As we ring in every new year, a couple of thoughts always come to mind for me as an angler.
First, I’m always excited about fishing in January — one of the most underrated times of year to spend a day on the lake. But also, in the back of my mind, I have to kick myself for taking so long to figure out the month’s true value.
When I was growing up, like a lot of people, I basically fished March through August and maybe September. When I first started fishing Bassmaster tournaments, we fished later into the fall, but it’s only been for the past 15 years or so that I’ve understood the great opportunities presented by the January chill.
There are multiple bullet points to help dispel the myth that the first month on the calendar is not a good time to fish.
Some people believe you’re going to be miserably cold, but you don’t have to be if you have all of the right gear.
I rely heavily on the lightweight rainsuit from Striker called the Denali. It’s got a light layer of PrimaLoft insulation, and it’s hands-down the lightest, most comfortable piece of insulated clothing I’ve ever worn.
Another myth is that the bass are lethargic and not really looking to feed this time of year. But the truth is, if you find the bait, you’ll find the bass — and they’ll be biting. Some people believe all the bait goes deep in the wintertime. That’s not entirely true either.
Gizzard shad, in particular, do not go deep in the winter. If you can find gizzard shad shallow in January, there will likely be feeding bass in those areas — and since you don’t have a lot of 2-pound fish feeding on big gizzard shad, it will usually be a big-bass situation.
You can find gizzard shad around mud or clay that’s mixed into the bank. That stuff holds heat, and the gizzards will actually burrow up in that mud to stay warm. ChatterBaits, jerkbaits, glidebaits or even a big spinnerbait can really be good for drawing reaction bites from those feeding bass.
Another myth about January is that you shouldn’t expect a lot of bites.
While you’re usually not going to catch a hundred bass during the winter, you can have some really good 15- to 20-bass days that you may not be expecting this time of year. To me, that’s a fantastic day.
Some people also believe you have to wait for a sudden warmup for the fishing to be good in January, but I honestly haven’t seen that make a big difference. In the gizzard-shad situation I mentioned, they seem to be more active on cold, sunny days than they are on warm, sunny days because that sun brings them up in the water column. That makes the bass more active.
If I can’t find gizzard shad, my other default pattern is fishing more vertical structure like bluff walls, deep docks, bridges and even riprap banks that go a little deeper into the water.
Bass like places where they can move vertically very easily without expending a lot of energy. Those places allow them to rise up when the sun is out and just sink back down to 30 or 40 feet with little to no effort when it gets cold. Sometimes it may not even be visible structure, but an underwater bluff or a long tapering point that drops from 10 feet down to 50.
Don’t let me fool you into believing I’ve always known these things. It took me forever to learn the value of mud and clay during the winter. Likewise, I had to lose a third of the fish I hooked in January for years before I realized a bass’ mouth gets harder in cold water.
Once I knew that, I switched from extra-wide gap hooks to round bend Gamakatsu treble hooks with more bite. They dig into harder material better, and you won’t lose nearly as many fish.
That seems so simple, but it took me years to figure it out — and I wouldn’t know it now if I was still spending every January at home.
So, don’t ignore this month like I did for so many years. Gear up for the cold and go discover all that January has to offer.
