Entry 232-5

How to Catch Bass in January with James Niggemeyer

Part 5: Give Big Bass an “S” This Month

Question: Do you ever crankbait fish for bass in January?

Niggemeyer: I sure do. I like Strike King’s 4S crankbait at this time of year. I like red or red craw colors or a shad pattern. I’ll fish it in the same types of areas that I fish the Red Eye Shad, around boathouses or the outside edge of weedlines. I like to crank this bait down into a grass bed. Once I feel it start hitting grass, I’ll rip the lure free from the grass. When the crankbait comes out of the grass, I’ll pause it, which is usually when I get the strike. I’ve found that the crankbait often is a more-productive lure than the Red Eye Shad when the water’s a little stained. I’ve noticed that any time you fish the 4S crankbait around vegetation the red-craw color seems to be extremely deadly.

Question: On what pound-test line are you fishing the 4S?

Niggemeyer: I like 12-pound-test fluorocarbon. I can get a little better feel for how the bait’s working with this light line than I can with heavier line. Sometimes when you’re cranking the bait, and the bait doesn’t seem to be wobbling the way it should, you need to go ahead and set the hook, because more than likely the bass has the bait in its mouth. All these tactics will work on Lake Fork at this time of the year. Many of these tactics will work on other lakes in January.

These are standard wintertime, pre-spawn tactics. The further you go north, the less likely that you’ll be able to catch the bass in their pre-spawn patterns. But these tactics will work any time that you get those warm fronts coming through in January, and the bass start to move up to shallow water. In many regions, we’ve had unseasonably warm weather. If these weather patterns hold, you can fish these tactics as long as the weather’s warm, or when those warm fronts move onto the lake and stay for a day or two.

Here at Lake Fork where I guide, January is one of the best months we have for catching bass 8 pounds and larger, or, for a matter of fact, 10-pounders or larger. I’ll be guiding a lot this month, and these techniques are the ones I’ll be using to produce bass for my clients. If you’re looking for warmer weather and bigger bass during January, come to Lake Fork and fish with us.

You can contact James Niggemeyer at P.O. Box 146, Mineola, TX 75773 or by calling (903) 312-0780 (www.lakeforkproguide.com).

Contents:

• Part 1: Give Bass the Red Eye
• Part 2: Jig Up January Bass
• Part 3: Spin Up Monster Bass
• Part 4: Zero Out on Big Bass
• Part 5: Give Big Bass an “S” This Month