[Jared]

Anyone ever heard of this? I never did until I witnessed it while fishing with my club a few years ago during a winter tournament.

It was a typical South Carolina Winter but for a couple days we went from sitting in the 40s to being sunny and in the 50's. Water temps were still in the 40s but I guess the sun and warmer weather for those two days was enough to bring some fish shallow. I'd have never thought that but when the guy I was paired up with pulled out a big Hawg Caller buzzbait and began churning up the water I almost spit out my coffee in laughter. It wasnt too long before my boater was the one laughing as I netted a 4lbr for him. That fish a couple more inhaled the buzzbait.. in frigid water... in the dead of winter.

I cant say that I have caught buzzbait bass in the dead of winter since then but God knows Ive tried every so often. Like I said, if I hadnt witnessed it Id not have believed it!

Has anyone ever heard, seen or done this?

Tattered Thumbs n Bigguns, Jared

 

[microtek60]

I have heard of this before but never tried. At lake Gaston there is a real good topwater bite and on days that the sun is out and the temp is higher than normal I know that the fish will come back to the shallows

 

[Ouachita]

Our winter water is often gin clear and calm most mornings and evenings, so bass are very spooky shallow. They'll come up 10 feet or more for a noisy buzzbait, so I look for the same ditch 'highways' they use in the spawn and fish deeper over those. I keep the blade barely turning, never stopping. Best time is when there's a little ripple on the surface.

Jim

 

[fish4funinfl]

Ive seen it, and done it, BUT my winters down here cant compair to other places.( most of the time )

 

[Guest]

I have a fishing buddy that fishes with buzzbaits year round. He has one rod that holds only buzzbaits. He does quite well with them also. I haven't been able to go fishing in quite some time but once I do I will be throwing a buzzbait.

 

[imonembad]

I couldn't get the buzzbait bite to go this fall. I think the water cooled off to fast and messed it up its been in the upper 20s the last two nites. Arkie says he doesn't think the water has turned over yet but he is farther south than I am.

 

[Ouachita]

Turnover has already happened in some states (like October in Texas, November in Arkansas), yet to happen up north where water temps have already been lower than down south, maybe turning over just before icing over. It depends on how many surface acres chill how fast, enough to sink rapidly and break through into the deepest water. Usually water visibility suddenly suffers a few weeks from organic matter rotting on bottom being swept into shallower water by convection currents. When that happens, with oxygen everywhere from shore to shore, surface to bottom, it takes something with a lot of attraction to draw scattered bass.

A buzzbait is good for that as long as bass are not too deep to want to rise to get it. They can hear it from a few hundred feet away. When scuba diving even I could hear them churn when anglers got a little too close, within 300 feet, of our diving buoy. Give the bass some time to swim over to it. Making an extra bubble trail will help them locate it faster. Drill some 1/8" & 3/16" holes in the blades to make more bubbles. I put a treble hook a foot ahead of a buzzbait, poke some IVORY bar soap on it, to make longer lasting, tasty bubbles. Fish love that stuff. Makes great catfish bait, too. No perfume in it.

Today was a good fishing day, saw maybe 10 boats all day. We found scads of HUGE shad schools in main creek arm mouths, but the bass were 20-30 feet below them. We caught 4 by noon on spoons run deep. Then it happened. Nice big bass busting the shad, shad leaping out of the water. We limited out in one more hour using T-rigged Zoom flukes let spiral down as dying. Even got a sunburn!

Jim