Fishing Brush Piles for Cold Water Bass

When the winter bass bite gets tough, one productive type of cover to target dormant largemouth and spotted bass is in brush piles. Using jigs is an effective technique to entice cold, winter bass that are usually holding tight to cover in deeper water or at least close to it.

The Ideal Brush Pile

Focus your efforts on brush piles located off main lake points, at the mouths of creeks, or along channel swings in major coves or suts. Submerged brush piles located in about 10-25 feet of water are considered prime winter habitat. The best piles have a mix of branches and occasional stumps or logs that bass can tuck into waiting to ambush unsuspecting forage.

Gearing Up Properly

A 7’ heavy power, fast action rod with a high speed reel spooled up with 15 to 25 lb test fluorocarbon line makes it easier to muscle bass out of thick woody cover. Tie on a 1⁄2 oz. or heavier bass jig in black blue, brown, or green pumpkins colors tipped with a chunk-style trailer. The combination of heavier jig and line makes it easier to saty in contact with the jig and also reduces snags in the brush.

Finessing Your Presentation

Position your boat upwind and make long casts past the edges of the brush pile. Let your jig sink to the depth of the cover and work with a slow, dragging retrieve mixing in occasional hops. Watch your line for any ticks indicating a strike. When you make contact with a branch, slowly pull and pop your jig free, letting it fall back to the strike zone. Concentrate on thoroughly working all parts of the brush pile.

Set the Hook!

The light tap of a bite can quickly change to the weight of a solid bass rapidly inhaling the jig. Be ready to set the hook quickly but not too aggressively to ensure a solid hook set and not pull the jigs away from lethargic bass. Use a heavy power, fact action rod to expertly guide the bass away from the snag filled pile.

North Carolina bass pro Brandon Card relies on his jig fishing system for enticing and extracting winter bass from offshore brush piles. Take a few moments and watch as Brandon explains his process to locating and catching sluggish winter bass from his favorite deep water tangles...

Fishing Jigs for Fall to Winter Transition Bass

As fall fades into winter, bass feeding patterns change drastically. The forage bounty of spring and summer dwindles, sending bass into a more lethargic, opportunistic feeding mode. 

This transition can frustrate anglers counting on reaction bites, but offers opportunity for anglers willing to slow down and finesse cold water bass into biting. One of the most effective ways to tempt a tough transitional bass is with a finesse jig paired with a soft plastic trailer.

Downsize Your Jig

The keys to any finesse presentation are lightweight and slow. As bass metabolism slows in the cooling water temperatures of fall sliding towards winter, bulky moving baits become less appealing. Scale back your jig size to 3/16 or even 3/8 ounce models, which allow for an ultra-slow falling rate to mimic dying baitfish. Light to heavy wire hooks also increase hooks ups on sluggish, chilled biters.

Match Your Trailer

Pair your jig with an equally diminutive soft plastic trailer, like a 2-3 inch straight tail, craw, or mini creature plastic bait. Keep your color selections natural, matching native forage colors like greens, browns, and blacks.

Slow Your Retrieve

With your downsized jig rigged, focus on high-percentage areas like steep drops, creek channel bends, stump flats, or any cover positioned near deep water drops. Make long casts and allow your jig to sink slowly, sometimes subtly shaking your rod tip to impart only the faintest movement. Bass will softly inhale the jig, so be ready to set the hook when feeling even the slightest of bites.

Make Multiple Casts to Cover

Cold water bass are often reluctant chase down a bait no matter how slow it's moving. Be sure to make multiple casts to cover at varying angles to have the best chance of enticing bites from these sluggish bass.

Take few moments and watch as the folks from Lurenet provide a short demo video with several tips on jig fishing for fall to winter transition bass...

A True "No Twist" Jig Head?

The Big Bite Baits Pendulate jig head is an open hook jig designed for suspending soft plastics when fishing vertical presentations especially when using modern sonar technology like forward facing sonar.

It features a unique, pendulum-style head with a built in swivel that helps to keep the bait in a more natural, horizontal position in the water. This makes it ideal for fishing in clear water situations, where fish can be more easily spooked.

The Pendulate Jig Head is available in a variety of sizes and weights, so you can choose the perfect one for your fishing application. It is also available in a variety of colors, so you can match your bait to the forage in the water.

Here are some of the features of the Big Bite Baits Pendulate Jig Head:

Pendulum-style head with a built-in swivel that helps to keep soft plastics in a more natural position in the water.

Built-in swivel that helps prevent line twist and keeping fish from throwing the bait.

Available in a variety of sizes and weights.

Available in a variety of colors.

Take a few moments and watch as fishing pro Wade Middleton gives an on the water presentation about the construction and benefits of Big Bite Bait's Pendulate jig head...

Tough Bite Jig Trailer Tips

All bass anglers encounter tough jig bite days that has us trying every trailer option on our box. 

But there is one soft plastic bait that most of us may never think t try!

What is it?

How do you present it?

What's the best hookset to use when you get bit?

Take a moment and let bass pro Jamie Hartman explain his tricks for fooling finicky bass into biting: