WInter Bass Fishing Baits Lake Of The Ozarks 

    Winter time bass fishing can be either really good or really tough. It's all about knowing what to look for and using the right cold water lures. A few staple baits for cold winter bass are an “A rig” or Alabama rig, jerk bait, and a finesse jig. All baits have a different role to play on the water everyday in the winter. That being they all fish in a different water column, some are more for hunger bites, while others you can work into a good reaction bait. 

An Alabama rig is a bait that mimics a ball of shad using 5 wires with 3 that have paddle tail swimbaits on them with two dummy swimbaits. In the state of Missouri it is against the law to use all 5 hooks you are only allowed 3. you can do a long cast over a wide area mimicking a ball of bait, controlling with your reel speed how fast or slow the bait will move. The slower you reel the deeper it will be, while reeling the bait faster will keep it in the middle to top half of the water column. . You can also give your rod big twitches or strokes to entice a reaction bite out of fish watching or following the rig. I generally use 3.8in swimbaits on my arig with ¼ oz jig heads paired with the swimbait. The rod set up I use is a 7’4ft heavy action with 20 lb fluorocarbon paired with a fast action reel like 7.2.1. A key component to loading the boat with a rig fish is wind, having that direct wind on the bank, point or dock you're casting on is very important. 

A jerkbait is a great lure for cold water but can be good all year round as it's a fast action reaction bait. Most jerk baits dive a range between 6-8 feet but sometimes with some deeper winter fish a deeper style jerkbait can be a really good bet. Having a deeper jerkbait allows you to work the bait in 12+ feet of water giving you a deeper range of fish to target. It's all about the cadence of how you work the bait, for the winter most people give their bait a 6-8 second pause in between twitches. twitch , twitch , twitch pause for 6-8 seconds and repeat. The colder and more lethargic your fish are the longer you let it pause. I catch them on 12-20 second long pauses when my bait is in a school or high potential area. Some of my favorite jerkbaits to throw are a megabass 110, spro mcstick, jackall rerange and a lucky craft pointer. All of these model baits come in a deeper bill size for the deeper staging fish that won't come up for the traditional jerkbait.

A finesse jig is a great bait to slow down and pick apart an area where you have gotten bit or found fish on the electronics. Some staple colors are ozark craw, black and blue and anything dark green or brown.  Slow dragging and hopping a small jig can be a good way to pick up some slower moving less active fish more towards the bottom. The Size jig heads I tend to use most are  3/8 and 5/16oz for skipping or pitching on more of the shallow docks in about 1-20 feet. If you find some bass staged in around 20-35 ft I would use a 1/2oz finesse jig to get down deeper and have a faster rate of fall, sometimes those bass react to a fast sinking jig. A jig is a bait I will slow down and pick apart an area where I know there are fish, I wouldn't necessarily go randomly casting it looking for bass this time of year. 

Don't be afraid of those cold windy days this winter sometimes those days have the best action for big bass. I have plenty of availability this winter and early spring, fish with Catching Ozarks Guide Service for a fun educational, action packed day of loading the boat with big bass.

Grant Nisbet

Catching Ozarks Guide Service