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Woke up to steady rain....my son wouldn't get up to go fishin' with me....my fishin' buddy wouldn't answer his phone....but I had to get out on the water! So I headed out by myself, launched from the park on the west side of the lake at about 9 am. From past trips this winter I have narrowed down some areas where the bass have taken up winter residence, and all of these spots are on isolated structure in 50' of water. The trick to catching these fish in the winter is to locate areas near the deep structure that have food and cover and fish those spots. You can spend all day on their deep haunts and never get so much as a nibble, because they are not hunting when they are laying down there. I like the way that Don Houge phrased it- "Dont fish the pantry, fish the dinner table." Patience, and a sensitive rod are important as well. The bites are VERY subtle. I missed 4 fish today because I wasn't patient enough and I ripped the bait out of their mouth. The ones I got were between 11am-12pm, in about 35-40' of water, just up from the deeper structure, dropshotting a Sniper Bolt in smoke cinnamon flake color. Rod used was a St Croix Legend Tournament dropshot rod with a Shimano Saros reel with 15 lb braid, and a 6 lb fluorocarbon leeder. Sniper makes a great line of soft plastics, and they are a local company. Their baits are available at Sportco in Fife, and Outdoor Emporium in Seattle(no, I'm not involed with the company, just love their product).
One of the reasons that I picked the time to fish today that I did is because the moon rise for today was at about 12:30. I have read articles about fish being the most active the couple of hours before and after moon rise and moon set. I still dont know how much affect this has, but in winter you take every advantage you can get. Today, all bites came within that couple of hours before moonrise......

Meeks9591

3/13/2011 4:20:00 PM

Nice fish!

fishingmachine

3/13/2011 4:25:00 PM

Nice fish. Couldnt agree more about fishing the dinner table haha

swayner23

3/13/2011 4:34:00 PM

Great report and nice fish. Think we're all getting anxious for the upcoming bass season.

kzoo

3/13/2011 4:53:00 PM

Nice fish, I need to get out and get some smallies! I'm also a big believer in Sniper products, bolts and craws.

arniejl

3/13/2011 6:01:00 PM

Great Job!

Elijah.Loves.Fishin

3/13/2011 10:40:00 PM

very nice~ looks at those bellies :D

Johnthefisherman

3/14/2011 4:21:00 PM

Nice Fish. Do you know the water temp?

f1sh1nf00l

3/14/2011 6:11:00 PM

mid to upper 40's

bcalvert

3/15/2011 10:41:00 AM

Great report, I too love me some Sniper's

Johnthefisherman

3/18/2011 9:32:00 AM

Great Report, Thank you

jkb

3/28/2011 10:23:00 AM

Nice fish! Just started fishing American for bass this summer. Was drop shotting big perch when I stumbled on a few, didn't know they were in there. Tried once this winter but only caught perch, ended up killing them cause I didn't have a fizzer for their air sack, decided not to risk killing the bass. Any pointers for catch and release that deep?

f1sh1nf00l

3/28/2011 6:13:00 PM

You gotta keep a fizzing needle with you, and know how to use it when pulling fish from deep water. There are lots of videos on Youtube on how to fizz a bass, and as far as the fizzing needles go, I have never looked at tackle shops for them, I got mine at a winter tourney on Lake Washington, but I imagine they would be easy to get. However, at this point, I wouldn't worry too much about that 'till next year, the fish are starting to move up, and should be in prespawn mode within the next couple of weeks. All we need is a week of good weather to set things off.

jkb

4/1/2011 1:11:00 PM

I'll keep my eye on the weather channel and my barometer! Got a fizzer from sportco and youtube was loaded with video, thanks for the advice.

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