Entry 157-4
How to Catch January Bass with Randy Dearman
The Zero’s My Hero
Editor’s Note: Randy Dearman, avid fishermen and professional angler, of Onalaska, Texas, has fished professionally for 20 years. He works as part of Strike King’s Pro Fishing Team and has competed in seven Bassmasters Classics.
Now that I’ve told you about my fast bait for this month, I’ll tell you about my slow bait. I like to fish a Strike King Zero in January. The big advantage of the Zero is not only will it catch bass in shallow water, you can catch bass when they’re in 10 to 12 feet of water using this technique, but you have to have the patience of Job and the confidence of Samson to just sit and let that bait fall.
One of the biggest advantages to fishing the Zero is it will tell you at what depth the bass are holding, depending on at what depth they strike the bait. One of my favorite places to fish the Zero at this time of year is on points, ledges, ditches and humps. I’m looking for shallow water close to deep water where the bass will go to come up out of that deep water and start to feed in shallow water. Don’t overlook the first or secondary point just inside a creek or a pocket, because that’s another good place that bass will school-up in cold weather.
Most people fish the Zero around docks, stumps, logs, brush or grass. But I don’t believe the bass are all the way up to that really-shallow water and trying to find a bed at this time of the year. Again, where you fish depends on water color, weather and how long the weather’s been stable. But I’ve learned that this time of the year, you can consistently get the most strikes in places where bass are moving up to get ready to spawn.
My two favorite colors of Zero in January are watermelon with red glitter or Junebug. I like to fish the Zero on 12-pound-test line. I don’t like to go ultralight on my line size, but I don’t want to fish it on an extremely-heavy line either. Therefore the 12-pound is a good line. I Texas rig my Zero and let it free fall from the bottom, watching the line for the strike. The important key for this style of fishing is that you let the bait fall on a slack line and not pendulum the lure back to the boat as it falls.
Contents:
- Part 1: Fish Fast this Month
- Part 2: Let the Jig and Pig Root the Grass
- Part 3: No Lips
- Part 4: The Zero’s My Hero
- Part 5: Go to Carolina this Month
