Fishing with Kenny | Dispelling Late Winter Myths

article by Kenny Covington

“Think outside of the box and discover a winning strategy”

February is an interesting time for bass anglers. Winter is beginning to wind down and you can see signs of the upcoming spring.  A lot is going on, but what many anglers fail to realize is just how much is going on but what has already happened.  Keep your eyes open to change, even the ones that have already taken place. 

Years ago, when the state BASS Federation would hold a tournament on Lake Darbonne, the last weekend of February, I always found it interesting just how many ways the fish were caught and the areas of the lake that produced as well as they did.  Often, the winning pattern itself wasn’t a surprise but where it was caught, was.  Someone always seemed to think outside of the box and discover a winning strategy the rest of the field had overlooked.

My first instance of “I would have never thought that” came years ago when I was talking to a friend of mine from south Louisiana, and he commented how his partner lost a giant bass on a buzzbait.  Listening to what my friend was saying was important until the said the “buzzbait” word.  Buzzbait?  In February?  No way!  Now, years later, I will admit throwing a buzzbait in February, has been a well-kept secret of how catch large bass early in the year on a buzzbait slowly retrieved on the surface.  You won’t catch many but the ones you catch are big ones!

Another “light bulb” moment came many years ago when fishing a wintertime tournament, and I placed second, catching all my fish in scattered grass around shallow boat docks on a1/4 once jig.   Why was this so important?   The water temperature was 39 degrees.  The most incredible part?  I caught my biggest fish, a three and a half pounder, off a stump in two feet of water on a big spinnerbait.  The lesson?  Not all fish go deep in the wintertime and the fish you find shallow will aggressively bite, especially if there is submerged vegetation.

Would you believe me if I told you one of the biggest five fish stringers I ever caught was on a day when I had to break ice to get my boat off the trailer?  The lure I used was a chrome/blue back Rat L Trap.  Or catching an eight pounder off a two-foot-deep cypress tree with water temperatures in the low 40’s.  All the above examples are things that go completely against the “laws” of bass fishing.

I was fortunate enough to meet legendary angler Guido Hibdon once at the BASS Masters Classic when it was held in New Orleans.  As I stood around and waited for my opportunity to speak with him, I noticed how quickly the crowd had dispersed and soon it was just he and I talking.  He started talking about fishing a Smithwick Rogue and this got my attention because in our part of the country, we take our rouge fishing very seriously.

After he gave me his spiel on fishing the Rogue early in the year, I made this statement, “Yes, I have heard the suspending Rogue is a fantastic bait on Lake of the Ozarks.”  His eyes narrowed and what he said next forever changed my outlook on winter/late winter fishing.  “Son, I’m not talking about that suspending model rogue, I’m talking about the floating version.  Let that thing sit there, twitch it slowly, and the big ones will get it.”

“Well, I figured the water temperature would be too cold for the floating version” I responded.  “I know you have to have a certain water temperature for it to be effective.”

“Young man, let me tell you a secret.  I can tell from talking, you’re an educated angler, but just remember one thing, them magazines you read are trying to sell you something, by the time you learn the truth about them articles, the window to catch the fish they are talking about has already closed.”

Ever since that conversation, I have tried things on the water that some would consider to be flukes if they proved successful.  But over the years I have learned many of the set in stone ideas we have about bass fishing aren’t necessarily true.  What was Guido’s floating Rogue water temperature preference?  “Forty-five degrees, when it gets to that level the first time, them big females are on the move to eat.”  I can hear him tell me this some thirty years later.

A shallow crankbait around rocks, a big spinnerbait slow rolled around laydowns, or a chatterbait ripped out of submerged grass.  The possibilities are endless.  Our bodies of water lend to this type of fishing and often the best way to catch fish is the very technique you will talk yourself out of because “it isn’t time for that style of fishing yet.”

One thing to always consider, if you have three or four days of weather, consisting of a lot of sun and southern wind flow, the fish on your lake are going to bite.  If you have areas with grass, that would be my first stop.  If I am fishing an abundance of cypress trees, fish the ones that have had the most sun exposure.  Any kind of rip rap bank is a magnet for bass during this time of year.  Keep an open mind and you might surprise yourself; the possibilities are endless!

Well, it looks like we have run out of space and time for another month.  I sure hope we were able to share some good information that will help make your next trip to your favorite lake a successful one.  As I have written many times, there are no absolutes in bass fishing, just endless possibilities!  

Be careful on the water and catch one for me!  See you next month!