Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

As fall transitions into winter the fishing has been really good up here on the lake this past month. This is the time of year when the big girls start chewing and there has been some giants caught recently with a few anglers breaking their personal best record. The water temps are cooling down quite a bit and have been ranging anywhere from the mid 50's in the morning to the upper 50's by afternoon. Water clarity has been decent as well with roughly two feet visibility.

There are a variety of ways to catch them right now but some of the big bass are being caught by deep cranking shad pattern crank baits in 20+ feet of water with a hard rocky bottom. Another big bass lure working right now is the Huddleston swimbait. The Huddleston is one of those lures that requires a lot of technique and honestly there is only a handful of fisherman that are regularly successful using it. The deep crank and the Huddleston bite has primarily been working the best mid lake and the two south arms of the lake. Another hot bite that has started up is the Alabama Rig or what we call the A-rig. I have been whacking them really good on the 5 wire Picasso Bait Ball Extreme with 3.8" Keitech swimbaits. The A-rig has been working well on both sides of the lake in both shallow and deep water. Of course the LV500 or lipless crank bite is still going strong and there has been some big fish being caught on a jig as well. The suspending jerkbait bite keeps improving with the cooler water temps and don't forget the old reliable drop shot and shaky head bite.

The live jumbo minnow bite is really hot right now also all around the lake. This is a great way to take beginners or kids with very little patience out and get them bit in a hurry. I usually use a sliding bobber with bobber stop and size 8 split shot with a 1/0 mosquito hook for fishing 15' or less. For fishing a minnow in deeper water, I will often use like a drop shot method with a three-way swivel and a foot and a half tag on the line to the hook. Besides catching some really nice bass on the live minnow, you will occasionally hook one of Clear Lake's legendary giant catfish especially this time of year. Some of the deeper docks in the south end of the lake are now producing good Crappie and Bluegill action on jigs and redworms.

Happy Holidays to everyone. Good fishing and we will see you on the water,
Troy