bait lights in winter

[dogsbestfriend]

well, this being my first year striper fishin, i have another question. i never used a bait light, and from what i understand the bait pulls out of the creeks when the water gets cold. at what temp do the shad pull out of the creek, and where do ya start looking for bait? which lights work best,green or white, top water light or a under water light?
thanks !!

[mwardncsu]

The bigger bait will pull deeper when the water gets cold - sometimes can still catch them.. However, once its COLD, the striper slow down (a little) and generally seem to key in on smaller bait anyway.

I'm not sure if green or white works better than the other - intensity seems to be a key factor. But I've caught good bait with submerged lights as well as "top water" lights (halogen spots at dock level or those mounted above a dock on the eaves of the boat-lift). I would look for lights that are in proximity of deeper water vs the real shallow lights.

Personally, come December, I will generally put the bait net away until spring and break out the lighter tackle and jig on the stripers - once they school back up in the colder water, jigging with a spoon or fluke on lighter tackle is a blast - and you don't have to worry about freezing your hands in the bait tank or worse slipping on a ice-covered deck when tossing the net and falling overboard.

[dogsbestfriend]

thanks for the info. now we have more questions. can ya define light tackle? what size jig heads?

[mwardncsu]

More questions is good.... this is probably a digression to the artificial section, but that's OK

By light tackle, I mean something lighter than our Ugly Stik Striper rods and 20+ lb mono with larger reels - for jigging I typically use a spinning outfit (have a couple with Pfleguer President 6740's) on M/MH 7' graphite rods and I've recently setup a couple of Abu Garcia 5500LC's for jigging - the line counter makes it easier for my son or others on the boat that may not be able to see the sonar to be able to tell them to drop to X feet.

Spooled with 15' - 30' braid - so not necessarily "lighter" - at certainly not 8 lb test on a ML rod

On the jig-heads - 1/2-3/4 oz usually. Put a good quality swivel on the jighead to avoid line-twist.

if its not already posted over there in the artificial section, it is time for Bentrod to dig out his essay on jigging - he has a really good write-up on rigging, sonar shots for winter-time jigging

[dogsbestfriend]

yea i always find a question, here is another. why braid ? i ll check out the artifical section for the post. it sounds interesting . thanks again !!

[mwardncsu]

I just remembered there is no artificial section now Will have to wait for Bentrod to dig out and post or (or recreate) his classic jigging post - it is some good stuff....

As to why braid - less stretch - when jigging deep and trying to get that hook-set off a light bump it seems to transmit the feeling better and allows a quicker hook-set. I generally use PowerPro, and the other thing in the winter is mono of an appropriate test (15-20+) can get stiff and not want to roll off the reel well - braid does not have that memory.

[dogsbestfriend]

ok thanks, lookin forward to reading the jigging post. i like jig fishing for bass, i guess it like comparing apples to oranges.