 Welcome back to the channel Fish and Freaks. It's a cold and windy winter's day But we're not gonna let that stop us from getting out on the lake today and going bass fishing Empowering us through our adventure on the water is today's video sponsor AG1. If you haven't heard of AG1 yet It's a science-driven formulation of vitamins, probiotics and whole food source ingredients that support our brain, our gut and the immune system Basically instead of having to take a bunch of different supplements and eat every kind of food that gives you the best nutrition possible You can get it all in AG1. This is the best way to start out your New Year's guys feeling good I love this stuff. I chug it just about every morning. My favorite thing about AG1 is the on-the-road nutrition I'm taking all these vitamins and minerals with me. They have these travel packs. They're fantastic I don't go on any trips without taking a few of these travel packs because usually on the road I'm not eating the best just slurp that down and it keeps me feeling great on my travels You guys need to try AG1. This stuff is really top-of-the-line nutrition and it definitely helps me in my daily routine So head to my link in the description below and get a free one-year supply of AG vitamin D3 plus K2 Plus you get five AG1 travel packs with your first purchase of AG1 Drink AG1.com. The link is down in the description. Go check it out. Thank you AG1 for sponsoring today's video Now let's head to the water and do some winter fishing One of the first signs of What am I doing here? What am I doing with my life? Why am I doing this? Is when you get to the boat ramp and there's no one there it's a cold winter's day lakes are already kind of dormant There was no one here. There's one guy that rolled up just a minute ago And that made me feel good. I was like, and we both we both gave each other the nod like yep You and me. We're the crazy ones out here doing this today Yeah, we got gas That's the fish out of this boat with John and the tournament. So things are a little disheveled There's really four winter baits that I like to keep on hand number one being a spoon vertical jigging spoons great technique We got umbrella rigs It's another great wintertime technique jerk baits If you've got fish that are kind of moving up in the water column suspended And then I like to have some sort of jig or a Plastic that doesn't move very much. So that would be something like like a net rig or a tube You know a shake a shaky head worm something like that But if I'm gonna throw a bait like that, it's usually gonna be a jig in the wintertime So those are really my four baits how to go after For wintertime it can kind of vary a little bit But those are four main ones that I keep keep on deck ready to go and the fish are going to be Somewhere around the baits and this time of year bait doesn't like to be uncomfortable We get crazy especially your Texas we get big swings in our weather You know, it could be 65 degrees on a winter day in Texas where it could be 25 degrees So they like stable water temps and usually that means deeper water. It's not always But usually means deeper water things are more stable. So I'm gonna look for creek channels This lake's very very deep. It's over 100 feet deep where I am right here. So We shouldn't have props of finding that deep water, but the main thing is finding where the bait is The fish will not be very far behind All right, so I have spent probably an hour just idling around Trying to look for bait out on deep stuff and I really can't find any deep bait balled up Like I want to find for throwing, you know, the a-brig and and throwing the spoon The most bait that I found is just in small little groups. It's actually not that far away from the bank And in my mind that tells me a jerk bait is probably going to be a player and the water is It's actually warmed up from the air temperature. It's 50 degrees You know, it's it's really cold outside Promise you see a fish moving up there, you know, that's 20 feet of water not not crazy depth It's not crazy and I would say you know my my max where I kind of draw the line on Fishing for winter fish and summer fish. I guess fishing anytime 40 foot of water I'm about maxed out right there. I've yes, I've caught a few fish beyond that, but I Can count them on my hands seems like, you know visibility Pressure those things add up those deep depths So what I'm gonna start out doing here is work this jerk bait Around some of these big rocks and I'm gonna I'm gonna give some pretty long pauses You know at least a few seconds Two or three second pauses if I see something that come across that comes across on The scope that looks good to throw at maybe it's an individual boulder out there or Just a group of shad or fish or something and I'll throw at that with One of my other baits. I also saw a group of fish. I don't know what species they were but they were We're pretty close to the bank, you know, they were in like 15 feet of water There were big fish, I don't know if they were Buffalo carp or catfish or something but that just tells me that The majority of these fish are not gonna be in the in the super