Winter deep water bass fishing.

Here in California we are able to fish all year long. And when it comes to bass we have to go deep to catch them. I have caught my largest bass in January using deep water tactics. When I say deep I mean 25 feet or deeper. When I fish deep I use some sort of floating fly (foam or deer hair) to keep it off the bottom. I use a super fast sinking line and let my fly line drag on the bottom while I give the fly short quick strips. The fly that seems to work best on larger fish is a deer head shad imitation tied in light gray. I also put some floatant on the fly to help keep it off the bottom. Most of the time I fish in my float tube so I can troll slowly. Does anyone have some winter deep water tactics that they would like to share. Later.

Hi flyster, when I fished CA winter LMB I'd find them in shallower water and I could cast from shore. When I found them that shallow...even in January, February and at 3500 ft elev...they'd be holding over and around springs. Pretty easy pickings really and I've had some great success on larger bass once I found the springs.

I was always surprised at how agressive they were and how hard they fought. My best experience was with a good bass of around 6 or more lbs. that took hard, fought strongly for a few seconds then the line went slack. I'd thought he'd come free but this was not the case. As I stood on the shore idly reeling up my line, the bass arrived at my feet and the bass almost swam out of the water it was going swimming so fast. there wasn't a thing I could do but stand there with a slack line and a jaw that had dropped to the ground in amazement.

The bass wasn't there long and had turned and was running away as fast as it had arrived while I cranked furiously trying to get control of the situation. I couldn't tell when the line was going to go tight and when it did, that was the end of the story except that I was left standing alone as I'd begun, smiling a lot, looking around at the now mirror flat pond, the peace and solitude that snow covered mountains can provide and a slightly better idea of winter LMB fishing.

I hope you get a chance to try searching for springs that I now know will hold bass, among other species of fish.

A very Merry Christmas to you,

MontanaMoose