Winter Fishing Tips

It looks like the early winter fishing season is here. With the cooling down of the air and water temp it changes the way that we must fish to be successful. The way that you fished several weeks ago and caught fish, probably would not produce fish now using the same baits and the same location. The reason being that then the water temps were in the mid 60's and the fish were up in more shallow water. But now the water temps are in the 55 to 60 degree range and the lakes have dropped to winter pool in most lakes. The fish are in a late fall early winter pattern now.

This means that the fish are moving out of the shallow water areas of the lake and are moving to the deeper water parts of the lake to hold till spring. But just because the fish are moving to deeper water does not mean that they are going to be deep all winter. The fish move to deeper water to be able to move up or down in the water to find the most suitable water temps the best oxygen levels and to use the deeper water as a means of escape when the fish feels threatened. With all of the knowledge a winter time angler has there is still one thing that a lot of us forget to do that really makes a big difference in the success of a winter fishing trip. And that is to plan your trip ahead of time.

What I mean by planning is to do your homework before you go. You do this by several ways. You can talk to other fisherman that have been fishing and find out what did and did not work for them. You can check out Internet fishing reports and get the latest updates. Or if you know the name of the dock where you are taking off from ,call ahead for a updated lake report. And if possible try to get a updated weather report for the area you will be fishing.

All these things may not seem all that important now but when you get on the lake and it is 25 to 30 degrees with a wind chill factor below freezing then this type of information might seem helpful. Planning a winter trip ahead of time can really make all the difference in the world in the success and the safety of your winter trip.

One of the best tips that I could give for a winter fishing trip would be to know the type of fish that you are wanting to fish for and choose a lake that is known to have good winter fishing for that fish. So just do your homework ahead of time and you will have a much better chance of having a productive winter trip. This is a big fish time of year and that always makes it more fun. Fish have fun and be safe this winter fishing season.