In December, I’m usually thinking about deer hunting or getting ready to go striper fishing, but it can be a great month to catch largemouth bass — if the weather cooperates. You never know what December is going to hold until it gets here.Bass can be anywhere from two to 30 feet deep, and it all depends on the temperature. December is one of those months you just can’t forecast, but some of my best days on the water have been in December, sitting in my boat on Buggs Island, listening to the deer dogs running and hearing all the shots.
The one big number you have to remember is 50. If the surface water temperature is still 50 or above, you’re going to find bass shallow. If it’s below 50, you’re going to have to get out on the main channel or over a roadbed and try to locate them.
If we haven’t had a cold fall, and the water temperature is in the low 50s, you want to fish shallow — but close to deeper water. Deep banks, bluff banks and rip-rap are all great because you can be sitting in 20 feet of water, throwing up shallow. On every lake I’ve ever fished, these kinds of places have been real good late this time of year.
I like to fish crankbaits like a Rapala DT-6 or a DT-Flat when I get bass on deep banks; those are good baits to use if you can find fish shallow, and they’ll be there until the real cold weather rolls in. The carp color is good, and the homer color can be good, but the pearl/gray shad, PGS, that’s usually the best color to use in December.
Another good thing about December is that if you can find fish, you can usually find them still ganged up a little. You might be able to catch three or four or five fish off the same spot. They’re not ganged up like they are just after the postspawn ends, when you can load the boat when they get out on those little corners, but you can still catch ’em real good.
Now, if we’ve had some cold weather and the water temperature has gotten down into the 40s, then you’ve got to look in deep water, and you’ve got to be fishing a jigging spoon. I think the best one is an ounce-and-a-half Hopkins — it’s hard to beat.
I like to idle along the edge of the main channel or idle along submerged roadbeds or long points that drop off into deep water. Bass are going to hold in deep water, but still in areas where there’s a good depth change so they can move up without having to move very far. That’s where knowing how to use your electronics is going to pay off. I really like to find balls of shad on those kinds of spots — the bass will be close to them.
When I use a jigging spoon, I like to keep it close to the bottom. I’ll drop it down, let it hit, and jerk it up a few inches with my rod tip. I don’t make a sweeping motion, because the farther you get the spoon off the bottom, the more likely you are to run into a striper instead of a largemouth. Just jig the spoon between six inches and a foot off the bottom.
As far as equipment, I like to use a flipping stick when I’m jigging a spoon, and the deeper the fish are, the longer the rod I use. If I’m fishing deeper than 25 feet, I like a 7½-foot American RodSmiths flipping stick. If I’m not fishing that deep, I like to use the 7-foot Carolina rig rod that American RodSmiths makes.
When I fish crankbaits, I always use monofilament that doesn’t have a lot of stretch, and nothing changes when I move to a jigging spoon. I’ll use Sufix Pro Mix in 20-pound test if I can get away with it, but the water is usually clear enough by December that I have to drop down to 17.
So if you get tired of hunting and it’s not too cold, bass fishing isn’t a bad way to spend a December day.
David Fritts is a 52-year-old pro bass fisherman from Lexington. He was the 1993 Bassmasters Classic champion, and the 1997 FLW Tour Championship, and he was the 1994 BASS Angler of the Year. He is sponsored by Tums, Ranger boats, Evinrude outboards, Rapala, VMC hooks, Zoom, American RodSmiths and Bass Pro Shops.
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