Reasons Not To Winterize
By Scott Bonnema
I
can’t help but sigh and shake my head every time I drive by a fenced boatyard
and glimpse a sea of shrink-wrapped watercraft – all that blue, sometimes white,
sealing stories yet written and fishing trips never realized. It’s sad,
actually.
I
don’t winterize. Never have, never will. Nah. That’d be like siphoning the mojo
right out of my rig. Draining the lower unit – yeah, right, give me a break. She
doesn’t deserve that. And besides, there’s too much going on; rivers to jig,
lakes to troll, and fish to catch.
So
in defense of my position – a perspective that keeps the boat at a moments
notice – I’ve jotted down 6 justifiable reasons why not to winterize, or at
least delay the act for another month or so.
1.) Repeated Warm Spells
Winter hasn’t entered like a lion in years. Indian summers have been repeating
and three-peating themselves. Last autumn, 60 and 70 degree temps were common
throughout November. The 80’s even posted. Imagine how many guys – although
they’d never admit it – stewed on the inside while temperatures steamed outside,
and all because their boat was idled? Heck, from the opposite mindset, I know a
guy who just last season fished walleyes, from a boat, on a lake, until
mid-December. He banged fish and had the water to himself too.
In
these strange times seasonal patterns are unpredictable. Meteorologists can
scarcely forecast tomorrow’s weather let alone speculate on the ensuing 30 days.
So in response, I err toward optimism, trusting there’ll be more unseasonably
agreeable temperatures than the contrary. My thoughts are likely opposed by ice
anglers, but so far, or at least over the last few years, warm has been trumping
cold.
2.) Wintering-Hole Crappies
Despite my hankering for open water, I too ice fish. It’s preposterous to
consider lasting the winter months without a tug on the line. Yeah, ice
fishing’s cool, but what’s even cooler is enjoying ice fishing-type scenarios
from a boat.
In
late fall, crappies make their annual pilgrimage to the deep and quiet. In tight
clusters they hunker atop semi-soft bottoms – flats – that are adjacent to the
sheer sides of points, bars, humps, and abrupt shorelines. Narrows are notorious
crappie-collectors as well. The exact depth of these wintering holes varies from
lake to lake, but most occur in 20 to 50 feet.
Besides being woven closely together, crappies also tend to operate on or near
the bottom where they gorge but don’t chase, so work slowly. This is big fish
time too. Sizable baits are in order. I favor the bladed Northland Whistler Jig
with a fathead, not a crappie minnow. I first employ a deliberate retrieve,
dragging the jig just above the lake floor, but will quickly add a slip-float if
fish are short-striking or not pursuing at all.
3.) Deep & Steep Walleyes
Like crappies, walleyes also make way to where precipitous breaks greet tranquil
flats. But unlike crappies, walleyes don’t limit themselves by depth. It’s
ordinary on natural lakes to mark ‘eyes in 50, 60, 70 feet and beyond. The
post-turnover period yields universal oxygenation and diamond-clear conditions,
so both fish and baitfish can range quite deep.
The
best spots, I’ve found, occur off big ol’ points – the bigger, deeper, sharper,
and more feature-laden the better. Shelves – steps along the break – are great
features as well, so too is a spacious crown or feeding flat. These shallows
come to play during and after dusk. Call it ‘trolling time,’ when stickbaits,
like Floating Rapalas, conspire with harvest moons to expose the lake’s largest
walleyes.
Meanwhile, back at the break, finning snug to the foundation, walleyes are
plucking jigs and minnows; large ones at that. I fasten-up a glow jig and tip it
with a redtail or creek chub, sometimes a flashy shiner. Working it leisurely, I
show more swim than hop. And only a responsive line will telegraph strikes.
Berkley FireLine is my choice.
When the bite’s ultra-tough and or fish are ultra-concentrated, I resign to
jigging spoons and simulate ice fishing strokes. Adorned with a minnow head, the
Blue Fox Flash Spoon gets down, dirty, and vertical. Another killer on late fall
walleyes is the tested Rapala Jigging Rap. No bait additive here, just lifelike
swims and swirls. Walleyes love to hate these.
4.) Hibernating Smallies
No
REM sleep. No “one beat per minute” heart rates. No, smallmouth bass don’t
hibernate, per say, but they do throttle-back daily activities in late fall.
Despite the lethargy, though, bronzebacks remain agreeable to food, an equally
as important, are stacked like Havana cigars.
I’m
talking rivers, midsize to majors. Sometime in September maybe October
smallmouth bass begin amassing and traveling – normally downstream – toward
favored vacation destinations. They winter below dams, in deep pools, and in the
case of predominately shallow rivers, within the deepest and slackest water
available.
It’s cold, it’s late in the season, I’m a basser, but I’m not done yet. These
fish are too easy to find and elementary to catch. So on go the jigs and out
comes the meat. Yes, meat. My condolences to bass-heads who let purity and art
stand between them and fast-action. Like with walleyes, I first opt for a jig
and minnow, usually a Northland Fire-ball with a fathead. Plan B is a jigging
spoon. Despite their sluggishness, one of the two offerings will be accepted, so
long as it’s presented at the right speed, which tends to be scrupulously slow.
Note: Headstrong bass anglers can substitute meat with soft-plastic grubs. But
be prepared to have your backside handed to you by the guys with minnows.
5.) Bronzebacks on the Rocks
Encounters aren’t relegated to current either. Lake-going smallies also huddle
in predicable haunts and can be convinced to dine. My primo spots are where
large weeded and formerly weeded flats spill quickly into 30 to 45 feet. Deep,
offshore rock reefs provide a suitable backup.
Schools can be well-populated too, sometimes supplying 10 to 20 consecutive
hits, namely when a tube is presented. I throw a 3/8th to ½ ounce weighted tube
hook cloaked over a 4 inch Storm Rattle Tube. Pearl and green pumpkin are autumn
favorites.
And
if they aren’t opening up and saying, “Ah”, I’m back on the beef program.
Smallies adore struggling suckers. I rig my minnows on a 5 foot leader with a
VMC Fastgrip Octopus hook. The package is weighted with ¾ to 1 ounce bell sinker
that’s kept off the swivel with a clacking glass bead – basically, a walleye
rigging package.
Friends, those are just a handful of reasons why my boat never sees rat poison
or mothballs. Occasionally, the call of the ducks and rattle of antlers gets to
me, but that’s acceptable, because the woods and fields fill in blanks that
fishing cannot. And like a Lego, late fall and early winter angling bridges the
only other gap in the calendar.
Scott Bonnema
classicbass.com Pro Staff
Editor’s note: Scott Bonnema is a touring bass professional who fishes
tournaments and offers instructional seminars throughout the Midwest. He’s a
member of the Rapala Team, and Pro Staffs of Fuji Film,
Northland Fishing Tackle, Ranger
Boats and Mercury.
