<br /><br />I caught some of my biggest fish this year from January to March. I caught a 6+ lbs. large mouth bass with a good 6” of snow on the ground. Hey that is almost a blizzard here. The lakes can get a thin layer of ice on them at times but it doesn’t usually last long. <br /><br />Catching bass in the winter just requires different tactics than for the summer. Your presentation is usually slower but many times the baits remain the same. During pre-spawn, I like slow rolling spinner baits and fishing jig-n-pigs in deeper water. During spawn, tighten down the drag and hang on, the big fish are moving into the shallow flats. Besides the fall feeding frenzy, this might be the only time the big bass move into the shallow water. Soft plastic baits without weights seem to work good when the fish are on beds. <br /><br />When things get real slow and everything is froze up, I am hunting ducks and deer. i bet the drillin is great fun, and you probably don't even notice when your toes snap off like icicles... i had to turn the heat on the other night when the outside temp got down to 62. somehow i can handle heat with sweat rolling down my back in a steady stream better than cold weather that causes your nose to drip constantly. no way, you can keep your big ice cube. LOL <br /><br />its really amazing the heat that black bass put up with in the south(usa). they seem happy in 85 degree water. in the shallow swampy lakes where the water is only avg 4 ft or so, you'd think they'd parboil. but it seems the oxygen content is what they go for. on 100+degree days, they'll have their heads stuck right under the thickest lilypad patches where the O2 is highest, and they'll blow up on a weedless spoon moving as fast as you can pull it. they'll be biting if you can stand the heat.
