Both spinning and baitcasting combos are needed to catch bass during the winter.
A glance into the rod box of Pete Wenners’ boat reveals a variety of baitcast and spinning outfits rigged for wintertime bass fishing.
The Table Rock Lake guide sets up his clients with spinning and baitcast gear to catch wintertime bass with either power or finesse tactics. “A lot of times in the wintertime, we will catch bass on a baitcaster with 15-pound line with either a jigging spoon or ice fishing jigs, but there are times when we have to finesse the fish,” Wenners says. “I kind of go old school on the fish sometimes and throw a Gitzit and sometimes a drop shot. When it is cold, and the fish are primarily feeding on shad, I think the little Gitzit works pretty well because of the way it falls in the water with a spiral action to it.”
Here is a look at the wintertime tactics and lures Wenners employs and the rods, reels, and lines he selects for each tactic.
Suspending stickbaits—Wenners favors a 6-foot,7-inch Lew’s Custom Series Jerkbait rod with medium light power and fast action or a 6-foot, 9-inch Lew’s Inshore Special rod with medium power and fast action for his jerkbait fishing tactics. “I like a soft tip on the jerkbait because normally I am using 10-pound line, and there is the potential of catching a big fish on the jerkbait, so I want a lot of give on that rod,” he says. Wenners relies on a Team Lew’s baitcast reel with a 7.5:1 gear ratio for most of his wintertime techniques because the high-speed reel allows him to take up line quickly. He opts for 10-pound fluorocarbon line, which helps his lure dive deeper, but switches to 12-pound fluorocarbon when he knows he is around big fish.
Alabama rigs—A 7-04 medium-heavy power rod or a 7-10 Lew’s cranking rod with medium heavy power and medium fast action. Wenners prefers a rod with a soft tip that allows him to finesse the rig through treetops and makes detecting soft bites easier. He chooses the 7.5:1 gear ratio baitcast reel filled with either 20- to 25-pound fluorocarbon or 40-pound braid. In frigid weather, he prefers fluorocarbon because water tends to remain on the braid as it winds into the spool and freezes up the level wind and spool.
Jigging spoons and Rapala Jigging Raps—6-10 Lew’s Spinnerbait rod with medium-heavy power and fast action tip for the jigging spoon and a 6-11 Lew’s Custom Lite Series Bladed Jig rod with medium power and medium action. 7.5:1 gear ratio baitcast reel and 16-pound Sunline fluorocarbon for fishing around standing timber.
Casting finesse jigs—6-10 Lew’s Spinnerbait rod and 7.5:1 gear ratio baitcast reel. Wenners selects 12-pound fluorocarbon for pitching a 7/16-ounce 5ive Fish Lures Ultimate Finesse Jig into open dock wells but upgrades to 16-pound fluorocarbon for pitching the jig over boat hoists.
Crankbaits—7-0 Lew’s Inshore Special rod with medium light power and medium fast action. Wenners prefers this long rod because it allows him to make longer casts and its soft tip makes it easier for him to feel the crankbait when it runs through cover. He opts for a 6.8:1 gear ratio reel so he can retrieve the crankbait at a slower speed. His line choices are 10-pound Sunline Fluorocarbon for most situations or 8-pound fluorocarbon when he wants his crankbait to run deeper.
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Pete Wenners relies on baitcasting gear and heavy line for wintertime power fishing tactics and opts for spinning gear and light line for wintertime finesse fishing.Tail spinners—6-10 Lew’s spinnerbait rod or 6-11 Lew’s Bladed Jig rod and 7.5:1 gear ratio baitcast reel filled with 12- or 15-pound fluorocarbon. “If I am fishing in a lot of timber, I will go to 15-pound test but most of the time, I will throw 12-pound fluorocarbon,” Wenners says.
Slow rolling spinnerbaits— 6-10 Lew's spinnerbait rod for 1/2-ounce or smaller spinnerbaits or a 7-foot Lew’s Magnum Bass 1 (medium heavy power, fast action) rod for 3/4- or 1-ounce spinnerbaits. 7.5:1 reel with 14- or 16-pound fluorocarbon.
Swimming plastic grubs and 2.8 Keitech swimbaits—7-0 medium action spinning rod and 200 series spinning reel filled with 6- or 8-pound monofilament line. Wenners prefers monofilament over fluorocarbon for most of his finesse fishing tactics because monofilament has less line memory. “A bigger spool reel does help on the line memory, but most of the time, I will throw monofilament on my spinning reels in the winter because fluorocarbon on a spinning reel is a disaster in the cold,” Wenners says. “The mono gives me a little more stretch, so when I throw 6- or 8-pound line, it has a little more give, and I don’t have to fight the memory quite as bad.”
Gitzits—7-0 medium action spinning rod and 200 series spinning reel filled with 6-pound monofilament. “I like that size reel because it is a little lighter, and it balances a little better with the rod,” Wenners says. “The 300 series reels have a little bigger spool, which will reduce line memory.”
Drop shot rigs—6-10 Lew’s Drop Shot rod with medium light power and extra fast action and 200 series spinning reel. He sets up his clients with either 6-pound monofilament or 15-pound braid with a 20-foot leader of 8-pound fluorocarbon.
Float and fly—9-foot light action rod and 200 series spinning reel with a main line of 15-pound braid and a three-way swivel tied to the braid. A float is attached to one end of the swivel, and an 11-foot leader of 6-pound fluorocarbon is attached to the other part of the swivel. “A 9-foot rod is essential because if you have an 11-foot leader with a 7-foot rod, you can never get a fish up to where you can net it,” Wenners says.
Buying all these combinations of spinning and baitcasting outfits for winter fishing can be expensive, so Wenners offers some multipurpose combos that will work for many of these techniques. The Missouri guide suggests a 7-foot medium action spinning rod and 200 series spinning reel spooled with 6, or 8-pound monofilament will work well for most wintertime finesse tactics. For wintertime power fishing, Wenners suggests a 6-10 or 6-11 medium heavy rod and 7.5:1 gear ratio baitcast reel with 14- or 16-pound fluorocarbon line for jigging spoons, tail spinners, and spinnerbaits. He recommends a 6-9 medium light rod and a 7.5:1 baitcast reel filled with 10-pound fluorocarbon for jerkbaits and crankbaits.
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