Winter fishing...what are you looking for on a map to start with

[Luke]

Lake i mainly fish is a super deep highland resiovior with really clear water.
the main channel on the main lake can be 190' deep just to give an idea.
When sitting at home looking at maps what are you looking for to fish the next time at the lake.
Are you looking for long points on the main lake, Off shore humps?
What things do you look at from the house.

[tablerockslinger]

You fishing Table Rock?! If not that's ok but I'll use it as an example of what I look for on maps to find winter spots. I love fishing in the winter and have had some of my best days when the weather is the worst. To me the biggest thing with winter fishing is bass want to be able to move deep to shallow with the least amount of movement or energy spent. How do they do that? Ledges, bluff walls, deep main lake channel swings! I love fishing bluff end points or channel swing points with a-rigs and jerkbaits. Small finesse swimbaits are also a great bait. Find the tightest lines on the map and something close that fish can relate to and go fill the limit! If a front is moving in than I seem to find that the fish move up and are more aggressive so those baits work great. My personal favorite is throwing crankbaits as the front comes in. Find a windy bank and start cranking. If front has just moved through and fish get lock jaw, I look to find fish in bigger creeks sitting right in the gut of it. Find trees in the channel of the creek with fish and drop a drop shot down to tempt them to bite. I like to fish banks with bigger rock in the winter as they hold heat better. Tight lines!

[DrewFlu33]

I don't have nearly the recent experience with reservoirs that many others do, but did grow up fishing highland reservoirs and have a lot of memories of where the fish seemed to stack up in the winter across several different bodies of water. Sharp breaks are a must, which I think is fairly universally accepted as fish will want to be able to quickly move shallow to deep without exerting energy to swim too far. Trying to generalize my experience otherwise: It rarely seemed like the fish were on the actual main lake, but were instead the first "safe" area heading out from the backs of creeks. A little more precisely, they seemed to set up shop in the first place the fish can stop and feel safe as they move toward the main lake from wherever they spent the fall. Or otherwise, just near the dam.

For whatever reason, in literally every example I can think of from my past, the fish were always related to shorelines as opposed to offshore (i.e., not connected to shore) structure, even if the fish were suspended out a bit away from the bank (something spots seem to do a lot), and the "obvious" places (like points) were never any good. BUT, those obvious places were always still important in that the fish weren't far from them. It seems as if they spent time feeding there in the fall, then slid off to the side to rest for winter. That stuff might not be universal?

Putting this all into a coherent example: I'm starting with the major creek where I caught them the best in the fall, and going to the furthest point back in that creek that has: plenty of depth even when the lake is at its lowest level, a 45 degree or steeper bank (bluffs always seem to be good), and is within a couple hundred yards of a piece of (shoreline oriented) structure, like a point, where you'd expect to find feeding fish during active times of the year. Maybe even more specifically, I'm looking along the steep bank on the main-lake side of your best pre-spawn point.

With the natural lakes I fish now finding a place with hard bottom is everything. A sharp drop into adequate depth is sort of the more traditional thing that sometimes seems to matter, and sometimes doesn't. Admitting that it might just be me or the lakes I fish, having hard bottom seems to be the most important of those factors without fail. I've caught late fall fish and even bass through the ice on flats hundreds of yards far from deep water or a sharp break, but never in a place that wasn't hard bottom. An important difference here is that these lake levels don't fluctuate more than a couple feet, so it has to be that the fish aren't as concerned with the safety of deep water in light of changing conditions like they might be on a reservoir. Green vegetation is of course a trump card if it can be found.

The most frustrating thing for me in finding a new spot where they'll winter is that it seems like it always involves checking dozens of places that all seem to have the right ingredients, before finally finding the fish all piled into only one of them. I've puzzled and puzzled trying to find differences between the spots where they are and spots where they aren't, and rarely come up with one. The silver lining is that I'm clearly missing something in what makes those places special, as those fish tend to use the same spots every single year. Doubly true for smallmouth, but largemouth too.

[sofakingbigbass]

I’d want to know if you are targeting largies or smallies ?

[Luke]

I’d want to know if you are targeting largies or smallies ?

Either Im not picky

[djb750]

Either Im not picky

what about spots??

[krindgen]

I'm curious how winter fish relate to bait. Around here, in somewhat clear quarry lakes with no creek channel, more like a bowl with deep rockpiles, in the summer fish can be caught by finding the bait balls and fishing around those with a drop shot. Lake has gizzards and a huge perch population. So the "looking" part starts when you get to the lake and just cruise around looking for bait. This may be the same in the winter and those bait balls no doubt relate to the types of areas already mentioned. I've not fished enough to validate this theory.

[Luke]

what about spots??

Again, not picky. Tablerock has a ton of spots in it

[fish365]

I fish TVA highland reservoirs that have big drawdowns in the winter. Early winter as water and temperature are falling, channel swings along rocky banks and bluffs on the shady banks. Red clay on the transitions is a plus. Later in the winter and early spring, same stuff on the sunny side. I usually look for at least 15' or more next to these type of banks.