So when it comes to wintertime Texas Rigging, that would be probably the other time of the year that I don't know that Texas Rigging would be my number one go-to choice. But, there's definitely those opportunities to catch fish in the winter on a Texas Rig.
Number one would be if you have lakes that have discharges. Hot water discharges. I mean, you can treat those situations just about like a springtime period of the year, because a lot of the fish in the winter are gonna migrate to those warmer water discharges. So then, you can get away with throwing the same baits that we've talked about throughout different series of fishing a Texas Rig throughout the course of the year.
But one of the first things when you're fishing just a standard midwestern-style lake or any lake in the country in the wintertime where you can actually fish in the wintertime, there's not ice on the water, my number one go-to is probably gonna be some kind of a Texas Rigged shad-style bait.
I've got a little bitty 3.75 jointed Jerk Minnow, Big Bite Jerk Minnow. I like to rig that Texas Rig, because a lot of times I'm gonna be vertically fishing this in the tops of cedar trees, in the tops of standing timber, over the tops of brush piles. Things like that is gonna be where I'm gonna be fishing this bait. So, I still wanna be using a Texas Rig when I'm in those situations.
I'm generally gonna be throwing, you know, on my drop shots, I'm gonna be throwing 8 to 12-pound, mainline will be Sunline braid. And then, I'm generally always gonna tie an FG knot to a Fluorocarbon Sniper leader. And that's generally gonna range anywhere from 6 to 10-pound test depending on what kind of cover, and what size fish I'm catching. I'm generally always gonna throw away like a four-power, seven-foot, medium-action Falcon spinning rod with a Johnny Morris Signature Series spinning reel.
Another bait that I Texas Rig a lot in the winter, at home and on various lakes, is the Gamakatsu Hybrid Swing Head with a Big Bite College Craw. I think one thing about wintertime, just as I talked about with the Big Bite Jointed Jerk Minnow, you don't wanna bait that has a lot of action in the wintertime. I mean, everything in the water system, the water column, is cold. It's not moving quickly. So, a bait that doesn't have a lot of floppy appendages, in my opinion, works a lot better in the wintertime when you're fishing those colder water situations. And that's why I really do like a bait like the Big Bite College Craw.
Any of the Big Bite scented Scentsation plastics are also gonna be something that I lean to in the wintertime, just due to that heavily scented formulation. So, whether it's a Quarantine Craw [SP] that I might put on my hybrid swing head, or it's a skinny minnow or a Cliff Hanger Scentsation worm. Those worms are gonna give you more opportunities, I feel like in the winter, just because of that heavy scented plastic that it comes with. You're gonna draw more strikes from those fish that are a lot more lethargic that time of the year. So, be sure and check out all these different methods when it comes to wintertime Texas Rig fishing.
