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Splitshotting - A Winter Bass Fishing Technique -....
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By:
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admin
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Mood:
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- Bass Articles
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Date:
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Aug 20, 2009
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Music:
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None
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Learn More About Some Bass Fishing Techniques
Splitshotting can mean the difference between just a cold boat ride and a great day of catching fish. Invest the time to practice this technique and you will have more fun bass fishing in the cold winter months. This and other bass fishing techniques are required to master the art of bass fishing.
In the north, if you put the time in, you will soon learn how to master the fall and winter bass fishing. Your efforts will be rewarded with exceptional smallmouth bass of trophy sizes. Remember though that it takes roughly 8 to 10 years for a smallmouth bass to attain a weight in excess of 5 lbs so please practice responsible catch and release methods. Make sure to pinch down the barbs on your hooks.
Cold weather puts the bass into their winter patterns. Forget about rip baits, spinner baits and crank baits. Now is the time to break out the finesse gear. One of the most common techniques for getting bass to bite during this season is splitshotting. It is a fairly straightforward bass fishing technique and requires little investment in terminal tackle.
The hardest thing there is to teach a bass angler learning to splitshot is how to detect the bite. The bite will vary according to the activity level of the fish. There will be times when they pop the bait hard and you will know immediately that they are eating the bait. Other times there will be a soft, almost imperceptible tick and then nothing. And finally there is the dreaded pressure bite. The pressure bite takes two forms:
The first type of pressure bite feels like a slight resistance to pulling your line forward. This is somewhat like hooking a soft, spongy rubber band.
The type second pressure bite occurs when you lose contact with the bottom.
A bass may just pick up your lure and just follow along with your forward movement. This is why it is so important to maintain bottom contact. Once you realize that you've lost the feel of the weight against the bottom and your depth hasn't changed significantly, you have to put two and two together and get ready to set the hook.
The preferred hook set for this technique is called a sweep set. Once you have detected a fish holding onto your bait, drop the rod tip towards the fish, reel down to the point of feeling resistance (or just shy of that point), and then "sweep" the rod horizontally away from the fish.
If you're sure that you got a good hook set than just fight him to the boat. If you set the hook and it didn't feel solid than you may want to set the hook a second time. The drag on your reel should be set tight enough that it doesn't give on the initial hook set. But it shouldn't be set so tight that a larger fish can't take the line if needed. A great rod and reel combo for splitshotting for bass is the Bass Pro Rod and Reel Spinning Combo.
Since the best spot to catch bass is on weeds and cover, use weedless lures when possible. This will cut down on the expense of losing lures.
Bass exist in a wide variety of temperatures, but tend to be inactive during a cold front. Fish swim deeper during the sunniest part of the day. Sun seems to adversely affect bass fishing. Seek out shady spots or deeper water with cover on sunny days. On cloudy or overcast days try shallower water. In cold water, retrieve your bait slower. Fish tend to react more slowly in colder temperatures.
Splitshotting is an effective technique for winter bass fishing. All it takes is practice and experience.
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