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By: Jim Bess - YourEdge Texas Bass Spot
10/16/02 - As our northern brothers begin to enter the colder months once again some questions have come up about fishing in the cold. First, and foremost I should explain that cold-water fishing for me is still foreign. Cold-water fishing in the West means 30-50 degree air temperatures and not having to fish in water any colder than 40-45 degrees.
West coast fishing, which is based on finesse fishing and tends to get anglers “locked in” to those techniques. Many anglers subscribe to the “size down and slow down” theory regardless of where they might be fishing. For the most part, that’s a pretty solid way to fish. Many times if you get locked in to any particular method of fishing you will find that your passing up on opportunities to catch fish.
Several years ago Ron Relser, an established angler on Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and Lake Havasu, shared some tips and techniques regarding the Football Jig with myself and other Las Vegas Bass Club members. These would forever change my way of fishing in the cold. The first thing to remember is that Ron only lets you in as far as an introduction to using particular lures and/or techniques.
The primary and crucial part of the technique was the size of the Football Jig. Starting at 1-ounce may have you shaking your head thinking why would anglers that pride themselves on mastering Finesse Techniques go so far the other direction. You have to admit 1/8 ounce to 1 ounce is a bit if an extreme adjustment. Nevertheless, that 1-ounce Football Jig is a mainstay in my tackle box. Currently there are ten boxes in my locker, full of 1-ounce Football Jigs. Alone they’re enough to sink anyone’s boat all by themselves. Open, Weedless, Weedless/Single Rattle, Weedless/Double Rattle and recently each and every one of these combinations added with Big Eye’s. Each time I go out I have to force myself to take several of them out.
The importance of the heavy one ounce jigs is simply to get down fast and present a more determined thump when the jig pounds the bottom. The action and presentation of the lure should resemble that of a crawfish. Typically here in the Midwest, North and Northeast it should be noted Football Jigs are and have been a used primarily to imitate baitfish presentations in those regions. Here locally, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Football Jigs are not easy to find as you can spend an entire day mingling through Dallas/Fort Worth’s four million residents and still never find a decent representation of a quality Football Jig. Still the importance of a quality non-chipping paint job, quality hooks both in heavy and light wire, with sturdy living breathing skirts. As in fishing and business location is key; once you have found a great supplier take care of them by promoting their store and their products.
Presentation as mentioned before needs some serious consideration, as all techniques require practice. Swimming pools are for more than just swimming you know. There’s also your neighbors pool to cast to from your rooftop and checkout exactly what and how your lures looks like in the water. By the way, I am not condoning any malicious acts as I always get permission prior to casting my lures into the neighbor’s pool. As I am still convincing my wife that installing a new pool would be great for exercise. She has not fallen for it, and has actually said, “What would it be for, testing your lures”. Remember if the presentation does not look good to you, it most likely won’t look good to the fish. The 1-ounce Football Jigs actually gives you more control of your presentation. The slow falling presentation in my opinion looses it productivity when fish fall back to deeper water structure. Deep water in the west is 20 to 60 feet and much different than deep water here in the Midwest 12 to 25 feet. The 1-ounce Football Jig and choice of trailer provide more volume overall pushing more water telling the bass this offering might be something that could fill his tummy for a little while. Why eat a pizza roll when you could have a whole full size pizza pie? Observing live crawfish is most likely the best way to get the pattern of presentation. For those of you that may not have observed crawfish in the wild, should note that crawfish rarely throw themselves a foot up in the water column then drift slowly back down. When put into a defensive posture they typically would scurry backwards one or two times. Almost like they were charging themselves up to use their tail for the quick get away. At the point of using their tail the move is meant to get away is swiftly and quickly. It’s not a movement the crawfish makes gingerly; it’s sudden and meant to his frail shelled body out of the fish’s strike zone.
Now when you cast out you will notice that Football thump, thump the bottom. Take note that each time the lures fall you will feel a definite thump. You presentation needs to be intermittent; meaning simply two short pops which usually will raise the claws of your trailer. Follow this with a sweeping jerk to imitate the crawfish trying to escape. There will be many opportunities to change your cadence, noting that I have provided the one that has been productive for me. When speaking about trailers it has been a practice of mine to use plastic trailers when the water temperatures are 55 degrees and up. Once the water temperature falls below the 55-degree mark I will predominately use pork trailers for the remainder of the year.
In regards to where to fish the Football Jig it should be noted that depending on the habitat your lake provides. Making point to take advantage of light wire, heavy wire, weed guards or no weed guards will require some trial and error. Note that I use them all and it simply depends on what body of water I am fishing. Generally, if I were going to fish a new body of water in the winter months I would start looking for some steep walls that bear some chunk rock or boulders in deeper water. Take advantage of the break line, which will require you pay close attention to your electronics. Rarely will you catch a bass in these situations where the fish breaks for shallower water. Most of the fish I find in these situations ALWAYS position themselves next to deeper water.
So remember just because summer is over and
the fall month’s usher in the cooling temperatures does not mean it’s time
to vegetate in front of the couch and watch that other football.
(edited
by Jim@USSFN)