Master Winter Bass Fishing with Soft Swimbaits (Pro Tips!)

What's up y'all? Russ Lane with Bass Resource. We're out here on Lake Hartwell talking about soft-swim baits. The topic of this video is how I like to fish a soft-swim bait in the wintertime. You know, wintertime fishing, for me, has changed over the last five or six years. Like used to, I would, you know, get out on these rocky banks or, you know, throw a jerk bait or drag a jig around. And a great way, you know, to catch fish, not a lot of fish, but sometimes, you know, big ones. But with the invent of a LiveScope and how well our electronics are now and our mapping, wintertime can be one of the funnest times to fish now. And you can catch more numbers of fish than ever before.

So the whole deal, you know, it's similar to, you know, if you watched the fall video that we did, it's real similar to that. It's just even more intense of what you're looking for as far as bait goes. The bait is a little bit harder to pattern, to me, in the wintertime. Sometimes, the bait can be in the mouths of pockets. Sometimes it can be out in the river channel. Sometimes it can be in the back of the creeks and the bait tends to move a lot more in the dead of the wintertime. I'm not sure why that is. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but what I've learned is that's what they do. You can find bait today and they'll be there and the fish will be with them and then go back the next day and there's no bait around for a mile. I've seen it time and time again. 

So that tells you one of the things that you got to do is be open-minded in the wintertime when you're keying on this bait pelagic fish deal is you got to be open-minded. And when you don't see bait, you need to up and move and go find the bait. The bait is the key. Find it. You got to find the bait when you're doing this before you find the bass. 

So, and like I've said, I find the bait by idling around with my Garmin electronics. You'll see the bait balls on your sonar. I like to use the 2D CHIRP. I think it's the best 2D sonar there is out there. I can run my boat. I can run this Phoenix about 45 or 50 miles an hour and still see bait balls pop up on my screen. It'll be going fast, but you'll see it. And then when you see it, shut down, drop your trolling motor. If you got a LiveScope, turn it on. I like to set my LiveScope out to a hundred feet.

And here's one cool thing. All right. So, some of you know that I was a minor league baseball pitcher. Well, from mound to home plate, 60 foot, 6 inches. So I know what 60 feet is by heart because it's ingrained in me because I used to throw to a mitt 60 feet away. Well, I set up my LiveScope screen out to a hundred feet. And when I see a fish, I'll let that fish get to 60 foot on that screen. And I can make that perfect cast. It'll land right on top of him every time because I know what 60 feet is. So that's a tip right there. Like, get a distance, whether it be 50, 60, 70 feet away, get a distance that you're really comfortable with casting that you feel like you're extremely accurate at, practice casting at that distance. That way, when you see that fish... And a lot of times, you don't have a lot of time to make the right cast because you'll see it, especially if the wind's blowing and your boat's moving, moving fast, that fish will go from a hundred to 60 feet in no time. And if you miss that cast, then he's at 30. Now, he knows you're on top of him and your chances go way down of catching him. So anyway, you know, that's why I look for getting my target fish to 60 feet away from the trolling motor.

You're going to be looking for those wolf packs that are swimming on top of the bait. There are days when the bait will be up high. Usually, it's a sunny day where the bait will get up really high, almost on the surface and the fish will be up under them. So, you know, be conscious of that when you're out there graphing and looking and looking, you know, with your forward-facing sonar in relation to how the fish are in relation to how the bait is positioned. They're either on top of them or they're under them 9 times out of 10.

Well, I'll look for these wolf packs of fish. I don't like to throw at a lot of individuals because usually those individuals are drum, catfish, gar, trash fish. And I know that because I've caught tons of them, throwing at them. So, you can waste a lot of time by throwing at those individuals. Look for those wolf packs where you see them swimming together, a tight ball of maybe 4, 5, 6, 10, 20 fish. And the bass are usually swimming a lot faster than those singles, those trash fish. I don't know why that is. I guess because they're on the hunt for, you know, for bait. But make good casts, find a distance that you're comfortable with and present the bait to them as quick as you can. 

This little Big Bite Suicide Shad is hard for them to turn down, especially if you have it like, on a 3/8-ounce head where it gets to them really quick and surprises them. But that's a great bait to trigger those pelagic wolf pack fish to bite. I rig it up on a 7'2" Phenix rods, MBX drop shot rod. 

I like this Almight Sunline braid, it sinks. The key thing with that braid sinking, helps you get that bait down there to them a lot quicker. And you know, you don't have as much bow in your line because your braid is not floating. So, it's more of a straight line. And when you bounce that rod tip, you get more action. Because there's not that bow in your line, you get action in the head of that bait. I put, depending on the clarity of the water, 8-pound Sniper, sometimes 10-pound Sniper. And you don't need a long leader for this, 3 or 4 foot is basically all you need. I tie a FG knot, lots of videos on the internet about how to tie that. If you don't know how to tie it, just sit down and practice it. It's the best knot by far. It casts through, it guides smooth. And, you know, it's a little difficult to learn, but once you learn it, it's really easy to tie.

But that's my setup. That's the bait that I choose in the wintertime, chasing those offshore pelagic fish that are targeting bait out in the middle of the lake. And, you know, don't get too overwhelmed with it. Just get out there and play with it. It's really a cool way to fish and it's a great way to catch a lot of fish and some big ones too in the wintertime.