COLD WATER SELECTION
SEEKING WINTER LURE-FISHING SUCCESS
WITH SPOONS, SPINNERS, SPINNER-BAITS & PLUGS

Nick's Notes: Over the years, that well-known practical predator hunter and prolific angling writer John Worzencraft has written for many journals, magazines and web-sites. Here, for us, he very kindly suggests some ways of getting the best from colder-water lure-fishing with spoons, spinners & spinner-baits and, of course, plugs — especially at the back-end of the season. It can be hard-going but it can be done and it can be fun, John claims, with enough brandy in your flask of course!

Practise what you Preach.
Having just got back from a day's lure-fishing on the coldest day of the year so far, I think I'm very well-qualified to warm-up my fingers on the keyboard to pass-on a few hints and tips on how to avoid blanking in these conditions — in fact my day was saved by single small perch (see photo at the end of John's article — Nick)  but a fish is a fish, and I didn't blank!

The only bit of pre-fishing home-work that I did, was to check-up on the Peg Numbers and corresponding results of the most recent Match on my Club Canal water — this pin-pointed some areas worth trying first, and proved to be my saving grace, just!

Low Temperatures.
In the autumn and winter months when light-values fall and the water temperature drops, the going tends to get quite tough as far as lure-fishing goes, and as Nature loads her dice heavily against even the keenest anglers. Being a cold-blooded species, the pike's body temperature and metabolic rate are controlled by its environment and as the temperature falls, so do these factors which have a major influence on the pike's behaviour.

The same goes for big perch but even more so because they rely much more on vision than do pike so falling alight values are particularly bad news as far as catching big perch in cold conditions is concerned.

When conditions are freezing at the water's surface, all fish species are forced into the deeper water where its density is higher but surprisingly the temperature higher is as well - water has a maximum density when its temperature is 4 degrees C so, fortunately for fish, in this case warmer water sinks rather than rises, and so they move down there to the deeper denser water to survive.

Depth is Decisive
Whether they're fished statically or by Sink & Draw (The Editor's favourite method!) dead-baits are usually fished where pikey predators like to find them i.e. on or close to the bottom, and in winter that's where it's usually best to put your lures for best results too. But cold-water lure-fishing isn't all hard-going and bad news: there are at least a couple of very positive up-sides too. Firstly, natural food is harder to find as the density of suitable-sized prey fish is lower having been reduced by predation, disease and accidents, as well of course by those that remain growing larger and perhaps more aware of predators after having a few narrow escapes - who knows?

So maybe when pike do feed in cold-water conditions, they might not be quite so discriminating compared with the warmer days of plenty when they're more spoilt for choice - that's always the hope, anyway! Also occasional warm spells often trigger them into greater activity.

Tail-end Bonus
Another tail-end bonus to the season is that it's the time when those large females try to put-on a final burst of weight prior to spawning. This fact should be borne in mind and every fish caught should be treated with extra special care to minimise stress and ensure her successful spawning. Although they tend to put-on most of their pre-spawning weight in October and November, bearing in mind that they spawn earlier than their prey species, big female pike usually have a last-minute binge in late January and early February - all these times are approximate of course and will change slightly in tune with annual variations.

Yet more good news for lure-anglers at these times of the year is that the bigger the pike, the greater their energy requirements! Sometimes, driven by hunger, they perhaps become less cautious and hardy all-weather lure-anglers can hopefully take advantage of this with their spoons, spinners and spinner-baits.

Plugs
Plugs do still work but in my experience they tend to be less successful in deep cold water - brightly coloured, deep-diving ones with a strong vibrational throb are a good choice types. The main thing of course is to retrieve them at the correct depth, with a speed and action that pike just can't resist! And that's the big challenge of course! Also, although I hasten to add that it's only my personal experience, I've found that levels and clarity permitting, rivers are often more productive in cold weather than lakes and pits.

Having to fish deep and slow with your lures does have the big disadvantage that the risk of snagging and losing lures is much higher - it's a painful proverb that if you don't lose a few lures, then you're not fishing the right places! You can keep the cost down with some DIY lure-making but that's for another article, another time!

