THE BASS COLLEGE

By Jaison Annarino

Bassmaster.com

As winter approaches, many fishermen resign themselves to the armchair until spring. For lucky anglers who live near a hot water power plant lake, however, the water never freezes, and the fishing need never stop.

Power plant lakes, such as Lake Norman in North Carolina, provide year-round warm water bass fishing. Will Petty, a promising tournament professional and 2006 Bassmaster Weekend Series Championship qualifier, calls the lake home.

Preparing his boat for launch, Petty explains, "A hot water lake doubles as a cooling pond for power plants. The water around the discharge — or hot hole — is often 10 to 20 degrees warmer than in surrounding lakes. These areas harbor more forage, the bass are more aggressive, and they offer great fishing opportunities in the dead of winter."

Despite the frigid morning air, Will puts the boat on plane and heads to a barrier that prevents access to the plant. The water temperature here is 82 degrees.

Jaison AnnarinoPetty's tacklebox

"In the vicinity of the discharge," he says, throwing a buzzbait toward a school of spotted bass busting shad, "I look for current breaks, like points, stumps, dropoffs, bridge pilings, laydowns and current seams. In discharge lakes, there is a large volume of moving water. Outside of the hot hole, I fish ambush points like I would on any other lake."

Because power plants are drawing and releasing water, there is current flow all year. Find the best cover near the current, and that's where the dominant predators will be hiding. Since the current and cover near hot holes are sometimes community holes, finesse presentations such as the shaky head can be productive.

"Baits like Big Bite Squirrel Tail worms can be deadly. Flip it to the current break and let it drift past. A bass will inhale it as it passes, just like river fishing."

As more boats move into the area, Will picks up the trolling motor and starts to idle away from the pack. He explains that one feature of a hot lake is that, "the influx of warm water affects most of the lake, not just the hot hole. The warmer water can influence fishing for miles. Find the right temperature and cover, find the fish."

The cold morning air comes with the promise of an Indian summer day as Petty pulls into a cove lined with docks. The water temperature here is 70 degrees.

"It'll be time to shuck this coat soon," he says, grabbing a cranking combo and Spro Little John crankbait. "When the pressure gets too great where I'm fishing, I just move out to areas with a little cooler water. Sometimes that's where the biggest bass are anyway. They'll bully the smaller bass away all year.

"Docks near deep water can be great, especially if you can locate the dredged docks with your graph. Deep docks can hold the best bass in a cove."

As he sets the hook on a keeper, Will offers another observation about hot lakes, "Because of the temperature difference, you can perfect different techniques all year. You can throw crankbaits in warm water or find water temperatures in the mid 40s to low 50s where the baitfish are dying, and fish jerkbaits. There's no end to the possibilities"*

* The Big Bite Baits Worm is the same one I have been using in the videos for those big bass*

You can get all these baits at major discounts and free shipping on most orders,click here<

By Jaison Annarino

Bassmaster.com

In part 1 of this series, Will Petty covered fishing the hot water discharge area of power plant lakes, then relocating when the angler pressure increases.

By mid-day, the air temperature on our outing has reached an unseasonably warm 60 degrees. Free of his coat, Petty fishes a series of deep ledges and rock nearly a half mile from the discharge area where the surface temperature of the water is still 72 degrees.

"A football jig like this 3/8-ounce Jewell with a Paca Chunk trailer can load the boat on a hot lake."

Slowly hopping and dragging the jig across the rock below, he pauses when he contacts a rock to shake the line. This technique imitates a crawfish searching for cover.

Will sets the hook on a chunky 3-pound spot from 20 feet deep.

"They fight like crazy," he says, "but be sure to release them quickly or know how to fizz them. Fish from deep water can have a hard time surviving."

Idling over a shoal in the afternoon, Petty explains that he's looking for feeding schools of spotted bass. The water temperature is 63 degrees.

Jaison AnnarinoIt's important to get comfortable using your graph so you can still find fish when there's no surface activity.

"There's not always surface activity to indicate feeding. The best thing to do is get comfortable with your graph. Learn what it can do and use it as a tool."

He quickly finds an elusive school and trolls the boat over it.

"I like to use a white Dave's jigging spoon in a situation like this. That school is on fire," he exclaims dropping the jig and working it vertically. "Just lift and drop the spoon on a semi-slack line. Don't let it free fall or you'll miss the strike. With a really good graph, you see the fish come up and eat it."

In all, thirteen spotted bass are plucked from that one school.

The last stop of the day was a dock in 55-degree water.

"Like all lakes, hot lakes have brushpiles. This dock has a good one in 10 feet of water off the corner."

The angler tosses a white soft jerkbait with a 5/0 offset worm hook past the brushpile and retrieves it in short pulls. Suddenly, the line grows tight and the rod bows!

