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Chalk Talk: Martens' cold-weather attack

Chalk Talk: Martens' cold-weather attack

(Editor's note: The following is the second in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)

Aaron Martens may not appear to have an ounce of body fat on him, but he’s willing to gear up and face the coldest temperatures winter has to offer because he knows that pre-pre-spawn bass are fat, they gang up big-time, and if you can withstand the often frigid conditions you may have the lake to yourself. Besides, for the last decade, that’s been when the Bassmaster Classic has been held, and he’s dying to add a Classic trophy to his three AOY titles.

“It isn’t really complicated,” he said in his eagerly awaited Bass University seminar, referring to anglers’ natural aversion to and fear of cold water, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t studied it in a highly systematic manner.

Despite being known as an instinctive, “natural” angler, Martens explained to the Bass University crowd that he has increasingly taken advantage of technology in recent years to bolster his winter success.

“I pay attention to everything that affects fish,” he said. That includes not just air temps and water temps, but also the barometer. Snapshots of those conditions are nice and useful, but more and more he finds himself poring over charts, tables and long-term forecasts on websites like Weather.com and WeatherUnderground.com to divine historical trends. “It all ties together,” he added.

His first inclination when it’s cold and fish are lethargic is to look for the warmest part of the lake, and then to find the warmest area within that section. They’ll usually be away from the main current, off the “main drag,” he said. It can be frustrating to know that there’s a winning stringer in a colder area, and chasing those big negative-minded fish has caused him to take “hard knocks” in several Bassmaster Classics.

The warmer creeks and areas, he’s concluded, have easier bites and may very well offer up the quality needed to win. Within a creek, it pays to read temperatures as you idle into different sections, because there can be marked differences in temperature over the course of just a short distance.

Of course, water temperatures are a dynamic factor, changing throughout the course of a day or a week, and not necessarily in a uniform manner from spot to spot. As conventional wisdom tells you to stay deep and grind out the tough big bites, stay mindful of areas that warm up fastest. Sometimes the biggest fish will move up on places like dark rock, which tends to hold heat best.

Finally, remember that your quarry wants to pack on protein while expending the least amount of energy possible. This means going after a diet heavy in crustaceans. Martens told his Bass University students that a diet heavy in shad will keep bass healthy, but that they’re trying to “build fat,” and that takes a heavy dose of crawdads.

“Try to find out where the most crawdads are,” he told the assembled group, and focus your efforts in those areas. Healthy populations of crawdads bring the biggest numbers of bass along with them, and that’ll help you fill a livewell even when you have to chip ice off the surface.
To see Martens' full video seminar on Water Temp, subscribe to The Bass University TV.

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