Pro Lesson
Confronting The Cold

Photo: BassFan Mark Tucker says line size can still be important in cold, muddy water, and often it's an advantage to use lighter line.

The water during Classic practice ranged from 43 to 47 degrees, and many locals said that's the coldest they've ever seen the lake.

The rest of the South took the brunt of that cold front too, and reservoirs all over the region are in chill-down mode. Plus, all the precipitation has left many waters more stained than usual, which complicates matters.

The Bass Buzz asked Abu Garcia and Berkley Trilene pro Mark Tucker for some tips on how to confront conditions like he faced in Classic practice.

Start Looking

"I like to find the clearest, warmest water I can and start from there," Tucker said. "Then, I find the second-clearest, warmest water I can, and I start to eliminate things that way. In many cases, the stained water would seem the perfect color, but it's so cold that even the biggest, oldest fish have never felt water like that. So it's a shock to them."

Tucker noted that he usually starts with a jig or flipping bait in such conditions, and one key tip he offered is to think more about your jig trailer.

"A lot of times the trailer has a lot to do with the bite you're going to receive," he said. "You may switch from a small chunk to a larger chunk to put more wave in the water as it sits in one place. Of you may go to a twintail grub so it falls slower. If you know fish are in the area, you need to change it up and fish hard. You'll want to fish slowly, but you need to cover some water as you do. Just stay positive and mentally analyze the area.

"Another thing is line size," he added. "Everybody thinks that in dirty water you can use 20-pound line. That may not be the case. I may go down to 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon so the bait falls faster. You might get more reaction strikes that way. Again, experimenting and changing is important."

The last tip Tucker offered is to use baits that are known to produce bites in cold water. The baits he considers to be predominant in such conditions are a jig, jerkbait, and crankbaits like the Rapala Shad Rap.

"If you really have confidence the fish are there, stick with those more than things like a Chatterbait or spinnerbait. Find the key places and make several presentations to that piece of cover or structure before you move on."