"This is a monster spot," Petty shouts, and the fight is on. "Holy cow! Look at that thing," he says as the bass surrenders to the inevitable.

"There's nothing like hot lake fishing. Nothing," Will remarks, releasing the bass after a quick photo.

Power plant lakes will produce all year long, not just when it's cold.

According to Will Petty, "A hot lake fishes a little bit like a river. Find the best current breaks and the best water temperatures, and you'll find fish. I've been in tournaments when the air temperature was 20 degrees but the water was 60 degrees, and I caught a ton of fish. Search the water, match the forage for that temperature and find the best cover. You will find the fish."

well written

Great Article!  Reminds me of Lake Anna only I think Norman has grass but I could be wrong...

Its got to be a good feeling seeing 15 fish on your graph and one by one pick em off.

Yes it is and in just 2 weeks we will be unveiling the new Bass Fishing online courses in association with Faculty Of Fishing. You will be able to learn how to do this with detailed instructions on sonar and drop shotting for the price of a spool of line. Invaluable information brought to you by Terry McClaymont and Bass Fishing Tips, tackle, Videos. Coming soon! Stay Tuned for the announcement!

By Gerald Swindle as told to Ed Harp

Bassmaster.com

Stay put for early winter bass

Here's the problem: Most of the country, especially the Midwest, experienced a mild fall with warm nights. And then it happened: The weather turned bitter cold almost overnight. Daytime highs were in the 20- to 30-degree range; nighttime temperatures fell into single digits. It was miserable.

The bass bite disappeared just as quickly as the weather changed, even on the best lakes. What should we bass anglers do? What lures should we throw? Where should we be fishing? Should we be fishing at all?

Bassmaster.com asked Gerald Swindle those questions. Here's what he had to say:

Let's dispel the first myth right from the get-go. The bass are still around. They haven't moved to the deepest part of the lake, and they aren't in their true winter patterns. For the most part, all they did when the cold weather hit was drop down to the bottom right where they were. They're still on the breaks between flats and channels; they're still holding on weedlines; and, they still can be found hiding under stumps in shallow feeding areas.

Fish movement is a process. It doesn't happen all at once or just because we humans think it's turned cold. The days are only a few minutes shorter and a lot of the bass still want to feed before true winter sets in. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the bass all ran out into the middle of the lake last week as fast as they could swim. They didn't.

If you want to catch them over the next couple of weeks, you should stay put and slow down. The first adjustment you should make is mechanical. Switch from a high- or medium-speed reel to a slow-speed reel. That'll help you slow your bait down. (If you don't have a slow-speed reel, force yourself to slowly turn the handle on the retrieve.)

The next adjustment I'd recommend is to think about keeping your lure on the bottom. Slow roll, deadstick and yo-yo whatever you're throwing. The bass are shocked. They won't suspend much above the bottom, and they won't chase anything. Put it right on their nose, and do it slow.

The best lures for this kind of fishing are tight-wiggling wooden crankbaits, small spinnerbaits and finesse or trick worms in natural colors. They all work well along the bottom and continue to have good action at slower speeds. That's the combination that'll work best.

Early winter fishing isn't all that tough. Stay put, think about the bottom and slow down. You'll catch 'em.

Delawarebass at December 16, 2010 at 12:34 PM

Yes it is and in just 2 weeks we will be unveiling the new Bass Fishing online courses in association with Faculty Of Fishing. You will be able to learn how to do this with detailed instructions on sonar and drop shotting for the price of a spool of line. Invaluable information brought to you by Terry McClaymont and Bass Fishing Tips, tackle, Videos. Coming soon! Stay Tuned for the announcement!

Will you still be doing the regular videos?  I hope that we can still use the site in the same way we use it now!

Yes I will still be doing the videos in full HD and also an underwater camera,but I will give you a sample of the courses and for $19.99 you will be surprised what you get. The info on how to identify the structure,fish,bottom,etc and use the sonar alone is worth it. You will like it. The info will be from a lot of top pros and presented in a way that uses illustrations as well as written material you download and video to go along with it. Some really good stuff in the advanced sections and species specific on largemouth and smallmouth as well. It is like an online college bass fishing course divided in 20-30 courses that you complete at your own pace and it can be added to a resume' to attract sponsors as well. More to come soon. This will just be one more thing to enhance all the other stuff there will be. it will great for beginners and club level anglers looking to learn quickly and move up

This is something that will benefit anybody here who has ever said "I just started Fiishing For Bass A few Years Ago". or I just Got my First Bass Boat", or "I have never really been good with Jigs" or anything similar to this. This is not for an advanced angler at the top of his or her game or for somebody who has been fishing at a high level for sometime, but it is a must for the beginners or guys who just got the their first boats or just started fishing tournaments or want to know more about sonar, tackle, rods and reels. This will benefit many people here at the site.

