What Fish Bite in Cold Weather Updated

What Fish Bite in Cold Weather

Winter may not seem like the best flavor for a catfishing circuit, but nice fish like this i caught past Reggie Gebhardt of Glasgow, Mo., await anglers who dress for the cold and give information technology a try.

I overheard some Arkansas fishermen discussing their sport this week.

"I tin can't look until this cold weather ends and the fish start biting again," 1 said.

"Me, too," another said. "I similar to chase, but fishing is more than my thing. I'k eager to get on the water again when spring rolls around."

I wanted to interrupt their chat and tell them the fish never stopped biting. Casting a bait or lure can be just equally productive in winter equally other times of year. Merely I decided to listen my ain business.

One of the reasons I like to fish this fourth dimension of yr is the lack of other anglers on the water. I oftentimes accept my favorite winter angling holes all to myself — a fact I greatly enjoy. And I knew I wouldn't crash-land into these two anglers if held my natural language.

I considered this when I sat downwards to write this article. Why should I tell you how to catch fish this season when there'due south a greater chance I'll discover yous on my favorite honeyhole if I share my cognition? Well, not telling y'all would just be downright unneighborly of me, and I don't desire to be a poor sport. After all, Arkansas has plenty of slap-up winter fishing holes where all of u.s. can enjoy fishing together. And then I pushed my stinginess aside and decided to tell you about iii fish that seize with teeth eagerly, even on the coldest days.

You'll accept to article of clothing plenty of warm clothes to enjoy a solar day on the water this winter, but if you're a hardy individual willing to dress comfortably, yous tin can employ some of the tactics described below and wait to become home with mess of good-eating fish for the dinner table. I hope you're successful if you effort.

Catfish

Flathead catfish don't tolerate common cold water very well. In winter, they lie inactively in deep holes in a state of semihibernation.

Fortunately, Arkansas' other two big catfish — the channel cat and blue cat — feed actively throughout even the coldest winters. And they tin can be easier to take hold of than y'all might imagine.

Yous might try catching these whiskered warriors in ane of the state's large lakes or rivers, but for the fastest activity this flavour, I recommend fishing a farm pond. Most ponds are stocked with one or the other species, and if you place a bait in the right spot, you're likely to take hold of one fish afterward another for hours.

Start by obtaining permission to fish from the pond owner, then asking him or her to point out the deepest hole in the pond. During cold conditions, that'south where most cats volition exist. Fish from a boat if you can, lowering your bait straight downwardly into the pigsty. My typical rig consists of a 5/0 Daiichi octopus hook with a couple of separate shot crimped on the line a foot in a higher place. When it reaches the bottom, I turn the reel handle a few cranks so the bait is a foot or so above the substrate, where cats can amend notice information technology. When depository financial institution angling, I utilise a 1-ounce Rubbercor sinker instead of carve up shot and add a pocket-size cigar-shaped crappie cork on the line betwixt the hook and sinker to float the allurement only off the bottom.

Craven liver is a top bait in this situation. Cats apace zero in on the scent and taste of poultry claret dissolving from the tissue. Some catfish anglers prefer frozen livers because they stay on the claw better, but fresh liver has more cat-alluring qualities. Weave the hook through each piece several times, and you shouldn't have as well much of a trouble keeping the liver on the hook.

Don't sit in one spot likewise long. If a true cat is nearby, you'll accept a seize with teeth before 15 minutes passes. If you don't, move a brusque altitude, and endeavor again. Once you discover the sugariness spot, yous'll accept piffling trouble communicable enough cats for a succulent winter fish fry.

Crappie

Arkansans love the scrappy, scrumptious crappie. Merely largemouth bass and catfish equal this panfish in popularity. All the same, few Natural State anglers fish for crappie in winter because finding schools can be difficult when the water is cold.

That's no reason to avoid cold-conditions crappie fishing, however. If you're willing to spend some fourth dimension using a fish-finder to zero in on good fishing spots, the crappie you notice are likely to speedily gobble upwards a minnow or jig dropped into the strike zone.

Winter crappie often hold along creek channel drib-offs and other edge areas in lakes. Y'all can fish such a location much easier if you marker information technology with several buoys. Locate the drop-off with a depth-finder; then slowly follow the edge. Throw out a marker buoy each time you cantankerous a certain depth — 10 feet, for instance. Continue placing the buoys, about 20 feet apart, until you've used them all. At present you take a visible image of the edge, and tin can fish information technology more than thoroughly for crappie.

Many baits and lures volition nab winter crappie, just one of the all-time is an old-fashioned jigging spoon worked with a vertical presentation. Position your boat abreast the target structure where your fish-finder shows fish; so lower the lure to the bottom. Take upwardly slack, sweep your rod tip upward i to 3 anxiety, and slowly drib the rod tip, letting the spoon gratuitous-fall but keeping "in touch" with information technology at all times. Echo, and be attentive for pickups equally the lure falls.

Where you catch one crappie, in that location are probable to be dozens, and so don't abandon your line-fishing hole likewise soon. In winter, communicable a limit can be a cinch if y'all find them.

Smallmouth Bass

For some real pole-bending action, a wintertime bladder on ane of the state's Ozark or Ouachita Mountain streams is hard to vanquish. Smallmouth bass inhabit most all these waters, and cold water doesn't deter them from feeding in the least.

Many Arkansas smallmouth fans prefer live baits, especially crayfish and minnows. However, any bogus designed to imitate the smallmouth's natural prey will usually prove productive. Plastic worms and salamanders, crayfish- and minnow-false crankbaits, and the pork-frog/jig combination are all worth trying.

Try casting slightly upstream and letting the allurement migrate with the current on a slack line. Guide the lure past and behind as many large rocks every bit you can pick out, hopping it along with brusque flips of your rod tip. Make the retrieve ho-hum, too.

This time of year, you'll detect a pervasive feeling of peace and quiet on most of these streams. No boats. No tourists. But a relaxing "abroad-from-it-all" atmosphere. Best of all, when you set the claw on i of those common cold-water smallmouths, yous'll enjoy the incomparable fun that's sure to ensue when the bass goes airborne and tailwalks across the water. It only takes a few fights similar that to warm you up and make you forget all about the wintertime cold.