Northwest Fishing Reports

Is anyone out there as dumb as me? OK,don't answer yet.....

I fish all through the year for trout and ski's. Rain,snow,wind..etc.. doesn't stop me.
I have a case of the bass bug. Just curious if anyone has any tips on catching smallies or lmb in these weather situations
or should I just leave 'em alone until after the spawn?

Smallies and Largemouth will start going deeper as the year gets later

I guess I'm more curious about lures.
Slow moving cranks? Jigs? etc.

Also seeing if anyone fishes bass this late in the year....winter

LMB dont always go deeper,if you have a body of water with a max depth of 8' or like 20' but have no structure just flat bottom,welp looks like your gonna be flippin shallow cover.Just make quiet presentations and fish slow.2 lakes that this resembles silver "cowlitz co" and swafford pond"lewis county" and swafford freezes almost over.Kevin get out and fish cause you dont wanna miss the fall feeding schedule.Im hoping to get a PB this fall for LMB.Im going to probably just throw swim's, cranks,spinnerbaits,and flip jigs or swim jigs thats probably all you will need dont make it to complicated just have fun:cheers:

SPARKY101 wrote:LMB dont always go deeper,if you have a body of water with a max depth of 8' or like 20' but have no structure just flat bottom,welp looks like your gonna be flippin shallow cover.Just make quiet presentations and fish slow.2 lakes that this resembles silver "cowlitz co" and swafford pond"lewis county" and swafford freezes almost over

Perfect... Thank you Sparky:salut:

Cranks of all kinds Kevin,..and like Sparky said,..S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N,..the colder water will make the Bass a bit more lathargic,..I'd still cast 2 docks and cover,..play the weedlines 2,..and be prepared for your PB 2 hit!

BB

Spring & fall are similar when it comes to presentation. An often overlooked factor is lure weight. Too often anglers go with heavy lures because they are easier to cast -- especially when using a baitcasting rig. 9 times out of 10, bass will prefer a lure that falls slowly (and doesn't fall straight down). For example, weightless senkos don't fall straight down. They fall slowly, and tend to "wobble" as they fall. Also, and since senkos have more weight in the rear, they glide backwards on a slack line. If you add a giant bullet weight, a senko can be used in deep water but all of the subtle traits that make the senko so effective will be lost. Using a Carolina rig is a good compromise if you fish deep. Since the weight isn't directly attached to the lure, you still get most of the positive behaviors that you'd get with a weightless lure + you can fish it deep, no problem-o.

If your lures "swim", that's a totally different paradigm. When a swimming lure is paused, it should either rise slowly or remain motionless. A swimming lure that stops & immediately sinks like a rock is unnatural. That's probably why the "swimming senko" was not a big hit with bass anglers...

Senkos again man you just cant get to far away from them#-o Hey HG i posted a technique you can use for a deep senko and wont lose the famous wiggle from the bic pen award lure its in the band camp section.

Thanks for the advice folks,looks like I need to get myself some senko's.
Does anyone in here target bass in the dead of winter? or target something else?
Just wondering if I'm the only psycho(or idiot) to do this.

SPARKY101 wrote:Senkos again man you just cant get to far away from them#-o Hey HG i posted a technique you can use for a deep senko and wont lose the famous wiggle from the bic pen award lure its in the band camp section.

If it ain't broke, why fix it? I caught my biggest largmouth of the year on a 4" senko...

The water temp hasn't droped that much. Just like spring the hawgs will come alive as it cools. Been doing well with jigs!

I'm a winter basser... be prepared for a painfully slow time, but that makes any catch more rewarding. I will be using suspending jerkbaits this year with my usual weightless plastics on standby.

I think from now until the lakes freeze is the best time for big fish.
We started fishing Potholes last week and the Smallmouth are on the move.
We get our biggest Smallmouth and Walleyes in October and November.
We find more Large mouths on the dam this time of the year.
Best big fish bait last year was Storms Wild eye swim bait in a Perch pattern, 4 inch.
Three inch Curly Tail grubs on a 1/16th to 1/4 oz jig head has been a go-to bait for years.
I used to hang up my rod and grab a shotgun the first of September.
Then I discovered the fall bite.

You're killing me!!!

I've been working long hours + weekends and can't even remember the last time I went fishing...

We have found some very nice fish in with the duck hunters over at Winchester and Frenchmans Wasteway that feed into the Potholes. They tend to move out of the shallow ponds and back into the main stream....and there are some decent fish. OK really big fish. Just used a canoe to go down a ways, and then paddled back upstream. It was not too much current.

YellowBear wrote:I think from now until the lakes freeze is the best time for big fish.
We started fishing Potholes last week and the Smallmouth are on the move.
We get our biggest Smallmouth and Walleyes in October and November.
We find more Large mouths on the dam this time of the year.
Best big fish bait last year was Storms Wild eye swim bait in a Perch pattern, 4 inch.
Three inch Curly Tail grubs on a 1/16th to 1/4 oz jig head has been a go-to bait for years.
I used to hang up my rod and grab a shotgun the first of September.
Then I discovered the fall bite.

Great info,thank you.