After looking at it a bit more I have done a 180.  This actually looks pretty darn cool and I wish it was there when I was starting.  The sonar seminar was very informative!

Yes  I agree, the sonar part was informative and wait until you get into the the advanced parts of it in the Pro angler part. It gets into some real detail with the side and down imaging and really helps with understanding what you see.

Its like having sonar for dummies class. Cool idea

let you know the hard part is the depth finder always keeps on changeing and you might have to start learning all over again

BASS COLLEGE Pro Staff- Craig Coffman

Click the image above and tell me what you like or do not like about their picks for winter bass. 

well i quess there all pretty decent because the bass are doing different stuff in different parts of the country . example good luck trying to get that crankbait through 2 ft. of ice in minnasota in feb. lol! the only baits im not reel fond of are those havoc baits. but for me here in new jersey before the water freezes i would use 4 baits  #1-jigging spoon, silver buddy #2-hair jig  #3 grub "small" #4 crappie jigs      in winter i go as small as 3/32 oz.

tom at December 31, 2011 at 2:18 PM

well i quess there all pretty decent because the bass are doing different stuff in different parts of the country . example good luck trying to get that crankbait through 2 ft. of ice in minnasota in feb. lol! the only baits im not reel fond of are those havoc baits. but for me here in new jersey before the water freezes i would use 4 baits  #1-jigging spoon, silver buddy #2-hair jig  #3 grub "small" #4 crappie jigs      in winter i go as small as 3/32 oz.

exactly.

Jeff Kriet: The winter mentality

During the winter months patience is key to landing a big bass

By Matt Pangrac JAN 7, 2012

Edward T. Hall's book, The Hidden Dimension, outlines how different cultures handle context, time and space. Americans fall into the "low-context" category in which time is highly organized. It's all about seeing results quickly and efficiently. So, how does a book written by a well-known anthropologist in the 1960s relate to bass fishing?

When it comes to tempting bass in icy waters, our "results driven" culture often causes many anglers to overlook the process and focus on the product. When the water temperatures are hovering in the high 30s and low 40s, the key to productivity is in the details.

In other words, you have to slow down. "During the winter months, you can still catch bass on a jig, a drop shot and a shaky head, but you have to slow way, way down," explains Elite Series pro Jeff Kriet. "There's a big difference in the way I work my bait when the water is in the 40s as opposed to the 60s. When it's cold, I'm going to put the bait where I think the bass are located, and then I'm going to leave it there for a long time." In the coldest months of the year, Kriet opts for dragging his jig or worm across the bottom rather than hopping or shaking it like he would in warmer conditions

"I'll barely move the bait," he says. "I'm going to pull it really slow and then leave it in the key areas as long as I possibly can. When the water is really cold, a bass' metabolism slows to the point where they don't have to eat very often." Even when he is throwing hard baits like a Shad Rap or jerkbait in cold water, Kriet makes sure to use an ultraslow retrieve.

Rather than cranking the offering back to the boat, he'll wind the bait to the desired depth and then use a sweeping or pulling motion with his rod. During a retrieve, the only thing he uses the reel for is taking up the slack line created with each sweep of the rod. Kriet says that preparing mentally for a slow day on the water is one of the hardest aspects of midwinter bass fishing. "You have to go out knowing that you're fishing for just a few bites the entire day," he admits. Throughout the course of the day, he will constantly remind himself to slow down and fish methodically. "I'm bad about speeding up when I'm not getting bit," he admits. "If you're mentally prepared, you'll be able to take advantage of the windows of opportunity that open during the day." On a typical winter outing, Kriet says there are generally only one or two "windows of opportunity" to put bass in the boat.

When they do decide to bite, the action can be fast and furious. "You'll fish for four hours without a bite and then have a flurry where you catch five or six bass and then go another few hours without a bite," he says. "You just have to be prepared to make those bites count. You have to grind it out." Kriet also believes that anglers who live in areas that allow them to fish through the entire winter season and who take advantage of that opportunity are better off once spring rolls around. "The guy who has been hunting and watching football all winter is going to get on the water the first nice day of spring and just assume that he's going to catch the heck out of them.

The guy that has been fishing all winter long is mentally prepared for a slow day and only getting a few bites." Kriet points to his sixth place finish in the 2008 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell as an example of the importance of fishing throughout the year. "It was miserably cold during the Classic, and I had to fish my jig painfully slow just to get a bite," he remembers. "I would spend maybe five minutes on a single cast because I was moving my jig so slowly. I had been fishing all winter, so I was mentally prepared to fish that way, and that's why I think I had such a solid finish." He offers this piece of advice for anglers willing to brave the cold weather elements, "If you think you're fishing slowly enough, slow down even more. Once you get a bite, fish even slower and pinpoint the productive areas."

I'm ready to go now, it's been above 50 deg. for the past two day's!!