Since cold weather has made it down to texas, im in need of some winter fishing tips.

I live in the houston area, so as most of you can imagine, it doesnt freeze here. It just gets chilly. Lows drop to about 40F, but when i go fishing i usually only go out when its around the 65-80 range. Very comfortable and relaxing .

But since im warmblooded and fish are coldblooded, im betting they are really slow this season right? How should i be fishing them?

I am using 4" nightcrawlers on #10 baitholder hooks with a bobber 12 in. up the line. I am fishing a very small creek that holds channels, LM bass, and bluegill. All i do for presentation is just cast the worm out to the middle of the creek and wait wait wait wait wait.

Are there any tips for me? thanks

trex,

When the cold fronts hit, fish lower, near the bottoms in the deeper parts of the creek you fish. You can still do this with a float, just lengthen your line below it. If it is unmanagably long you might consider using a sliding float with a stopper.

If its a sunny day, they will often be more active in the afternoons after the water has had a chance to warm up a bit, and my also move shallower. Also think darker bottoms which warm up more quickly. Weed beds too, as well.

Put down the worms and go get some minnows. Big fish dont eat worms all the time. Live minnows will increase you catch ratio a bunch. small cigar bobber 2-3 inch with a 1/16 oz jig head. no more than 6 lb line. 7 ft rod. spinning gear

Nets in the dark...

@fisherwood: The little creek im fishing is no more than 5 ft deep at the lowest point. I determined this by testing with my rod lol. Im guessing the bobber should let the bait suspend about a foot off of the bottom?

A problem with that is the fact that the bottom of the river is very tangled and weedy. If i dont have a susended bait, 7/10 times i will snag.

@tarponfly: ty for your suggestion of minnows but i dont really like to use them because i dont really like killing fish, no matter how small. Bugs and invertebrates on the otherhand, i dont mind using as bait. Will shrimp/crayfish be more effective than worms?

Try some canned corn...you might just catch a freight train

If you don't like to use minnow because of killing fish lol. Why catch fish in the first place. You are hurting the fish by sticking a sharp hook through it's mouth. Lol.

say whaaaa?

Crawdads will work for bass cats and drum. Use circle hooks if u wanna try not hurting them...

Ive tried circle hooks from gamakatsu but my first and only landing was a guthooked channel. Just my luck lol. I think the problem was fishing the bait weightless.

Tracy s: ya i guess when you talk, itll all boil down to that but a prick is on a far lesser scale than a killing though, dont you agree?

@nick: i tried using canned hominy/corn one time and i got a shortnosed gar to bite on long enough for me to attempt a hook set. It threw the hook very quickly. The gar was what notified me of actuql fish in the river. I prevuslythought that no fish could possibly be in that little man made stream.

I dont think corn is effective for bass tho, correct?

Try buying the tiny precooked cocktail shrimp at wally world. A few hundred in a little bag so it is actually cheaper than worms. Tread one around a small circle hook so that most of the hook is hidden. Soak the shrimp in salt water if they are too mushy. As an alternative to the bobber set up try fishing this rig weightless or with a tiny bb split shot if you have too. Should be pretty "weedless" with this setup.

With your 6 1/2' spinning rig, you might try very slowly jigging around timber or around structure like rocks or concrete. If you can figure out the warmest part of the creek at any given time that is probably where the fish are.

I never thought about using precooked shrimp because i figured the cooking process would offset many fish, but i must try that lol

I have circle hooks in size 1/0 so i dont know if the shrimp will be able to fully conceal it. Doesnt fishing weightless increase my chances of guthooking? And i am thinking this setup is mainly for bluegill and cats right? I dont think bass fishing is very successful on circles. Correct me if im wrong please.

P.s. On a sidenote i doubt this is cheaper than my worms because my worms are free (i breed them). But nonetheless an awesome idea

Is this a canal? If so, sticking in the middle probably makes sense but on a "wild" creek I have the most luck around structure usually on the edges for bass. Actually, structure is best in a canal too, especially in the winter around the concrete that warms up quickest and retains heat, or any areas that drain into the canal which will contain warmer water.

