Wish I was a better cold water fisherman

[Bassman tr21]

I trying hard to lean how to find good fish this time of year. I see some say slow down. Then I see other cracking is the way to get the reaction bite. I’m sure there is time for both. Then you add muddy water and all this rain and current. I’ll just keep fishing.

 

[31airborne]

It's the case any time of year - let the fish tell you what they want, how they want it. There are days in winter when fish go nuts over moving baits. There are days when they want that jerkbait still for 30 seconds or more before they'll eat it.

We've had the same rains y'all have had. To that end, our river systems are also full and the currents screaming. Fish like stability and current conditions are anything but. Fish will tend to go to ground (tight to bottom) or tuck up tight against breaks when the current is hard. Anything to get out of the flow. REC targeting any/all areas where the water eddies a little. Once things stabilize the fish will fall into a more predictable pattern.

Nothing tuffer than cold+muddy conditions. You hafta bang'em on the head w/ the bait if they're gonna eat it more often than not.

 

[finbully]

I look for rocky areas in the sun for water temperature breaks. Of course we have not seen much of the sun lately...

 

[porthos33]

When the water clears up just go throw that rig everywhere you can find. My buddy last year did catch his first 2 over ten last year and 1 was over 12. They both came on a silver buddy. The big ones come in waves for me. Seems if I find one big one, I will find more and they can come in a 24 hour wave or sometimes I can hit an area 4-5 days and slam them everyday. Billy had an awesome week last winter and had 4-5 days of 40lb bags. I was right across from him the first day it started. Oh and if you can fish everyday, that helps ALOT!

 

[Bassman tr21]

Thank you all for the feed back. I will just keep casting and casting and wait to get hooked up.

 

[Muskrat]

Cover as much water as you can with your trolling motor. If you find a fish you'll probably find some more there. If you don't have an umbrella rig try a a single swimbait. Some finesse swimbaits have been catching fish lately.

 

[rusty50576]

I do much better in cold water than warm water, not really sure why