Thread: So my water just dropped below 50F. Tactics?

I've been catching a few in about 20 to 25 ft. of water fish has been 16 to 18 ft. deep on Bobby Garland baby shad but it's been tough lately good luck.

we find the winter fish deep in lots of lakes as stated , 20 plus feet deep is the norm .
25 ish is where i have seen the majority of them .
we see them often park real close to the bottom and sometimes on structure/cover and sometimes not .
we also see the schools of larger fish to be fairly small and spread out .
6 or 8 good fish together and then move a bit here and there to find another group .
larger pearl ,charcoal ,blue baits and combinations of those colors seem to work well .
and no matter what you are told there are times a pink head will make a difference ...
esp. in the winter months
one thing that always is in the mix is very little movement ....i see folks twitch their jigs real good in the winter all the time .
livescope has shown me multiple times thats a real big no no in the winter months .
very still is how the baitfish are at those water temps ,even when pursued they dont move very fast .
same with your bait my friend
thats my 27 cents worth ...luck to ya

I fish brite days, W. Marshall 4-6# Camo line, old wood - not recent laydowns, Threadfin & Eclipse BG Baby Shad, Ice fishing Slip Corks, absolutely no jig movement, 2 jigs on same line - one always close to bottom here, fish clean water, shiner / jig combo - shiner on top, NIP tide if coastal fishing, slow action rods, smaller hooks as it gets colder, almost sounds like painting a Picasso. BRING A NET! Lots of sun pushes the Sac-a-lait into the wood concentrating them. I find the fish get increasingly line shy. Since pre-spawn grouping, seems my luck is better on old wood that has recruited fish for many years, like they return to the scene of the crime. Black heads / natural color jigs contrast well in deeper water with surface brightness. We almost always have some water movement - slip corks keeps the jig level if floating over a lot of sinker cypress and reveal when the weight is removed as well as when it disappears. I motor into dead end waterways for cleaner water. Limber rods seem to get the fish to the surface without pulling poorly positioned hooks. Picasso abstractly position numerous colors and graphics to create a successful painting, so should you line up as many dominoes together as it's not one thing that will put fish in your cooler but a combination abstractly different techniques combined to make music, the sound of flopping crappie in the cooler, Yes?

Some lakes some Crappie never go deep . Look close to the bottom around wood but as it warms up some days they move up . With livescope you can find them and hold it on their nose . Colder it gets more sluggish and more important to hold bait still as possiabe . Use same jig as any other time .

Slow is the word, fish very slow.

I fish slow most of the year, but especially in the winter. I like to fish vertical and pull it up slow a crank at a time, pausing for a while in between. They pretty much always whack it on the pause.

Originally Posted by NIMROD

Some lakes some Crappie never go deep . Look close to the bottom around wood but as it warms up some days they move up . With livescope you can find them and hold it on their nose . Colder it gets more sluggish and more important to hold bait still as possiabe . Use same jig as any other time .

Sometimes, at that temperature, I’ll downsize my plastic baits. Rip about 1/4 “ off the front. Nimrod doesn’t use them but tipping with nibbles or spraying with slab sauce may help with the bite too.

Below 50 is my zone!!
My lake is deep and clear.
Channel edges on inside bends, on structure.


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