Years ago there was a fishing derby and my daughter and I were getting skunked trying to catch the blue cat / channel cat hybrids dumped into a canal in Farmer's Branch TX. A few minutes after it was over I hooked up a 7 pound catfish with the weightless rig probably using a 1/0 circle hook with a precooked shrimp on it. All of the other traditional catfish baits we tried failed and no one around was catching anything.

As far as bass go, well, shrimp will work but not as well as worms maybe? The canal may already have a population of wild shrimp though (a lot of creeks do around here in DFW and I am sure the further south the more shrimp?). Shrimp are great to tip a hook with. If it were me provided the area isn't too weedy I'd fish a feather roadrunner with shrimp tipped at the end working it very slowly. If there are a lot of snags just get feather crappie jigs which are pretty cheap. You can fish under a float. With bass in a small canal like that you'll have to keep changes your tactics though as I'm not sure if they'll fall for the same trick twice.

Weightless with a fairly big 1/0 circle hook like that I think your chances of gut hook go down. The trick is to watch your line for a run and pick up the pole. Once the slack is 100% out reel in slowing. The hook should ideally slide back to the edge of the mouth in most cases. A float might put more horizontal tension on the circle hook??? I also sometimes use the barbless circle hooks. You can remove the barb if you want. This way, combined with a hemostat (surgical clamps) you should be able to remove hooks from even gut hooked fish with minimal damage.

Since you breed worms, I'll mention soldier fly larva as bait. They are superior in most ways to worms. A sort of wonder bait that will catch just about anything in the lake. I think that they mimic horse fly larva perhaps? A bit like the "wax worms" that are good for crappie but bigger and easier to grow. To grow simply leave a bin of coffee grounds out in the summer in the shade with moisture. The flies should find it and you'll be set up in no time. Chances are if you have worm bins outside you may already be fighting to keep the soldier fly larva out of your bins. They won't be around this time of year. The pupae in the pet store marketed under some silly name are inferior as they are less "tender". Lately I just use Berkley jarred bait products as it is more convenient and almost as effective. My fav. out of the bunch are Berkley Honey Worms but they are hard to find.

Im not very familiar with you veteran fishermen's lingo concerning bodies of water. So let me descrie to you what i fish in. Its a rather shallow river that is no more than 5 ft deep at its deepest. The width is a uniform 7-9 ft range throughout the entire length. The river is definately manmade, the sides are lined with mud/plaster? The spot that i am usually at has a small fallen tree. Water flows slowly around that structure.

Like i said before i have ued the 1/0 gamakatsu circles before, and i guthooked a channel i was fishing it weightless but i think i took too long in putting tension on the line for the hookset. I have alot of trouble getting hooksets.

I have alot of trouble timing when to set my hooks with regular J hooks as well. I dont know whether to jerk when the bobber dips a little or only jerk when the bobber goes under for 1 second.

Ah, sounds like a fun place to fish but a bit challenging too. You mentioned there is water flowing, I wonder if it dumps into a river, pond, or lake? If so, maybe on warm days this will be the warmest body of water the fish have access too and it will become really good... i.e. early spring or any warm trend in the winter might be really good if the bait fish decide to swim upstream.

Regarding float fishing and hook setting, I'm sure there is a healthy population of bluegill that are nipping at your bait offerings. So you'll just have to wait for a big one to pull it under and hope that your bait is durable enough to survive the pecking of the smaller fish. This is where the jarred Berkley products like maggots and power wigglers come in handy because they stay on the hook pretty well. A piece of Christmas ham might stay on the hook better too. ;-)

One trick to bobber fishing and missed bites is to constantly reel in very slowly, just about as slowly as possible with the rod tip pointed directly at the bobber. This will keep the line tight and a steady pressure on the hook as the bobber swims. Best to hook set gently in a small body of water like that so you may have another chance if you miss the first strike.

