No pleasure boats, no tournaments, not much of anything but you busting bass. That’s the way fishing should be.
December fishing in NC lakes is late tall transition fishing with water temperatures not extremely cold but falling. As the water cools from the mid to lower 50s at lakes, shad begin to move out of the backs of the creeks toward the main body of water.
For river fishermen, it’s just the opposite. As the grass dies out at the main river, baitfish and bass migrate to the protected waters of creeks. These creeks will be good all winter as they’re protected from heavy winds, cold fronts, saltwater.
Bouncing crankbaits off isolated logs at creek channel bends is tough to beat at North Carolina rivers. During warmer days, bass will chase spinnerbaits and even buzzbaits up on the flats and near drainage ditches.
December is prime time to fish crankbaits and spinnerbaits at coastal rivers and lakes in North Carolina. At lakes, algae grows on shoreline rocks with help from the fall turnover and shad feed nose down on those rocks. A crankbait or slow rolled spinnerbait perfectly imitates this feeding behavior and can be the ticket to success.
This is the time of the year anglers can really have some fun with big schools of bass. Crankbaits and spinnerbaits are great for covering water and finding big schools.
If you locate a big school, and they don’t want to bite a hard bait, try a swimbait, such as a Culprit Riptide Shad or a hair jig before moving on to try another place.
If the water is stained and still warm (above 50-degrees Fahrenheit), try fishing little square lip lures such as Daiwa’s thin-lip model. For stained water, I like to use the pale-chartreuse color with a purple back.
Anglers should concentrate at main and secondary points, but don’t rule out fishing banks with wind blowing directly toward them.
Spinnerbaits are excellent choices with increased instability of an approaching front or if clouds and wind are present. I like to slow roll an Assassinator blade with double Colorado blades in shad or sunfish patterns when the water is stained.
With clear-water conditions, I like to use a little more finesse. Daiwa’s Peanuts and Rapala Shad Raps get the nod.
For spinnerbaits, I like the Assassinator Compact, which has some lead running down the hook shank so the head size is smaller yet the bait is still heavy enough to cast well. Green shad and golden shiner with double willows are my favorite clear-water colors.
Good lakes for these lures include Falls, Jordan, Kerr, High Rock and Wylie.
For grass lakes, a T.D. Vibration is hard to beat when the water is 45 to 55 degrees. This bait often yields reaction strikes while ripping it out of the hydrilla. This technique is great at Shearon Harris, Lake Gaston and Lake Mayo.
Smaller finesse crankbaits also work well in the grass.
Another tip for winter bass fishing — always be on the lookout for birds.
One December at Falls Lake, I noticed some gulls diving in the back of a deep pocket. Those birds tipped me off to a school that stayed put for three weeks and consisted of hundreds of bass that had trapped those shad in the back of that pocket.
The first day the water temperature was 55 degrees and I was catching bass that were schooling with topwater lures. After three weeks, the water was 43 degrees and I was still catching them, but by then I was using a slow-rolled spinnerbait and shad rap fished dreadfully slow.
These were 50 to 100 fish days for three solid weeks.
So keep an eye out for those birds; they’ll let you know where the baits are concentrated.
The shad during December tend to feed near the shoreline for some part of the day then just hover near structure for the rest of the day.
These hovering schools are often targeted by bass. Some bass suspend and feed on these schools of shad.
Some years, the dominant pattern is actually fishing a spoon underneath shad in open water, but I only explore this option once all else has failed as spooning open water is just not as much fun as cranking and spinner-baiting.
This December don’t let a few cold days keep you off the water. You could be missing the best fishing of the year.
Dustin Wilks is a 30-year-old professional bass angler and Raleigh native now living in Rocky Mount. He has qualified for the Bassmaster Classic four times and operates Fish Like a Pro Fishing Lessons (252-883-6749, www.fishlikeapro.com ). His sponsors include Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Daiwa, Keelshield and Culprit.
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