Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Tuesday, 08 November 2022 10:30

December Fishing on Guntersville
If you look at what to expect on Guntersville in December history says there will be more change and transition than any other time of year.
We will experience everything from cold to rain maybe snow with lots of grass erosion and change will be front and center on a daily basis. We start the month off with fall type temperatures and as the month progresses, we fall into nighttime temperatures in the teens.

This drastic weather change moves the fish off the fall patterns and drops the water temperature drastically and hence the bass fishing changes with it.

Never in my thirty plus years of keeping my history of my fishing days on Guntersville does any month change so drastically and abruptly as does December.

We go from top water fishing over shallow water to deep water, slow patient fishing where persistence and slow presentation can be the key in getting a bite. Not only slow retrieves but bait size becomes more of an issue than any other time of year; you must downsize to equal the size of the natural bait and let the bait become an easy meal for bass that are becoming lethargic until the weather breaks again in the spring.

One of my favorite baits in the winter in these transition times is a shaky head with a sinko type worm worked over the drops and depth changes, where you find stumps or deep coon tail grass still showing on your Lowrance structure scan. I find that the bass movement in December even though drastic in abruptness as it pertains to weather and water temperature the bass move in steps and December is so early in the change that their movement is close to some of their fall hang outs, just a little deeper.

Lastly as December is full of weather change and every day can be different; bass will find the warmer days and still move up and back to feed until we get some consistent chilly weather then it drives them to the suspending stage for some enduring length of time. Patience, good electronics skills, and persistence in December is the key to adapting to the change and if you have the ability to change with it, you can still have a productive December.

-Captain Mike Gerry