There is no reservoir body of water that holds water. Imagine an extremely extremely skinny lake. There is no "destination" fo the water flow. Im pretty sure the wind just determines which way the water "flows".

So you advise me to reel my bait in immediately after casting? Is there any wayiting that i should do at all?

I also tend to set the hook on weeds and foliage... I dont do very well in determining what is a bite and what isnt..

I don't think that one scenario fits all, but if you find that your bait is getting stolen it might help to get a hook set by using a steady retrieve, or by at least keeping the line tight.

This body of water, very shallow and very narrow, would be a good place to fish with a long jigging rod or maybe even a cheap "reeless" pole.

Alright thanks for your tips,i cant wait to go try them out soon!

@trex I'm no pro.. But I've had success using a dropshot rig with a worm.. I use 20# braided line on my set up for all the heavy vegetation .. And 10# braid on the UL gear..as for hooks and weight just have to see wht work best for u.. Lately I've been using.1/4oz -1/2 oz weight and #6 cricket hooks for sunnys but last weekend my son and I were catching 2-3# cats with the UL gear..lol anyway try it out.. Might work for u..

Thanks for the tip!

Im a little more experienced with channel catfishing than i am with bass but im still way behind you, i bet.

I usually catfished weightless with an offset worm hook used for bass in size 3/0. I would mold a big lump of bread on there to make it heavy and cast out. Lately ive stopped doing that, because i wanna get some multispecies action with worms.

How far should the hook be tied away from the sinker? And with that kind of dropshot setup, how is my presentation supposed to look? Do i reel in periodically or just wait until theres a bite? Also is a bobber going to be helpful?

I find that alot of times if i leave my bait out for a long time it gets eaten by something. Then i have to fight with myself in the decision of whether to not reelin in case the bait is out there in the process of attracting a catfish. I hate those fishing delimmas haha.

Lol I know whatcha mean..ur tryin too hard.. It's suppose to b fun not a thinking game.. Like I said before I'm no pro.. This is what I do.. For sunfish Tie my hook bout 12" from the weight.. Cast and set the line tight and wait usually they'll hit it right away if not recast again .. I'll keep doin it... For cats do the same but with a circle hook... Once the line is tight I put in a rod holder and put a bell on the tip.. In the meantime while waiting on my bell to go off I usually throw plastics spinner baits , whatever to pass the time.. If a fish hits it they usually hook themselvs with a circle hook and u will see the rod bending and pulling.. Sunfish are different .. I usually hold the rod.. U get a bite just give it a light tug with ur wrist and bam I'll hook it .. Hope this helps.. Good luck

You can't go wrong with live worms.. I've caught bunch of different fish using worms and a drop shot rig.. Now cats I'll also buy a single dropshot rig from walmart for bout 65 cents ..they have snap swivels for the weight and hook.. I'll use a treble hook... Buy 3 tubs of chicken liver for bout 1.50 a tub.. Throw a tub in the area I'll b fishing.. I'll take my treble and poke through the liver then put it on my snap swivel it tends ta hold the liver on better.. I've caught many cats using the dropshot rig..

Ill have to try the circle hoiok method again whe i go to a big neighborhood pond with channels.

For now i think ill continue with the worm fishing on teeny hooks. Using a small num10 baitholder should still be able to hook catfish and bass no problem right?

Also the worms that i breed arent the canadian nightcrawlers you find at baitshops. Those worms are massive. Mine are a little less than half the size. Although they are smaller, i grow them in compost bins so the advantage is that they stink. Should be a good tradeoff no?

Heck yeah I use trout worms .. I get more worms for the money .. I used ta use night crawlers .. I get the same hits ...the smellier the better.. As for the hooks , last weekend my son and I put out our UL gear 10# braid with#6 cricket hook and were catching 2-3# cats.. On live trout worms!! Later we moved ta circle hooks for the cats