deep depths right now That's what I'm going on so far But I've been in here for an hour and not made a cast until now I'm just gonna go ahead and pick up the chandelier see what happens This one here's this is the Guggen squad shad wagon. It's got the Nickel willow blades on there I've got some saucy swimmers on nice boulders up there. Those look pretty nice Actually had I had a fish follow it right there Add a fish follow it on that boulder. I don't know if you guys can still see that fish still moving at it Try to reel it in real quick throw it back To fish that other one just came and looked at it. Those got to be smallmouth Those those are smallmouth right here on this boulder They actually look fairly active Some of these fish are just holding really tight to these boulders You guys can probably go. There's one Yeah, smallmouth hit it on the pause. Gosh. No. Nope. Yeah. No, it's a smallmouth and that was Not deep at all What about fishing deep in the winter? What do you have to do? Just have to pay attention to where the bait is Where the fish are fish where the fish are it's always good to have an idea in your mind a game plan of What you want to do based on the time of year, but It's always better just to let the the lake kind of speak to you Decent little fish right there Put him back in the lake. See you buddy. I mean just slammed it. That's what's nice about Fishing for smallmouth when it is cold if they're around They are just a different species they handle the cold better So that might have been one of those fish that I saw in that that group a Couple of them looked really nice Okay, there's another one out in front of this boulder here Right there That one's in about 20 foot See if I can catch this fish's attention right here. He gave about zero bucks on that one That is not what you want right there Snagging the umbrella rig on a boulder and rocky shallow water There's we got a couple of fish moving out here on this spot These are a big fish right here. He's got him. Oh God. God. He came off. Holy Nike set the big one He knocked a fire toast off that one Mike. Gosh. I don't know. I got some small hooks on here Just thinking I might need to go as small hooks for these little smallmouth, but it might have been dumb Oh, there's a boulder There's a boulder here and there's fish sitting on the backside of it as well And there was fish on this little lay down stick, but those those fish they just came I mean They came from a ways away. Oh my gosh fish that already sees my A-Rig They are they're definitely Interested in this thing. Oh my god. They're coming. They're coming. He's got it. Oh my god. I missed him. Oh my god. I missed him This is insane. There's another one coming. There's another one. There's another one. They're all coming now Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. This is insane. He smashed it He can't that fish came so fast It was unbelievable that That was crazy Like they they wanted that so incredibly bad. Oh This fish wants it coming out of a dang hole Oh my gosh, I never even saw these fish are glued to the bottom two big old slug heads right there just Chilling. Oh god that one wants it. I got him. Oh He came off the bottom. That's a good one. That's a big one. Oh Don't come off. It's a striper Holy moly God thought that was gonna be a big small mouth This thing was glued to the bottom guys Whoo I'll take this thing too Take these guys all day. Oh Shadwack and baby Look at that That was fun That was fun. I was literally fishing The bottom like it just looked slick and then all of a sudden this fish just Came up off the bottom like it would I mean I think because of this cold front these fish were really Really blending in All right, y'all great fish right there. We're gonna let it go See you my guy striper in cold water. He's ready See ya Totally was not expecting that right there because I was seeing They I mean they were small mouth they had to be small mouth that were on this boulder that were coming looking They just wouldn't They would kind of nudge it but not fully get it That one there was no question. I was just reeling that thing medium speed I saw it come off the bottom and it was like okay. I'm about to get smoked and I did All these saucy swimmers are three 3.8s, but then this one is uh Those are the 4.8. Yeah So there's just a little bit bigger And that's striper actually bent bent the hook out so I'll probably have one more fish in that one The middle one's also white. So it's a little different color really fun bite So that was that's one of the winter things. So we've got two fish on the Out of the four lures that we talked about. I think the spoon will still come into play Uh, but this is fun right here Gotta throw it on a big a big rod My first viral video on youtube was from from throwing one of these a long time ago Just experimenting. I don't throw them that often but in the winter time or early spring It's just kind of one of those things you gotta have so Keep grinding see if we can get an even bigger striper a big old brown And you gotta have you gotta have a long wire on to throw these things I'm throwing it on the mussel XL I think this is a