THE BASS COLLEGE

Winter bass and swimbaits are not often talked about in the same conversation. That's too bad because there's a lot of unexplored territory out there. There are winter patterns and effective coldwater swimbaits that have yet to be discovered, patterns and swimbaits that just might make big changes in your winter fishing.

It's important to keep in mind that winter is as much a term of art as it is a season of the year. In Michigan it's defined by bitter cold and thick ice. In Florida, southern Texas and Southern California it's defined more like pleasantly cool.

I firmly believe that Florida bass, for instance, can be caught in the winter on swimbaits. They may be holding in deeper pockets, or they may be cruising the shallows getting ready to spawn and feeding on shiners. Regardless, they're feeding. If you can match the hatch you can catch them.

Of course, that scenario isn't applicable in Michigan. And I'm not saying that jigging a 12-inch hardbait through the ice is the way to go for lunker hard-water bass. Understand this, however: I'm not saying it isn't, either. I'm saying we don't know.

Swimbaits have opened a new frontier in freshwater fishing that needs more exploration and more refinement. That's going to take some time, and a lot of guys out there are doing crazy stuff, the kind of stuff you never talk about unless it works. There are no shortcuts. It's all about trial and error.