Bass do the exact same thing in muddy water, especially in winter, when there are heavy runoffs from rain. They are forced to rely on their lateral lines, which detect vibration and water displacement, to navigate. They snug up tightly to cover, and when it's time to relocate or feed, they stick to some sort of hard edge...just like people would hug the wall. These edges often are the outside lines of bank grass, stump rows, seawalls, riprap, and submerged vegetation.
Smith happened to be watching a chipmunk on his property hop along, looking for remnants of the year's acorn crop, when he suddenly realized the chipmunk was doing exactly what the bass do. It was following the edge of all the pine straw in his yard. Then he got to thinking that his cat hunts the same way...as do the foxes and deer that frequent the premises.
"So suffice it to say," noted Smith, "that all these critters feel most comfortable following some sort of edge. I reckon it's kind of like how most folks drive these days. Not many take the scenic route or backroads anymore. We want efficiency, which is why we follow interstates and highways. The wildlife has it figured out, too."
Smith further remembered a fishing trip with legendary bass angler Larry Nixon.
"He was catching 'em pretty well, when he said, 'if something looks different on an edge, that's where the bass will be.' I took that little nugget to heart and started focusing more on the irregularities of edges (things that look slightly different). Sure enough, it's turned out to be a major pattern for me this time of year.
"If I'm pitching and flipping a relatively ordinary looking grass bed with a straight edge, and I run across a small indentation or point, I'm going to make multiple casts to that irregularity. These areas don't have to be big either, and I think that's what screws folks up sometimes. It's not always something that's going to stand out like a sore thumb. These irregularities often are the size of your dinner plate...just anything different to catch the attention of a bass using the otherwise mundane edge to travel."
Smith's absolute favorite edge and irregularity pattern this time of year is targeting seawalls, especially concrete ones, because they hold so much heat.
"If you can find muddy water and a concrete seawall on a sunny winter day, you have an excellent chance of catching a giant. I like these seawalls because, of course, they're an edge the bass use to travel, but they're also full of irregularities. Owners and contractors will put riprap at the base of them, and that riprap never is the same. It'll come a little further out from the wall in certain places, and if you throw a crankbait on these stretches of seawall enough, you'll memorize the key irregularities over time."
Not to be forgotten either are boat ramps...not busy public boat ramps, mind you, but small residential ramps that break up the monotony of the edge these seawalls create.
"Again, it's an irregularity, and because they're concrete, they conduct and hold a bunch of heat in the winter," said Smith. "Lots of folks catch some absolute giants on these small boat ramps...I'm talking in the 6-to-8-pound range."
When it comes to what baits to use when targeting these irregularities, Smith urges you to use "what you have the most confidence in. Personally, I like a 3/8-ounce jig this time of year," he said. "I just pitch it around the key areas we discussed. If the fish don't bite that, I'll downsize to a lightweight Texas rig. Crankbaits also are a great choice if you need to cover a bunch of water (long stretches of seawall), and as the water temperatures climb to right beneath the 50-degree mark, a chatterbait is awfully tough to beat, especially around grass.
"Give this an honest shot on your next wintertime fishing trip, and with enough patience, it can produce your biggest bass of the entire year," concluded Smith.
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