winter bass tactics

[Godrew1972]

hi all,
pretty new to bass fishing, for years i was all about trout.
what tactic/lure do you usually try when the weather cools down.
Not ice fishing but cold. Fishing from a boat mostly in central Nj area.
maybe some round valley bass info, try for smallies

Thanks

[Rich196]

Matt, Pretty much all the lakes in central Jersey are right around 50 degrees right now, they are still pretty active, but def. in the next couple weeks when the water gets in the 40's, pretty much 2 lures will work very well and will work ALL winter. First, get yourself some NED rigs, doesn'tt have to be the Z-man rigs, I also have great success using the 3' fat senko, and the other is a blade bait, like a Binsky, or silver buddy, good for casting and vertical jigging. Me and my wife fish right threw the winter if weather permits, and trust me, these are all you need for cold water fishing, hands down the best 2 lures to work in cold water. BTW, you could use them any time. Hope this helps.

[Chrisper4694]

drop shot is always with me winter open water fishing too but the blade bait is def my favorite, not just for bass but other species too! and I can't emphasize SLOW SLOW SLOW enough.

[Godrew1972]

Thanks for the info and ideas,
Is the NED rig just a jig head, and is the senko 3inch fat different than the 3inch senko?
Is that just dropped to the bottom and jigged slowly up n down?
Plus I never fished the blade bait either, is that the same, just jig it?

Hopefully headed out this weekend if I can conquer the leaves in my yard.

[NJSquatch]

i would also throw a finesse jig into the mix for deep water..i like the zman Ned heads and baits...virtually indestructible

real simply for all the deep water presentations....cast out...let it hit bottom and then just hop it off the bottom and let it fall back....slooooow is the key here...target deep water structure.....

shallow water i like jerk baits with a jerk jerk long pause retrieve...

BTW shallow water lakes are in the low 40's up North...Lake Musconetcong was 43 degrees on Sunday

[Chrisper4694]

if you don't think you're moving the ned rig enough, move it even less and same with the drop shot haha.

for the blade bait let it sit on the bottom and then just pull it enough to get a slight vibration off of it and let it sit again for a few seconds.

less is more when the water is really cold!

[Godrew1972]

What size blade bait and NED head you usually use, i fish farrington lake quite a bit and rivers in North NJ for trout so I am usually using light setup 4-8lb test.

[NJSquatch]

i fish farrington lake

not familiar with the lake but based on the internet it looks to have a max depth of 12'? Navionics (https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@12&key=m%7CyuFvcneM)is showing some crazy deep contours that I am sure is just someone screwing around.

i would use 1/4 oz blade bait and a 1/8oz (1/10 zman) ned rig head and a 3" green pumpkin TRD...finesse is the name of the game...

[Godrew1972]

Great, thanks for the info.
lake is not that deep, has a few spots up to 20 ft and a guess the original river that created the lake is like a 12-15ft channel down the middle. Most is 4-6 ft though. Its a mile from my house so its any easy trip. has pike, pickerel and bass. Gets a ton of pressure though from april to october

[Lard Almighty]

All good tips up above, but don't neglect shallow water if we get a couple of warm, sunny days in a row. Work shallow crankbaits and minnow plugs in 2-3 feet or less, you'd be surprised how bass will stack up.

[Godrew1972]

i will test out your tips this weekend after this cold air moves out, trying for Saturday morning before the rain comes in. even if no fish it will be better than bagging the leaves

[Godrew1972]

It didn’t happen, yesterday all local lakes to me had skim ice. I figured I would try a few trout streams today. Also didn’t happen, south branch, pequest and musky all brown and over flowing as of 7am. Maybe next weekend will happen.

[Hookmanski]

It didn’t happen, yesterday all local lakes to me had skim ice. I figured I would try a few trout streams today. Also didn’t happen, south branch, pequest and musky all brown and over flowing as of 7am. Maybe next weekend will happen.

Same thing happened to me, was busy with family all weekend except for a few hours this morning but everywhere I went was either blown out or frozen :(