One of the greatest lures ever used for cold water bass is the lipless crankbait, and that bite has been going strong all fall and will continue into the winter months. It's how Major League Fishing pro Jordan Collom has been catching bass on the desert lakes recently, and it's something he'll use closer to home in Southern California as long as the hot bite continues. For him, it's one of the best ways to trigger a reaction bait right now and can help him catch fish in a hurry.
What to Look For
One major key for this technique to work is the presence of vegetation. This becomes even more critical as it vanishes from areas due to the colder weather. This was a key for one of Collom's recent trips to Lake Havasu.
"This bite really lights up when you can find that last bit of dying grass," he said. "You can see this by paying attention to where the coots are. There will always be roaming bass around the grass that you can catch. But, if you can find this grass plus some baitfish, that's when it can go down, and you can load the boat really fast."
Other baits will work in these areas, but Collom praises a lipless for how fast it can get fired up. "Those fish stack up in those areas, and that's when a lipless really shines," he said. "I do best with a lipless with a 'yo-yo' retrieve and hardly ever reel it straight back. You want the bait to get into that grass so you can snap it free and get them to react."
Collom says this bite will last for much of the winter months as long as there is some grass. "It's something you can do throughout the first part of winter before it gets really cold and all the vegetation is gone, or the fish get really pressured with lipless baits. It's always good to be one of the first to get on this bite before everyone else is doing it," he said.
He also looks for areas with more sun than the rest of the lake.
"I also look for banks and bays facing the sun later in the afternoon because those will be warmer, and they'll have grass a little longer into the winter," he shared." That's a trick I use to find areas. If you can find that and places a little more protected from the wind, the bite will last longer into winter."
Choosing a Lipless and Gear
Many lipless crankbaits will work with this technique, but for Collom, it's the Deps MS Vibration, specifically the TG version with the knocking sound, thanks to the single tungsten ball inside. It's a ¾-ounce bait, and he likes it for how well it comes free of grass.
"I've used other lipless crankbaits for years before trying this one, and what I like is that it has a flat section on the head of the bait where the grass doesn't get stuck as easily," he said. "It's much more efficient, and you do not have to pull grass off the bait as often."
He keeps it simple with color and generally sticks with shad or bluegill imitators, but crawfish colors can also be excellent. He fishes these with a heavier fluorocarbon line and Phenix X-13 crankbait rod.
"I like to use 20-pound fluorocarbon, which has just enough stretch to keep the fish hooked up and allows you to snap it free from the grass with that thicker line," he said. "The rod also bends just right and helps when playing fish hooked on trebles."
Dragging a Lipless
Aside from just finding grass and ripping it free, Collom also shared another top approach with a lipless: dragging it along the bottom. This sounds unique, but he says it excels for wintertime cold-water smallmouth, specifically on Mohave and Havasu. He generally switches to this if the grass is completely gone or when encountering tough winter fishing on the desert fisheries.
"There are certain times when you can really catch them like that when they are set up on rocky or gravely points," he said. "You can fish one almost like a jig and make contact with the bottom to get one to hit it. One thing I like about the Deps MS Vibration is that it kind of digs, so the hooks are angled up. Plus, it deflects well off the cover, acting more like a diving crankbait so you won't hang up as much."
Fishing a lipless crankbait is an ideal way to get on a reaction bite in the winter, especially if you can find some good vegetation. It's something Collom and others have learned over the years and will continue to be in his arsenal until the bite switches to something else.
Advertising