The Best Tactics For Largemouths Under The Ice

A green flicker appears on the flasher, about 5 feet off bottom. It slowly intensifies to red, and the red line is getting bigger. Get the jig down quick. Level it off right at eye level. Lift it, let it fall, pause. Repeat. The fish hovers under the hole, suspended. About the tenth time the jig is lifted, it won't lift. The rod is doubled. The spool starts to turn, and suddenly it's a blur as a pig largemouth makes for another time zone, dragging a taught 2-pound line behind.

Ice-bound lakes tend to experience little pressure for largemouth bass. When the occassional fish is caught, people think it's a fluke because, "Largemouths don't bite in winter." Or the opposite occurs, when a few are caught by accident then the fisherman switches to larger, more aggressive presentations, figuring bass want a big plastic grub, larger spoon, or a blade bait.

Largemouths slow down under the ice, but they don't come to a stop. Their metabolisms can't handle big meals efficiently when it's cold. A large chub or panfish takes a long time to digest, and it's probably not a pleasant experience. So they revert to their panfish roots. Largemouths are closely related to bluegills and sunfish, and their diet becomes almost identical in winter. Bass scale back on prey size dramatically under the ice.

The best tactics for largemouths under the ice are similar to what you use for panfish right now. Every winter, some largemouths fall prey to 4-inch twistertails and worms on 1/8-ounce jigs and 8-pound line, small minnows on tip-ups, large Jigging Rapalas, and such. But to consistently catch largemouths under the ice in most lakes, smaller baits rule. When you're catching bass by accident, don't stop what you're doing. Just fish a little more aggressively when jigging. But certain adjustments can be made to the basic panfish approach to up your odds for catching more and larger bass through the ice.

THE SYSTEM

To have any chance at catching real numbers, like releasing more than 20 bass back down the hole in a day, requires a system. The first component of the system is timing. The best bass fishing tends to occur at first-ice and late-ice, though there are definite windows of opportunity all through winter.

Bass are just as sensitive to weather changes under the ice as in open water. Cold fronts put them down. When temperatures dip below 0F, target other species. The best fishing days for largemouths occur during warming trends and stable weather. Unseasonably warm days over 40F are the best times to target largemouths during winter, whether you're fishing open water or through the ice.

Location is the next key. Tracking studies during winter reveal that largemouths tend to stay near thick green weeds when available. In the absence of healthy green weeds, largemouths tend to move to mid-depth flats and basins. Depths of 15 to 25 feet are the norm. Some largemouths always can be found in the same kind of basin areas used by panfish during winter. But to better locate most bass in the system, pay attention to weedline dynamics.