Growing up in Minnesota, I have a lot of experience with cold-weather fishing, and it looks like that’s what we’ll be facing when the FXR Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville begins. At this point there’s no question about how cold it’s going to be, but I don’t believe that’s going be a problem.
Guntersville is very unique; it’s unlike any other southern lake, in the fact that the cold front doesn’t affect it. For example, in Florida, you see a cold front coming and everyone freaks out because the fish aren’t going to bite.
That’s just not the case on Guntersville. It’s still going to be a smash fest.
The nights are below freezing all the way up until the event, but Guntersville fishes like a northern lake. In fact, I recently heard Zona say it’s the most weatherproof lake that we go to, and I completely agree. No matter the weather, they bite out there 24/7.
I think a big part of why Guntersville is so consistent is the bass are mostly northern largemouth, so they’re not as cold-sensitive as Florida Bass. Also, Guntersville has a tremendous amount of grass.
It completely changes a lake when you have that much beautiful grass. It gives the fish such great habitat. They don’t feel like they have to do crazy things to escape the cold.
On cold mornings, they just bury down in the vegetation. When it gets warm in the afternoon, they’ll rise up a little bit, and that’s when they actually start feeding. It all starts with the grass. You have a great baitfish population, and then you have a great bass population.
Even though Guntersville does well in cold weather, you still have to account for the general winter conditions. Some of that will be fish behavior, but there’s also the mental side of winter fishing.
I’ve fished in extreme cold conditions — most of it has been self-infected during fun fishing. For example, the annual Sturgeon Bay Open in Wisconsin is always cold. We have lows in the teens and big winds, so you get soaking wet. Other times, fishing Minnesota in the fall, I’ve had days with 2 feet of snow on the deck.
It’s something I’m used to, and I’ve learned you have to block it out and remember you have a job to do. That starts with the proper gear, so I’ll be wearing SIMMS gear head-to-toe.
One thing I can say about winter fishing is that when it gets cold, the fish get extremely fat. They’re short, stubby fish, but they weigh a lot because they’re not burning lot of calories this time of year.
It’s possible this might turn out to be an event where you’re not gonna get more than six to nine bites a day, but you might have 18 to 20 pounds. It will look better on paper than the fishing actually is, but that’s the interesting part of winter fishing — the opportunity is there.
I think it’s gonna be a super fun event, but it might turn into one of those challenging events where you have to stay mentally tough. That’s the kind of event I really like, so I’m looking forward to it.
