(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Lots of tour-level bass anglers take the winter off to recuperate and regroup, but Connecticut pro Paul Mueller launches his boat until the ice makes that impossible. “I love to fish in the cold,” he said. “I’m one of the guys who likes to push the envelope.”
Of course, winter is a time to slow down, but Mueller’s favorite way to catch frigid-water bass is with a swimbait – specifically a soft-plastic paddletail on a jighead. His most reliable producer is a 3.25-inch Reins Fat Rockvibe Shad, which benefits from flat sides that help it get the proper roll to entice finicky fish. “This has the tail kick and it has that death roll,” he explained.
He’ll fish it on a jighead that is “kind of like a swimjig head.” One model that fits the bill is a Dobyns Light Wire Swimbait head, which allows the bait to roll seductively and also has a dual keeper near the head to keep the plastic from slipping down. Another key aspect is the hook, which will hold up to bulldogging smallmouths without bending, but also has light enough wire to get penetration from a distance.
Long casts and long-distance hooksets are key, so Mueller doesn’t use rods under 7-foot or less than a medium-heavy for this application. Specifically, he reaches most frequently for a Dobyns Sierra 704 spinning rod. He pairs it with a 3000-sized Lew’s Custom Pro Speed spin. The reel’s 6.2:1 gear ratio, combined with the rod’s length, allows him to eliminate slack as fish run toward him.
He most often ties on a half-ounce jig, but when the fish are especially reluctant to bite he may need to go down to 3/8-ounce at the same depth. Thus, light line is critical to maintain depth control. He uses a 15-pound Gamma Torque main line with a 12-foot leader of 10-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon attached with a double uni knot.
This is his go-to technique anytime the water temperature is in the low 40s. He’ll focus on places close to wintering areas (often over 40 to 60 feet of water) and look around with his Garmin electronics for hard-bottom spots. They could be humps, long points, ridges or the end of a flat. When he finds hard bottom and baitfish schooled above it, he knows that he’s on the juice. With Garmin’s SideVu scanning, he can stay off of the key areas and still know exactly where to cast, because even in deep water the fish can be easily spooked.
“You have to cover water,” he said, but sometimes the fish still demand finesse, so “this is the best of both worlds.”
If you want to learn some of the other keys to Mueller’s swimbait success, including his favorite colors for the Fat Rockvibe Shad under different conditions, check out his full video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
