December is a month that can produce a bass you can place into the share a lunker program and make history. Every year the Parks and Wild Life Fishery department will start up the share a lunker program to take big female bass from the fisherman and place them in big tanks at the Athens Hatchery to spawn. The bass will spawn in the tanks and then the fry will be placed into other lakes across the state so that they will have more of the Florida genes to create more trophy lakes in Texas.
In order to have a bass qualify for the lunker program the bass must weigh 13lbs or more. You must first place the bass into a good live well so that it can stay alive and in good condition, then take it to a marina where the bass can be weighed and confirmed to be 13lbs. or more, then have the marina place the fish into a live tank with good oxygen being generated into the tank so that the fish can remain healthy. Now have the marina call the fishery department to have them bring a truck to pick the fish up to be transported to Athens to be observed in one of the tanks where they begin the process of spawning the fish out. I know we all want great photos of our fish so when you take the fish out of the water for your photos besure not to keep the fish out of water to long for this will weaken the fish and she may not survive. A good measure of time to keep the fish out of water would be for you to take a big breath in as you remove her from the water and when you need to take a breath then she probably needs to be placed back into the water so she can breath as well. Remember to take very good care of these bass for they are the future of our lakes.
Now we have an idea about what to do with our bass when we catch it so let’s go to the lake and talk about how you will go about finding this big trophy.
When looking for big bass I first like to take out my map of the lake and locate the better creeks and then figure out where the best bends are where you have deeper water and maybe a slough that would run into the creek. This will be an ideal spot where big bass will move back and forth from the creek channel up into the slough as it feeds. A spot like this can be found back in the back of your main lake creeks as well as out on the main lake. I know of many spots just like this on both Lake Palestine and on Lake Fork where I guide at. This is just one type of trophy bass place and I could go on and on about these type spots. Every lake has them and a good map will show you the details of the bottom and then all you have to do is apply the work and when you catch that trophy you will know the hard work payed off.
Next thing will be lure selections. There are many good lures and every fisherman has his own choice and I will give you a few of mine.
First I will look at the area where I am fishing is it open deep water or is it back up in the brushy creeks. If it’s out in the open water areas I will use my Diamond Head Jig in a black/blue rigged with a big pork chunk or big 6 inch Thunder worm by Mister Twister also in the blk/blu color. I will use the big chunk or worm to give it a massive look in the water working the bottom for a big bite only not trying to attrack the smaller fish at all. When fishing this way you wont get many bites but the ones you do get can be very rewarding.
The next bait I will use in the deep open areas is my Dimple Spoons and I will take along both my Nickle silver and the chartuce color. I like this lure because I can get it down in the deeper water and work the ridges of the creeks and these ridges can produce some very big bass as well.
When fishing in the back of your main lake creeks they will normally be brushy so my choice of lure here will be a Diamond Head Jig rigged with a number one A pork rind. This Uncle Joshs big pork frog in a blk/blu color and I will team it up with my blk/blu jig and I will fish this color in clear water. In dirty water I will use my Diamond Head Jig in my new Red/Black rigged with a blk red flake trailer. Dirty water will tend to be warmer than the clear water and at times can be the most productive water to fish in cold weather.
When fishing these back waters, fish very slow casting to the same stump or bush several times because that next cast into that spot may be the cast that lands that 14 lb bass you have been looking for.
As I said earlier I could go on and on about each type of spot and lure but there is never enough time for me to do that so I have tried to touch on a few key things that I do when fishing for big bass during the colder months and what I do when looking and searching for that Share A Lunker Bass.
I have had many ten pound plus bass grace my boat up to 14.8 lbs and I caght my big bass fishing as I have shared with you and I hope you to can land that one time trophy you have been searching for.
If you land a big bass on one of my lures send me your photo and I will list it on my site for others to see.
Until next month remember to take care of those larger Bass for they are the life of our lakes.
To purchase any of my lures I make you can call me at (903)561-7299 or you can go to my rickysguideservice website and click on my store.By: Ricky Vandergriff
