It's Time To Try Something Different

Most years, I retire all my topwater lures sometime during the month of November and don't retrieve them again until the first extended warm spell arrives in spring. That leaves me with jerkbaits, crankbaits, chatterbaits (and/or spinnerbaits), and, on occasion, some soft plastics to handle any and all fishing pursuits during the typically colder months.

This year, however, I plan to keep topwater baits in the mix, if for no other reason than to find out if I agree with bass pro Dave Wolak’s contention about when it’s too cold for a topwater bite.

“When the water drops below 50 degrees, it’s time to put up the topwaters,” he says. “I’ve done a lot of fall and spring bass fishing over the years, and 52 degrees is the magic number below which the bass become bottom-oriented, as opposed to chasing anything.”

Wolak is quick to point out that, “especially in early winter, after an unusually warm fall, air temperature can trick an angler into prematurely stowing the topwaters. Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean the topwater bite isn’t hot. I like to target the topwater bite if the water temperature has been in the low 60s, and then a massive cold front blasts the area, and the air temperature drops into the 30s,” he explains.

Wolak urges anglers to think of snow and sleet storms during the early winter months the same way as rain and thunderstorms during the warmer months of the year.

“The bass don’t know if it’s snowing, sleeting or raining,” he says, “and it really doesn’t matter to them. It’s all about the change in barometric pressure.

“Topwater baits also are effective in colder water because, during the late fall, bass spend the majority of their time gorging themselves on shad that are located in the upper half of the water column,” he continues. “They’re going to blast something on the surface if the temperature is right, and there is a barometric pressure drop.”

Wolak’s (and for that matter, a lot of other anglers’) go-to topwater offering in early winter is usually a buzzbait because it mimics a flickering shad and triggers a reaction strike as it moves past the bass. The secret is in slowing your retrieve until the bait is barely breaking the surface.

Another deadly late-fall topwater is a walk-the-dog stickbait, which maintains its appeal well into the colder months. Any such bait that emulates a shad flicking on the surface can be used all the way into water temperatures in the upper 40s.

Last but not least, don’t overlook using wakebaits—described by some as “the finesse worms of the topwater world”—for your cold-water fishing. They can be worked painstakingly slow, and in cold water, perfectly emulate a shad or baitfish struggling on the surface. Shad dying from the cold often hang there before plummeting to the bottom.

As noted by one writer I came across during my research, “Although the spring and summer always will be the predominant topwater time, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some darn good topwater fishing all winter—assuming your water is still wet.”