Seven nine or seven ten Seven nine And it helps if you have a rod that kind of loads up a little bit It's not just a complete brick Broomstick if you will And I'm throwing mine on 25 25 pound fluorocarbon With a reel that can hold the line. That's the thing I've got a tranks here It holds plenty of line There's a smallie And there he was Smallie football bouncing back he uh, just like the other ones sort of Came off more of a boulder that's out a little bit. I just happened to see it on my retrieve And I was I I saw my bait for a second I knew I was getting around the boulder, but I couldn't see the fish sort of lost it And that's fine with the With the live scope doing this. I really just I want to see that I'm In the right depth that I'm not going to get it snagged I don't necessarily have to look at every fish Just want to identify those those key Little structure cover spots Make sure we're keeping it where we need to be If you're doing this in your boat and you have live scope, it's Really pretty imperative that you see what's coming up And you get your cast out there And plenty of time to retrieve it before it gets too close to the boat, especially in clear water Got to make sure you know I've got my My range set out to 100 feet But ideally I want to hit those fish At like 50 to 70 feet That way I've got plenty of room and if they start to chase it I can speed it up and I won't be at the boat The farther the better I need to get out here a little deeper definitely seeing Fish out here in about 20 feet of water Banks just keeps changing. I got to change with it Well, y'all so far It's been a grind just like I thought it would be But we're making some things happen We're going to take ourselves a little sausage break. It's time to enjoy the fruits of The harvest Little sausage from Eddie Ray's from I don't know what deer this was Two seasons ago Just got to give give it that old honking bite It almost feels like it's getting colder You know, I can still see my breath I may kind of shallowed out And I don't want that I want to be as close to a big main creek channel As I can That's got some cover on it So I'm going to move down where I Look at some boulders and things like that. That's definitely been key for smallmouth These striper sort of roaming out here their creek channels out that way and Apparently the bait is either extremely extremely deep Or it's it's just up here in this, you know, mid-depth water But I'm going to switch up to Oh, that's a half ounce one of three quarters. There it is Big fan of gold on these overcast days Gold uh gold in your jerk baits gold in your crank baits Gold orange black that old color that is uh That has always been a a good producer for me on Overcast days like this there's a fish There's some sort of fish out here Maybe I spoke too soon on the gold spin Up my old friend the little striper that was going to be a white bass Look like bait buddy better be careful Especially with that bloody nose you got now Just working it I'm very strongly off the bottom just little little pumps got caught you earlier this summer and you were just a little Shaddling at the time growing up a little bit Get big get mean So the spoon is just super versed on A way that I like to fish it in the uh summer and in the winter Is throw up On a bank like this that has a ledge on it And then you know start at the top if it's a kind of a stair step deal Just work it down And sometimes those fish will be on the Right where it drops, you know if it's only a couple feet even And they just see it go by real quick and they just react to it Got to have some clear water to do it, but it's a It's a good way to fish down there in those depths This bottom just looks like a carpet full of worms right now a lot of small stripers been around Ah lady, that's a big one. It's basically sitting on the bottom Barely lifted it. Yeah, that's a big one This might be a big catfish We're a big striper Oh, it's the old catfish hanging out Got nice blue. That's what I was gonna go after today Following the shed. Come here, buddy You're big enough you're small enough to grab still Really want you to bite me in the hand I'll do it if I must Multi species I am taking notes on catfish y'all. I want to Try to catch more of these. These are awesome fish to catch They're great to eat, but they get really big I'm trying to learn so I can take them out in the crispy and I was going to Go catfishing today. I just decided it was a little windy for drifting Didn't have all the necessary tools. So We'll let this guy go back to the depths This will catch anything And it does catch I can't tell you how many catfish I've caught on spoons Look at this this bottom coming alive. There's a couple of better striper in here So sometimes with the with the spoon in the winter I'll just let it hover it hover it there for a few seconds before I lift it Because in the summertime Especially striper that move around a lot. They want that thing Zipping around You got to get them to react to it and This time of year that's a little colder The water just hit 49 right here And that little pause sometimes will get them Come over we have here. We've got the