Winter Jig Fishing Adjustments for Lake Guntersville

Winter Jig Fishing Adjustments for Lake Guntersville

Guntersville is a lake that requires a little thought when winter fishing, because of the grass and amount of bait you must adjust when fishing a jig in the chilly water. The whole idea is to make your jig resemble the bait, especially the crawfish in the freezing water; crawfish are the number one target for bass on Guntersville in the winter; the big bass hunt them as they seem to explode in numbers in the winter.

The first thing is to make sure you target areas on Guntersville where the crawfish seem to hang out; that being the rocky hard bottom or shell bottom areas of the lake. Finding the crawfish locations is the difference maker, as they love to hang out on the rocky edges all around the lake. This is the deeper areas of the lake which is the most prevalent home for the crawfish on Guntersville. The area from Seibold Creek south has the most rocks on the lake and are always full of crawfish in the winter.

Next, is to adjust your jig to resemble a crawfish, which means small in size yet heavy enough to work itself to the bottom in deeper water. Most of the crawfish on Guntersville are red in color as their bodies turn red and black in the colder water. Size is key for this technique; most crawfish are not big and bulky on Guntersville they are thin with short arms so adjusting your jig is extremely important. The adjustments you must make are three: thin any skirt on the jig that has bulky thick body look to it, you want the jig to look thin like a finesse jig, so stay away from the mop jig look and thin out the body of the skirt; key here is thinning it not shortening it! Also, thin the weed guard it reduces the bulky look of the jig and allows it to drop more like a natural crawfish that moves and darts through the water so they can hide in the rock edges. Lastly, do not overdue the trailer with big bulky look trailers, use short thin trailers that move systematically in the water in order to resemble a crawfish. Your imagination on the look is key; be creative it will pay off!