There’s something especially eye-catching about a 10-plus-pound largemouth bass when the guy holding it is bundled up for a trip on the Polar Express. Largemouth are creatures of warm water, after all.
Or are they?
Not so much in December and January, when even the low-elevation lakes in the warmest parts of the Golden State are significantly cooler than what most anglers consider “largemouth friendly.” Not that it matters to Mike Long. If you’re fortunate enough to be Facebook friends with Long, the vaunted San Diego-based hawg hunter, you’ll be treated to images that include two seemingly incongruous elements this month: big largemouth, and snow. That’s because his pursuit of the biggest fish in the state doesn’t grind to a halt when it gets frigid out.
Here are some notes straight from Long’s voluminous mental database about how, when and where to find largemouth in the dead of winter:
Depth perception: As surface temperatures plummet in January, largemouth will naturally slough down into deeper water and hover around individual pieces of structure.
“(January) is our coldest time (in San Diego), and that’s when (fish) are down in the rocks,” Long says. “Their bodies were telling them to feed (in November), but they’ll head downhill. They’ll suspend off points, in deeper water, and it can be pretty hard to catch those fish.”
It’s all about stability: While largemouth are certainly more sluggish in cool/cold water, they will bite, and they’re most likely to be slightly more active when the weather and pressure have been stable. You might be surprised, though, that largemouth in higher elevations – Lake Cuyamaca, for example – will respond more quickly than their lowland cousins.
“The stability factor in the mountains is different than in the lowland lakes,” Long agrees. “It might take two to three days of stable weather down low, but up there it’s maybe a day. They’re a Florida-strain fish, but those up in the high elevation are better adapted to conditions changing quicker. It doesn’t take them as long to get dialed back in.”
And speaking of dialing in …: The winter bite is a quick one, and it doesn’t behoove you to spend a lot of time focusing on any one point or hump.
“Pick two or three spots, fish them with a swimbait, a jig and a Senko, and don’t give them too much time at any one spot,” Long says. “If they’re there during that window, they’ll bite. If they’re there, you’ll know it pretty quick – they’ll bite. There’s going to be a window, maybe just an hour or two, but if you’re on fish during that window, you can get them to bite.”