The 2025 season was a stellar year for Alabama's Tucker Smith, who won with every organization he fished with. He took home a Bassmaster Elite Series win to go with Rookie of the Year, $500k at the Ultimate Angler Championship, plus an MLF Toyota Series win for good measure. He's been on a roll, and much of his success is due to hours and hours spent on the water, including during the winter months when he's not competing in tournaments.
Smith is often on his home waters, Lake Guntersville, during the offseason, and says three main bait styles always factor in. These three staples, a jighead minnow, a football jig, and a soft plastic on a Neko Rig, are tools that he feels that he could use anywhere in the country to catch wintertime bass.
The Jighead Minnow
While many pegged Smith and other young anglers as only able to use forward-facing sonar, he proved that wrong when he won the Ultimate Angler event that didn't allow it. With that said, he's still very good with it, which is why the jighead minnow makes his list of top techniques.
"That's one of my favorite ways to catch them in the winter because there are a lot of suspended fish that are chasing bait," he said. "I look for channel swings and pinch points where there will be big groups of baitfish because the bass and baitfish always seem to move together in the winter. You can find big groups of bass every time you see shad, but you also have to keep looking each day, as they can move around a bunch."
Once the water cools, Smith says that the big groups of bass will disperse and become less active, but the jighead minnow is still a factor. "Once those fish start to separate more as it gets colder, I start to look for isolated structure," he said. "I'll also mix up my minnow size a bunch, depending on what they are eating, and don't have a problem throwing a really big minnow when they are eating big gizzard shad."
For his minnows, he prefers 15-pound P-Line SpinX braid with a leader of either 12 or 15-pound P-Line Ultimate Fluorocarbon. "That's a great leader because of how strong it is, and it also has a slightly thicker diameter, which can really help," he said. "The heavier and thicker line helps your bait float a little better in the water column and not sink too fast below the fish."
Football Jigs and Neko Rigs
Another tried-and-true technique for Smith during the winter is a football head jig. It's something that he fishes all year, but he makes a few adjustments when it's cold.
"In the summer, I like a more aggressive trailer like the Yamamoto Yamacraw but will switch to something with a little less action like the Flappin' Hawg when the water is cold," he said. "The more subtle action is what you want, and it will help you get more bites. I'll fish it on anything I can find that's isolated, typically in that 15 to 20-foot range this time of year, but it can be deeper if it's a really clear lake."
For his jigs, he prefers a heavy fluorocarbon and goes with 20-pound P-Line Ultimate Fluorocarbon. "I want something heavy because I don't ever want to break my line, and I don't think line size or diameter means as much when you are largemouth fishing," he said. "I've seen it make a difference for a sight feeding fish like a smallmouth, but it doesn't seem to affect largemouth and spots as much. That's why I go as heavy as I can without sacrificing casting distance, and that line is so tough and abrasion resistant, I can drag it through rocks, shells, or whatever and not break it."
The final must for Smith during the winter is a Neko Rig. "If the fish are heavily pressured, that can be the only thing they will bite sometimes," he shared. "It's also what I throw when I see fish on my electronics, and they're too shallow to throw a minnow to. It can be hard to keep that minnow up in real shallow water, and the Neko Rig will get a lot of those same fish to bite. I'll fish it on the same line setup that I use for my minnows; it's a great combination."
These three staple techniques are must-haves for Tucker Smith when he fishes in the winter months. They are versatile tools that will work anywhere this time of year.
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