Entry 229-3

Mark Rose on December Bass Fishing

Part 3: Warm Days Get Red Eyes

Question: What’s another tactic you use in December to catch bass?

Rose: You must remember that in many areas south of the Mason-Dixon Line and throughout other parts of the country that winter’s not always winter. Often sections of the United States will have warm fronts that move into areas where the temperatures may reach 10, 20 or even 30 degrees above normal. On those days, the bass are much like teenagers on the first warm day of spring, who go out, run, play and even go swimming, although the water’s still cold, and the wind has some bite to it. When those warm fronts occur on a lake in December, the bass seem to get a new burst of energy. They’ll move up on the flats and start chasing shad. That’s when the Red Eye Shad can be deadly on bass.

When bass move up on flats and start chasing shad, you really don’t know where the fish will be. However, you know that if you can find those bass, you can wear them out with a lipless crankbait. For this reason, the best strategy is to cover a lot of water and present your lure to as many bassy-looking areas as you can find.

Two places to look for bass on these warming days in December are mud flats or sand flats. Mud and sand bottoms in shallow water warm-up quicker than other kinds of bottoms do. The shad are moving up on those places because they’re more comfortable in that warm water than in the cold, deep water. The bass also will feed in that warmer water. Another advantage to fishing the Red Eye Shad is that it seems to work in shallow water better than other lipless crankbaits do.

Question: What color of Red Eye Shad do you prefer to fish in December?

Rose: I like a color that imitates the shad I’m seeing in the water. At this time of the year, the new Sexy Shad color seems to be the best match I can find for the shad I’m seeing. But I still like my chrome-and-blue and chrome-and-black Red Eye Shads too. Sometimes I’ll even modify my chrome Red Eye Shads. If I feel like that chrome is putting off too much flash, I’ll take my pocket knife out and scrape some of the chrome off the bait (generally the middle of the Red Eye Shad) to reveal the bone color underneath the chrome, make it look duller and keep it from flashing so much.

Question: What pound test line do you use to cast the Red Eye Shad?

Rose: I’m mainly going to be fishing 15- to 20-pound-test line when I’m using the Red Eye Shad, since it’s a shallow-water bait, basically. If you want to get the bait somewhat deeper, you can fish it on 10- or 12-pound test. However, I use this tactic to fish for bass that have moved-up into shallow water to take bait. So I won’t be fishing this lure on lighter line because I’ll be fishing in shallow water.

Next: I’ll Bet on the Shaky-Head Worm Tactic

Contents:

• Part 1: Dying Shad = King Shad
• Part 2: Play Football in December
• Part 3: Warm Days Get Red Eyes
• Part 4: I’ll Bet on the Shaky-Head Worm Tactic
• Part 5: Fishing the Rage Tail Craw in December