Winter Retrieve Speed

Winter Retrieve Speed

We are approaching a time of year when one of the most critical things that people do wrong, when they have trouble catching fish, is how quickly you retrieve your bait while fishing! There are many ways to work a bait and certainly many of them require you to work them very quickly to produce the action the bait was designed for; however, working that bait certain times of years require you to slow down, and we are approaching that critical time now! Winter changes most presentations as the need to slow down is front and center everyday the water is cold.

Let me give you an example, many of us are successful at fishing a jig. When we are hopping it quickly on the bottom many of us stroke it to get bites. This is just and an excellent way to catch fish, but the wintertime may force you to fish it differently by dragging on the bottom slowly and precisely to imitate a crawfish. If you’re moving it quickly without stopping, slowing, then you could very well have the wrong tempo required to get a bass to bite in the cold water of winter. When your best buddy tells you to burn it and they will bite does not necessarily mean he never slows down, or stops the bait to change the tempo, this can be a critical piece of retrieve speed.

All baits we fish with require thought on the presentation; and many times, the presentation you use at first light may need to be changed drastically to get the same bite at 11am. Fish are more active many times at 6am than they are at 9am and retrieve speed and tempo needs to be changed many times as the day progresses, and the sun warms the winter water.

Lastly tournament anglers are a perfect example of critical retrieve speed. Many times, a tournament angler hits the water for a practice day and really slays the fish. In the tournament he can be fishing with a different tempo, it may be colder as winter changes every day, than he did during his practice time. Not realizing how critical this can be, his body is hyped up and the speed and tempo at which he caught fish in practice has changed!