Weedless Wonders
Another way to minimise your lure losses is to use lures with weed-guarded hooks, often called snagless or weedless lures. Like most things in life, these can be a compromise in that your hooking success rate may be reduced but I always tell myself that this is more than out-weighed by the advantages of accessing more potential pike in areas that other lures won't reach. I really don't know whether this is true or not, it's just good for morale!

In the past, for the reasons I've just mentioned, I've been guilty of shying away from sinking plugs but these days I think I may have half-mastered the use of count-down plugs and especially suspending lures which are a real boon. Incidentally, I don't know whether other lure-anglers have found the same, but these suspending lures seem to have the edge as far as zeds are concerned.

Success with Spoons
Spoons are effective in clear water because their flash imitates turning bait-fish but, although their action is very enticing, they emit fewer vibrational frequencies than spinners and there are quite a few weedless versions available these days. The best thing about spoons is that their weight enables you to fish deep and low where their fluttery, twisting-and-turning action will hopefully entice even the most lethargic pike or big perch.

Spinners and Spinner-baits
Spinners and spinner-baits come into their own in coloured water because not only do they emit flashes of reflected light but their polished, rotating blades also generate powerful vibrations which are quickly detected by the lateral line acoustic sensory systems of predators. Spinner-baits are great all-weather all-season lures and they're quite snag-resistant too. Some anglers like to add a stinger treble hook to the large single introverted hook to increase hooking rates but this also potentially increase the snagging rate too.

Look~after your Body Temperature!
In the cold and windy conditions experienced during this part of the season, it pays to wear suitable extra-warm clothing while you're lure-fishing .... "Any fool can be uncomfortable ", they say! Over the years I've tried several clothing combinations and all-in-one suits; naturally most of them are designed for static bait-fishing and are a bit too heavy and cumbersome for mobile lure-fishing.

Recently though I've been using one of those super new lightweight ultra-flexible outfits with an integral hood, and it's great - very warm but still quite light and hardly restricts movement at all when casting spoons and spinners long distances. Most of your body heat is lost from your head especially if you're as hirsutely-challenged as I am! Woolly hats are a Must for me. As for my toes, I usually wear waders too, with nice thick socks — waders maybe a bit more cumbersome than wellies, but they do keep you warmer and drier, and often you can wade-out round those marginal reed-beds to get at those spots that you wouldn't otherwise be able to reach!

In the colder months and at the tail-end of the season, finding your quarry, those big old Grandma pike, can be quite a challenge because it's quite likely that they will have moved away from their normal haunts towards the general direction of their spawning grounds. En route  to these spawning areas, I have often found that pike seem to gather in numbers at certain favourable (to them) locations, while zander often seem to remain as elusive as ever. Being a much more nomadic predator, you might think that their energy requirements and therefore their feeding frequency would be higher that that of pike, weight for weight, but I guess that it's their very mobility than makes them seem to play hard-to-get.

Good News from Grayling
There is some very good news, though, as far as lure fishing in very cold conditions goes .... especially if you've got access to waters holding a head of grayling. Grayling don't give a hoot if the weather's feezing cold — they take lures with just as much gusto as they do at almost any other time of the year, sometimes even more so, I think !

With Warmth come Confidence and Persistence ... and Good Luck
Confidence and persistence are vital when the going is hard, and keeping warm and dry is more than half the battle. But many's the time that I have covered large distances without a single "take" only to stumble across an apparent gathering of pike and, with great care, have very fortunately been able to catch half a dozen or more nice fat pike from a single casting position - that makes everything worthwhile, believe me! And if you don't believe me and haven't tried it yourself, then I reckon that you've only one option ....... Good Luck!

? Question Corner: John has very kindly agreed to answer any questions that you might have about this or any other of his articles on our web-site — you can e-mail your questions to me, Nick Caine, The Editor, and I will forward them directly to John. Please also see our dedicated hyper-linked QUESTIONS button on our Front Page. To email me please click here -> NickCaine @ Talk21.com

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