Jigging Spoons By Captain Mike Gerry

Often in the winter we get in a slump and get discouraged because you can’t get a bite. There’s an ole-timers bait that many of us have forgotten about and one that will produce a variety of bites besides the species we are after. However a big lunker bass is not out of the question. Jigging spoons are just the ticket when nothing else seems to work in the cold of the winter.

In the winter like every other bait you must present it differently than you might in the summer time. The presentation I use in the winter is slower more precise to the baitfish location and a little easier to present. The first thing on Guntersville is to locate the areas near ledges where the baitfish appear to be extremely intense on your Lowrance unit. I generally look for deep points that have gradual drops to the deeper water.

As is the case most of the year, the baitfish will bring you to the feeding bass. Vertically drop your jigging spoon to the depth where the bait is showing and jig it up and down directly over the bait. The up and down motion of a spoon is hard for suspending fish to resist; most of the time the bass will hit on the drop so try to keep good contact with your bait. The strike is generally very subtle in the winter so be aware of the spoons movement, sometimes there is just slack in the line or movement away from the boat etc.

If this doesn’t work I then drop the spoon directly to the bottom and drag it on the bottom with just some very subtle twitches. Jigging spoons are a lot of fun; you generally catch a variety of fish and have enough action to enjoy a winter day on the lake!