I like to follow too fisherman in the area where we live... We live in the heartland of the United States or what is known as the Midwest. I follow two individuals Gabe Montgomery who runs a YouTube channel called TinHorseMonty and Randy Blaukat who runs a YouTube channel called Intuitive Angling. I've learned many great techniques from both of these individuals. I had some luck with a shaky head a couple of years ago, but I think I forgot how much I was actually using it. From time to time there are so many lure choices out there and you become stagnant, or at least I do. I find myself using the same lures that I have been very confident with in the past.
But, I noticed as I continue to fish favorite spots that some of those lures aren't working as well as they used to. I think a lot of this has to do with the fishing pressure on these ponds and lakes, and it also has to do with the popularity of certain lures at the time. The fish absolutely learn and can become immune to some of the baits that are used over and over again. So it is good to focus on new techniques... And also realize that it's not just about the bait, there are several other factors that are out there in the fish environments that caused them to be active or not active.
So back to Randy and Gabe... Both of these guys are great fishermen and have great ideas. One of the techniques they use very effectively is the shaky head. And some of their videos lately have been about the environments in which to throw the shaky head at different times of the year specifically in the November, December and winter time frame.
Based upon some of their ideas around air temperature, atmospheric pressure, cold fronts, cloudy skies versus bluebird skies, wind, and several other factors... I've been able to have a lot of success on the shaky head here in November. It has become a go-to and I'm really enjoying it. I can be honest there's nothing better than being able to use a finesse worm in cold water, which I really did not have a ton of experience with.
The weight of the shaky head lure and also the size of the actual bait definitely matters when you get into the winter months. What I'm realizing is that I might have been using shaky heads in the past that were too light. Instead, I'm using shaky heads that are 3/8 to 3/16 and are three ought four ought hooks. These allow you to cast farther and then also make sure that the bait can stay on the bottom in windy current conditions. The other idea is to downsize your bait in the winter time. The idea is the fish are not as active and they might not be looking for a large meal. They are looking for something easy to feed on that doesn't take a lot of time and energy to make happen. I would say these are the reasons why I've had really good luck lately with fish biting it.
So in essence, don't sleep on your shaky head. I know I'm not going to! I am going to try to continue to perfect it and maybe try some other styles of baits on a shaky head as well.
The other successful bait that I've had a lot of luck on over the course of the years in the winter time is the jig. I normally use a smaller jig anyways... I'll use something like a Bitsy Craw. But what I'm doing now is taking a Zoom Speed Craw and cutting down the body a bit to make it smaller as a trailer. And, I think this is allowing me to have even more success with a jig in the winter time and I think that's going to be a go-to for me. I will say there are plenty of folks that like to go half ounce even in the winter with a bigger profile for the bigger bass, but I think the places I normally fish in the winter haven't been great places for that type of profile bait. But I could be wrong! That's the beauty of fishing trying new things and figuring out what the pattern is.
I hope you all have a great holiday season and I wish you much fishing success in the coming months.
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