By Nate Skinner, Lone Star Outdoor News
During the heart of winter, freshwater anglers have two options. They can choose to stay off the water and wait for spring to arrive, or they can take advantage of wintertime patterns on specific bodies of water.
Some anglers choose to target a variety of species on one of several power plant lakes, where warm-water discharges make the action heat up.
According to fishing guide Pete Dodge of Pete Dodge’s Guide Service, the winter bass bite on Fayette County Reservoir, also known as Lake Fayette, is as good as it gets.
“We had an incredibly hot summer,” Dodge said, “and water temperatures in certain places were pushing triple digits at times. Now that things have cooled off, the fish are gorging themselves while transitioning into a prespawn pattern.”
The warmest water on the lake can be found along the coves on its west side where southern winds blow the heated water from the warm water discharge located on the southwest side of the reservoir into the shallows.
“On the west side of Lake Fayette, some bass are already pulling up shallow onto beds where they can be caught on shallow-running Texas rigs,” Dodge said. “As far as the rest of the reservoir is concerned, bass are holding deeper in 12-15 feet of water over main lake points. Carolina rigs, jigging spoons and jigs are the ticket in these areas.”
The best action is taking place during midday hours and the warmest periods of the day when the shad begin to ball up.
“Find the shad, and you’ll find plenty of bass,” Dodge said.
On another power plant lake, Calaveras Lake, guide T. J. Whitworth said plenty of catfish can be caught with a little trial and error.
“The catfish are moving around a lot and can be found anywhere from 8-25 feet of water around structure,” he said. “You just have to move around until you find them. The best strikes have been coming on stink baits.”
The redfish also have been biting on warm days between cold fronts.
“Success for redfish has occurred while anchoring in 8-15 feet of water over sandy bottoms with rock piles,” Whitworth said. “Fresh dead shrimp has been the primary bait of choice.”
Louis Longoria of Longoria Bass Fishing Guide Service said winter patterns are in full force on Coleto Creek Reservoir.
“Brush piles, points and ledges, as well as creek channels running into coves, are all holding decent numbers of fish,” Longoria said. “The most effective way to target these areas is to use a drop-shot rig, and dark-colored worms seem to draw the most strikes.”
