baits for this style of fishing imitate shad effectively. Good options include a white or chrome jigging spoon and a small, shad-style soft-plastic bait such as a Bobby Garland Baby Shad.

Part of the fun of this approach is that any fish that bites could be a panfish, a largemouth or a jumbo striper or catfish.