Thump Cold-Water Bass. Don’t Rattle Them.

By : Vance McCullough - Anglers Channel

Having a hard time getting bites in the winter? Try a bait with a different sonic profile.

Angler wearing a Strike King hat pulling a fish out of the waterAs waters cool, big bass get active again. Fish that have hidden beneath impenetrable cover or sulked in the depths and refused to bite your bait are suddenly putting on the feed bag.

As late fall becomes winter, now is a great time to catch big bass. In fact, a deep freeze will stun shad and other baitfish. Strong predators take advantage of such situations.

When conditions are a tad bit adverse, or bass have simply heard lures rattle past all summer, a subtler approach can make all the difference.

Then there is this:  Scientists tell us that as fish mature, they rely more heavily on their lateral line to locate food. This remote sensory organ is attuned to vibration rather than sound. And as fish mature, they generally grow larger.

Hence, bigger fish are more likely to eat a lure that thumps-out a low frequency vibration than one that rattles-out a high pitch sound and attracts the more abundant, smaller, ‘crumb-snatcher bass’ that rely more readily on their sense of hearing.

The adjustment could be as simple as switching to a tungsten-toting ‘trap’ instead of one loaded with the traditional bb’s.

Strike King’s Tungsten 2 Tap comes to mind. Another classic example would be Heddon’s One Knocker.