It wasn’t that long ago, relatively speaking, that you could read bassin’ articles or talk to other bass anglers and hear how largemouth don’t feed through the winter, or how rarely they bite with water temps under 40 degrees. One thing I’ve learned over the past 5 or 6 years is just how many bass you can catch during the coldest water temps. I’ve now been on enough trips through the winter in Indiana to realize that if you can get a reasonable presentation to a bass regardless of water temps, you stand a realistic chance of catching fish. I’ve specifically ice fished for them, broken lots of ice to get a boat to them, and fished immediately after ice thawing, and have had success in all scenarios. Now scientific studies are starting to support what we have anecdotally reasoned.
One fairly recent study looked at overwinter mortality of bluegill in ponds, some that contained largemouth and some that didn’t. Results indicated that ponds with bass resulted in a 16-49% increase in bluegill mortality above what was seen in ponds without bass. The two most plausible explanations were either direct consumption of bluegill by bass, or changes in bluegill behavior due to the presence of bass that in some way lead to higher mortality. A noted increase in the overall condition of both bluegill and bass through the testing period suggested direct consumption likely played at least some key role.
With winter fast approaching in many parts of the country, remember that some bass likely feed year round in most waters, and that it’s never too cold to put away the fishing gear for good.
