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Shallow water winter time fishing help

662 views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  JimmyJonny 
#1 ·
I've caught fish fishing shallow at night during the spring spawn but, how about winter shallow water fishing. what do you look for in an area and is it necessarily same places you fish in spring? daytime vs nightime?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
It all depends on water temp's. Water hits 60 deg I try 10-15 foot drops near shallow mussel beds. On my side of the lake we have about a dozen spots that fit this bill and in a sweep of all of them in a couple hours you either hit them or can move back out deep.

Always test / try shallow when the water temps go up. Most of us have a spot or 2 that will produce shallow first (I have 3 spots) if no bites I move back to deep and abandon shallow.

Shallow water fish in the middle of winter seem to like real fresh bait so keep that in mind. Others might differ on this but I have noted fresh shad always seems to work better than (been frozen out of my freezer cause its all I got bait)ßthat’s a joke)

Good luck and remember testing shallow in winter on known good spots is always worth it. I have slayed them on days I would have never thought to try it. I sometimes think that a ball of shad was herded shallow but that’s a theory I cant prove.

Curt
 
#3 ·
I don't fish shallow water in the winter. I have found fish in shallow water this winter because it has been so warm. If the water temp is below 60 I fish deeper till I find them. With this really cold snap comin I would go deep for sure. I suggest finding bait balls and fish under them. The colder the water gets the more balled up the bait will get and some will die as a result of the cold. They sink and there is always some hungry cat waiting for that free meal. Hang around these schools and drop mr.kitty some free dinner with a 8/0 octopus circle hook hidin inside and ...............FISH ON!!!:wink::smile2:
 
#5 ·
I'm one of the few that does fish shallow during cold months and do ok....then again I night-time bank fish so my choices are limited. I know they still cruse our shallow creeks at night ( 5'-12' ) for sure. I agree also that they do come around the mussel beds. The shallows I fish are usually within a 1/4 mile of deeper water. One thing is for sure, the bait is thick in our creeks at night and them cats aint to far away.

Now would I be better off in deeper water ? Maybe, but it's all I can do for now and I do catch fish so I cant complain.
 
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