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...

Fishing Tail Spinners for Late Winter Bass

Fishing during late winter can be a challenging task, but it can also be an excellent time to catch some big bass. One effective lure for late winter bass fishing is a tail spinner. 

A tail spinner is a lure that imitates a struggling or dying small baitfish and is designed to create a combination of vibration and flash that attracts bass.

Here's some of the basics about tail spinners and how to fish them for late winter bass.

What is a Tail Spinner?

A tail spinner is a lure that has a metal blade on the back that spins as you retrieve it through the water. The spinning blade creates a flash and vibration that mimics a small baitfish or other forage. The lure's body is often made of lead and it typically has at least one treble hook on the bottom of the metallic body. Popular tail spinners include: Mann’s Bait Little George, Savage Gear’s Fat Tail Spin, Lunker Hunt’s Big Eye Tail Spin Jig, the Molix Trago Spin Tail, and the Duo Realis Spin.

Tail spinners typically range in size from 1/4 oz to 1 oz as well as a variety of colors, so it's important to select a color pattern matching baitfish found in your local waters.

Early to Mid Winter Cranking Tips

One thing is true about winter bass; many if not most of the bass in our lakes, ponds and reservoirs gravitate towards deeper water with quick access to shallower feeding areas as well.

Main Lake Flats:

On most natural lakes as well as many structure lakes/reservoirs, submerged grass beds located on specific types of structures are bass magnets during the cold, winter months. In this video, bass pro Frank Scalish describes specific grass-related structures he targets when searching for winter bass on these types of waters:

The other maps Frank illustrates during his video:

Neckdowns:

Dead End Guts:

Enjoy!

Winter Jig Trailer Tips

A jig and trailer is one of the most versatile bass fishing baits in most people have in their tackle boxes. Because it's virtually snagless, a jig can be fished through almost any type of cover and structure allowing anglers to probe areas where most baits get hung-up. 

Add in the seemingly endless types and styles of trailers, the jig can be fished during any season. It's especially effective when using extremely slow retrieves in cold water situations.

There is little doubt the jig and trailer is often a "go-to" bait for most bass anglers during the winter months; it's just a matter of using the right type of trailer as bass pro Gerald "G-man" Swindle explains in this video from the folks as Mossy Oak...

Fishing Rapala's Shad Rap for Winter Bass

Why is the Rapala Shad Rap often referred to as the king of winter crankbaits?

Simply put, the thin body shape, tight movement during retrieve, balsa construction along with the variety of available sizes and color patterns means it mimics just about any type of bait bass feed on during the winter months.

Want to learn more?

Take a moment to watch this short video where bass pro Gerald "G-man" Swindle discuss all this and more as he talks about the Shad Rap for winter fishing...