In the Carolinas, we are blessed with the kind of weather that allows us to catch fish throughout the year, any time you go. And November and December are excellent times to fish, even though deer season and the holidays demand plenty of time. Fish are biting; there’s very little fishing pressure and even less recreational boat traffic.
December is a month that I like to call an in-between month. The weather can be cool, but you can catch water temperatures anywhere from the upper 50s to the low 60s. The fishing can be great until it really gets blustery cold.
Big creeks
You’re in a late-fall, early winter situation. A lot of fish are in the same parts of the creeks where they have moved in the fall. Remember to look for the bigger creeks, the more-active creeks that are holding all the bait. You can find bait in most creeks in the fall, but to be around the most bass, you need to find the creeks holding the most bass.
The difference between December and, say, October, is that in the fall, when the bait moves back, they get in shallow water and a lot of fishermen catch them close to the bank. In December, the bait moves a little deeper, to 7 or 10 or 11 feet deep, and fishing at those depths is a key to anything you do.
Fish will be in the same areas; they don’t move back out until the water really starts to get colder, down in the low 50s. But you aren’t fishing visible, shallow cover anymore. You’re fishing off the banks, but still not in really deep water. Now, you’re fishing in the ditches. You are looking for little turns in the ditches, little hard spots, maybe some kind of vegetation.
If the water is clear, say, 4 to 5 feet of visibility, they might be a little deeper. If the water is stained, maybe a little shallower.
Use your electronics to look for anything that will hold fish: hard places, stumps, a boulder, some vegetation – anything that will give a bass an ambush point. The bait moves in and out of those kinds of places, and the bigger fish will be set up around a piece of cover most of the time. WIth the side-imaging feature on my Humminbird depth finder, I can usually find plenty of targets by just idling up and down a creek. Finding the bait may be the most important part of your day, but I am always looking for a little stain on the water, because that will determine how deep the bait will be.
Crank ‘em
This time of year, I really like fishing a crankbait. I will mostly fish a Rapala DT-10 or an OG Slim-6, a flat bait, in shad colors. Now, in January, I’m going to switch to crawfish colors, but in December, they’re still feeding mostly on shad. I fish both baits on a 7-foot, medium-action Lew’s baitcasting rod with a reel with a 6.3-to-1 or 7-to-1 retrieve ratio. A lot of fishermen will use a slower reel, but I like to reel a little faster. When I hit the cover with my bait, especially the flat bait, I want it really deflecting off the stump or the rock.
The OG Slim, the flat bait, has got a really different vibration. They really deflect well. And they’re balsa baits, which have a different kind of action. I know I use plastic baits in plenty of situations, but there’s no comparison to the action of a flat bait.
If you filled some of your deer tags before Thanksgiving, you should have plenty of time to get on the water a few days in December until you really start paying attention to family as Christmas approaches. And usually, after a couple of weeks of family, I start to get cabin fever, and I need to get out on the water. I hope you feel the same way.
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