old small mouth. Oh another one that just He's wanting to get away So good at escaping was on the spoon He's kind of ugly looking spoon him up Slurped it. I knew that one felt a little different than a striper same area Same area. I just kind of located on Where that drop is so there's like a three or four foot drop And I lined the boat up with that so I could cast out Key is when you're uh fishing the spoon not to get hung up Got to pay attention to your line So when you throw it out there, you'll see it You see your line are as tight as it's sinking And then it will eventually go slack and as soon as it goes slack You need to pick up on your rod Just repeat that process Stripey Stripey on a new new bait bait change Tied on something I can get a little slower Move a little slower down there and this is a glorified wing ding basically We don't make this but it's a It's got a colorado blade on the back And it's a this was a three quarter ounce Another very good winter time summertime deepwater fishing bait But you just fish it like a spinner bait, but when you stop it it just Falls straight to the bottom And it's just got that That thumping colorado blade On the back of it just one treble hook And it's a very small profile sometimes fishing that spoon It's a little too much action for them So I just thought I'd give this a try spoon's been working good today, but Always good to experiment and see if there's something better I think I'm about to leave this bank though a lot of stripers. I think I'm seeing catfish Some groups of catfish on the bottom. So I'm just going to Go to a little steeper Stuff this right here is a big point, but it's kind of flat There's one. Oh gosh. Oh my gosh. You came up. No, I still got one. Oh my gosh. What is this? We got a runner here That thing felt big at first This thing's crazy. Whatever it is Oh God, it's a big small mouth big small mouth Oh shoot Oh, I don't have my net. Oh god, this thing's big Oh, he's barely hooked too barely hooked Oh Don't jump Oh, yes Oh, that's what we have grinded for right there guys Whoo, that's a good one. Oh, man. I was just about to leave I got him on that little wing ding Just something a little different switched it up That fight was insane. Y'all. I mean when he first hit it It was a small tap and then it was a big surge And then he came straight at me no jumps just cold time winter smallmouth fishing that that was that was pretty sweet Look at that chunk There he is y'all just a big beautiful chunk of a smallmouth Felt good felt good on the reaction rod. Certainly gave it a bend Let's let him go Thank you for that fight. That was an awesome one See you That was probably in 17 18 feet of water somewhere around there and uh It's just a little bit rockier than The the last you know 50 yards that I was fishing so give it a few more casts and then we'll go back to uh Some deeper ledge type stuff to finish the day Come on big in got some good boulders right here just a lot of contour change Come on big in Ah, get some crawlers in here Same kind of depth about 20 foot. There's one on it right now Gah still on it. Gah, he just turned around. There's a ball of bait I actually found Real bait. Ah dang it I had a swimmer tangled Hey when that happens What on kind of striper fight was that? My guy That size striper should have taken me for a ride on that pole. He felt like a catfish He's skinny Harness your inner striper Bee jeepers finicky smallmouth Right there. Those are finnicky Just got another one, but oh my gosh another one bit I've watched and felt three bites that one being on The tiny bait Heck man again Again, that was it. I tapped rock certainly tapped back. Oh my god. No No, no, no that did not just happen God it just got walloped That last minute fall or just Crush it Oh Oh my gosh, this one this one's gonna kill it He's gonna kill it. He's gonna kill it He wants it so bad He could taste it in his mella right now. It's unbelievable Stop following it. Stop following it. Just hit it godly Oh, I'm getting follows like every time Aggressive follows too. Oh my god. No, what's it? Come on, baby. The no look Crazy Crazy Coming coming coming hit it Oh my gosh. No If I had more time I would downsize my swimbaits I was just downsize everything but Getting getting so many bites right here at the end of the day I thought we're gonna finish on an absolute just a splurry of them But I've had five or six Thumps and nothing is there. So I think we're gonna call it Smash the like button Gave it my my winter's best today just grinding it out here in the tough conditions But you know, that's to be expected on winter fishing. It's a punishment Sometimes you need a little punishment to really appreciate those good days. It seems like When I go fishing for other species besides bass, I'll learn about bass and and vice versa and how they all kind of Co-mingle in the lake. Also, if you guys want to pick up some of the shad wagons some of the spoons Thanks for winter fishing googieswell.com. You could always use my code LFG over there But thank you guys for tuning in for another outdoor episode signing off from the lake I'll see you back in the outdoors on the next one