Winter Spinnerbait Fishing

Hey, guys, Jason Christie here, with BassResource and we're going to talk about wintertime spinnerbait fish. When I'm talking about wintertime, I'm talking about the coldest months of the year wherever you live. Doesn't matter if it's Florida, Texas, Missouri, Tennessee, wherever you live. 

First of all, just to kind of, I fish a lot in the wintertime. You know, after deer season's over with, you know, first of January, I'm, typically, out there fishing and we fish a lot of smaller tournaments, you know, jackpots and stuff like that, just to get me back in the groove of tournament fishing. And it's funny that, you know, we win a good amount of them. Water temperature is 45 and it's just funny to hear the next week the rumors of how we catch them. You know, last year I weighed a 25-pound bag. Rumor is, you know, I'm jerkbaiting brush piles and stuff like that, dragging a football jig. And the truth was, I was on the bank throwing a spinnerbait.

The difference in the wintertime is, you have got to have some color in the water. And when I say color, I don't mean, you know, your muddy water and stuff like that. If I had to pick a perfect color, I would want a foot visibility. You know, that way I know those fish are going to get up there shallow, but they're still able to pick up my bait whenever I'm fishing. 

Here's the difference spinnerbait fishing in the wintertime. You're not going to get a lot of bites. You know, a great day of wintertime spinnerbait fishing for me is 10 to 12 bites, but I will tell you this when you get those 10 to 12, they're gonna be the big, big ones of the lake that you live on.

So, as far as setup, wintertime is another time when I like to use the longer rod. This is a 7'4", medium-heavy. And the reason I like the longer rod is because the bites aren't going to be as ferocious. I mean, as, you know, and the fish aren't going to fight as hard. So, this rod is not as stiff as the one I use in the spring and the summer. And I can slow roll it. You know, I can watch that rod really bounce. In the wintertime, you know, I said the term slow row that's what I do. Spring, summer, fall I fish the spinnerbait a lot where I can see it, a foot or 2 below the surface. Wintertime, it's always out of sight. And a good rule that I like to use in the wintertime is I split the water column. If I'm fishing 5-foot deep, I want that bait down 2-and-1/2, 3-foot deep, 2 foot, same way, down out of sight. So, that rod is really, really key in slow-rolling the bait. 22 pounds Sunline Shooter.

These fish that are biting a spinnerbait are not line watchers. So, you can get away with big line, super slow reel. The slowest that you can find. This is a HyperMag by Lews as far as spinnerbaits. This is whenever we lean into Colorados. I like the willow leafs, you know, if I have to get out there, you know, 10 foot or deeper. But, you know, these days when I get out there 10 foot or deeper, there's just better baits to catch them on, in my opinion, a swimbait, you know, a big crankbait, or something like that. So, when I'm talking about wintertime spinnerbait fishing, I'm talking 7, or 8 foot, or less.

I really like a Colorado blade in the wintertime. And the reason being if you haven't thrown a spinnerbait, a Colorado blade, it's going to slow that bait down. I can just reel it real slow. That Colorado blade is going to keep that bait up and it's going to let it really, really slow down. In the wintertime, 

I also, like to beef up my trailer. The reason I do that is I beef up that trailer. It's going to float the bait. The more plastic that you can put back here, the more it's going to, it's going to slow that bait down and keep it up off of the bottom. 

So, as far as colors, You really just got to match your conditions, you know, your shad colors, the clearer the water is, you know, the dirtier water, chartreuse blues, and stuff like that. If I had to pick one that's just an all-around favorite, you know, I can grab it, go fish, any kind of watercolor would be chartreuse white and blue. I mean, I've won a quarter million dollars at least just on that color. 

So, keys to wintertime, slow roll it, find you some dirtier water, and have patience. You're not gonna get that many bites, but they're gonna be big ones.