This evening I took a short, 2 1/2 hour trip accompanied by my mom, Charlotte, who, besides being my mom, a godly woman, and dedicated school nurse, happens to make the BEST fried porkchops in the Western Hemisphere. Just thought I’d throw that in there!
We found a mix of keeper white bass and 14-16″ largemouths holding deep today and had consistent action on the slab.
Today was to see the last SW winds prior to a wind shift coming in overnight, so I was expecting good fishing this evening after nearly calm winds all morning. The forecast was for winds gusting up to 15mph, but we only had winds sustained up to 8-9 and tapering to near calm beginning around 4:45pm. As is often the case, the fish bit as the winds blew. We had light winds and a light bite. When the winds went to near zero, so did the fish activity.
We first contacted fish at Area 1006 at the deep base of an underwater point, right as the point’s slope flattened out. The bite was moderate but consistent for about 65 minutes. Over this period we boated 28 fish on 3/4 oz. TNT slabs in both solid white and in white/silver. We stayed within yards of this area for the duration of the trip, following the old saying, “You don’t leave fish to find fish!” — at least not with guests on board.
Two things of note tonight: 1) this is the first appreciable uptick I’ve seen this season on the presence of largemouth bass mixed in with white bass, and 2) this was the first time this season that I saw milt (semen) dripping from male white bass I boated. The largemouth bass were all very pale and acted the same when hooked in that they all just dragged in for about the first 5-7 feet of movement after being hooked and then began to fight, almost as if they were reluctant to do so. That’s pretty typical of cold water largemouth.
Nearly every trip between now and mid-March will involve a lot of vertical jigging. Regardless of the species you most prefer to fish for, this is the time to get well-practiced at vertical jigging. Winter offers a lot of opportunities to fish for abundant white bass, so, even if you are a black bass fisherman, the skills you’ll learn on a winter jigging trip with me will translate directly to success for other species. If you need a little coaching on this technique, consider booking a trip. It will be a good investment. Call me at 254-368-7411 and we’ll set something up!!
TALLY = 28 FISH, all caught and released
Start Time: 3:00p
End Time: 5:30p
Air Temp: 68F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 55.0F.
Wind: Winds were S9 at trip’s start tapering off rapidly by 4:45p.
Skies: Skies were fair and cloudless.