Unlike many anglers, I look forward to winter. Especially when it comes to fishing the Warrior River, known as Bankhead Lake. As a teenager, I can recall many trips to this famed impoundment, only 25 miles from Birmingham. As I grew up fishing Bankhead Lake I explored its twisting, winding waterway in all seasons. During Winter as I fished further and further from the launch, I discovered places that held quality fish all winter long. As I branched out, from fishing the Lost Creek area, I found that both shallow and deep bass exist on Bankhead Lake during winter, very catchable bass at that.

I usually had the lake all to myself during these cold winter outings, for many anglers had hung up their rods and were now in the nearby woods hunting. To bad, for they were missing out on some of the years best fishing for big largemouth bass.

Bankhead lake is actually more like a river than an impoundment. This means you learn to fish, according to the current produced by constant water generation and traveling barges coming and going all day. Of course this means fishing backwaters are included in your days game plan, for there are always many out of the way places to explore, when on your quest for that big, Winter time Warrior River bass.

Winter. Its all a matter of fishing preference and your style. Some anglers fish the banks and mostly shallow water on every trip. This does produce quality bites and even some nice spotted bass and striped bass can be found in the shallows, along with these largemouth's. With a tremendous amount of wood and weed cover, its very tempting to fish everything that looks fishy.

Often these bass bury up in some very thick weeds and seemingly impenetrable logjams, and they can be hard to reach, hard to locate and challenging, just to get them to strike your lures. Winter is when bites are few and the fishing is slow in shallow water, especially during the dead of winter, with water temps in the low 50's. Cold 20-30 degree mornings also slow the bite.

Coupled with these adverse conditions, comes stained to muddy water conditions. Heavy Winter rains can swell the Warrior River. What was clear water yesterday can be high and muddy today. This can take place on any outing and can ruin a well rehearsed game plan, especially in various places. Finding clearer water and feeding fish, can mean searching a lot of water first.

Keep in mind, if heavy winter rains precede your planned trip to the Warrior River (known as Bankhead Lake), that major feeder creeks, the Big Warrior River's headwaters and the incoming Little Warrior River may feature heavily stained to muddy water conditions. Cold, muddy water is the worst condition and angler can face in the winter months and must be avoided if at all possible.

Small pockets with no feeder creeks nearby are excellent choices during these times, when everything else is muddy. From the Big Bridge, just below the mouth of Valley Creek to Bankhead Lock and Dam, should have clearer, more filtered out water during these times.

If stained to muddy water conditions are inevitable, then finding and thoroughly fishing the clearest water available, with lures that are tracked down by the bass, is your first priority. Following warming trends this can even mean using topwaters for actively schooling fish, or flashy vibrating spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits and rattletraps and other vibration and noise emitting lures.

Even when all the lake looks the same, there is always some place with considerably clearer water. Keep in mind, weeds filter out the muddy water and will be the first places on the banks of calm backwaters to clear, as will the run ins in the far back ends of major feeder creeks.

Many anglers, like the bass, choose to leave the banks during winter, and head for deeper water. Just like during the dead of summer, many bass school up and travel along drop-offs, ledges, rock bluffs, old river channel edges, and the mouths of feeder creeks and small pockets. This usually means fishing slowly and thoroughly covering each spot you choose.

For fishing deep on the Warrior River, when huge schools can be located (and you may load the boat on any given area), the lead tailspinners and jigging spoons can't be beat. Lots of these bass are holding in that 10-30 foot range and simply getting the boat right over them is all it takes to get bites. Vertical jigging, its called and its a deadly way to entice bass to strike during Winter.

Some anglers like to cast these spoons, some weighing from 3/8 ths ounce to heavy, one ounce models. But this often results in hung lures and having to troll over to get them, or crank up the outboard motor if fishing swift current. Its much simpler to just flip the lure over the side of the boat, drop it to the bottom, and vertical jig it with a slow lift and drop method, usually about 1-2 feet off the lakes bottom.

Retrieving hung lures then means just jigging the spoons up and down and the weight of the lure usually knocks it loose. Then you get your lure back instead of having to break off, losing many lures in a days time. Fishing with heavy spoons or tailspinners, on 20 pound test line will aid an angler in retrieving hung lures. Even light wire hooks help. When hung just pull real hard and most light wire trebles will straighten out. Sharp hooks are a must and all hooks should be sharpened or replaced. Besides spoons and this vertical jigging technique, there are many other ways to catch these deep Warrior River bass.

Choosing a spot, like a ledge or drop-off, then backing far off and making long casts with deep diving crankbaits, works very well in the winter. Coupled with Texas-rigged worms and lizards and Carolina rigged plastics this can be a great combo for locating those big schools of anxious feeding bass.

Although spinnerbaits are generally thought of as shallow lures they work great on these deep wintertime bass well. Choose spinnerbait models in bright colors and with a gold and silver blade combo, usually heavier 1/2 to 3/4 ounce spinnerbaits, with over sized blades. Long casts and dropping or slow rolling these spinnerbaits can entice some of the biggest bass in these schools to strike, bass that will often ignore other lures.

The drop shot rig has become very popular lately and in winter (just like when vertical jigging spoons), you get right in their face with is rig. You can finesse fish for these bass or try big gaudy lures like big worms, lizards and jig combos, to go for the big bass bite. I suggest both styles on every location you choose.

Experiment this winter when fishing Bankhead Lake and discover some cold water techniques of your own. Or call on Reeds Guide Service (205) 787-5133. "Over 40 years fishing the Warrior River and other Alabama Lakes with several qualified professional guides and boats
available, year round."

This report provided by:
Reed Montgomery / Reeds Guide Service
Producer / Host "Fishing Alabama" With Reed Montgomery Radio Show
"Celebrating 5 Years on the Radio Jan 2004"
Sunday Morning's 9-10 A.M. Central Time
Radio Station WJOX 690 AM Birmingham, Alabama
Call Reeds Guide Service...First! (205) 787-5133
"Over 40 Years Fishing Alabama for Bass and Stripers"
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