As old man winter pushes the water temperature past the 50 degree mark, old linesides makes a change himself As the stripers digestive tract and swimming movements slow down, tiny threadfin shad become his breakfast, lunch and dinner.

         Last winter, shortly after Christmas, old mother nature blessed our area here in East Tennessee with a heavy blanket of snow. Cold frigid temperatures dipped down to the low twenties at night making life nippy to say the least. As the front passed and the wind finally died down, Norris lake took on a beautiful but eerie characteristic. I saw little traffic on the lake and very little on the roads near my home. The snow storm had virtually cut off all traffic on the roads so you can imagine the quietness that hovered around the lake. The deep snow around the banks seemed to paint the water jet black as the  bright sun finally broke through the clouds.
         A friend of mine and I had scheduled a fishing trip the day before but we decided to at least let the wind die down before we made any decision about fishing on the lake. As the sun finally broke, I knew I would get a phone call anytime with a voice asking,"'when, where, and how?" Sure enough, I got that call and my friend ask what was going on, (on the lake). I hadn't seen any fish break as I had seen just before the storm. Here in this part of the country, if you don't own a four wheeler in the winter months you simply don't get around. My friend only had a family station wagon and I felt like it was a bad choice to even roll out of the drive way. Like all stubborn fishermen, my friend started out in the station wagon with a foot of snow on the roads. I told him if he could make the 20 mile drive without running off a bluff. we would surely catch a striper.
         As we got in the boat, he ask what the stripers were hitting and I just turned and grinned. I headed out to a big open water section of the main lake that maintains 100 foot plus depths even during the winter draw down of 65 or 70 feet. I stopped on a couple of spots before reaching the deep water holes but I saw no sign of activity on the surface or on my graph. I have to admit, at first I figured my friend's only excitement would be sliding sideways down the road coming into the dock area.
         Looking across the big open water which was dead calm, I saw a large number of seagulls diving and flying around one general area. The sound of the screeching gulls could be heard for several hundred yards in the quietness that usually accompanies a heavy snow storm. I idled closer to the gulls hoping to see the water thrashing with vicious feeding stripers. When I got close enough to see what was going on, I noticed huge swirls in an area twice as big as a football field. There were literally hundreds of swirls and not one fish broke water with any aggression. Water temperature hovered at 48 degrees and the cold water had pushed schools of threadfin shad over deep water. In some areas, the shad were actually 30 to 50 feet thick. I sat and watched the feeding stripers for a few moments hoping to get a helpful hint on some sort of strategy that would make my friend's slippery ride worth all the effort. The stripers were feeding lazily on the very small threadfins which were only about 1½ to 2 inches long. The water was clear and the fish weren't very spookable so you could actually see what was happening.
        Big stripers in the 18 to 25 pounds class would chase a small handful of the small baits out of the school and simply swim slowly behind until they decided to go in for the kill. The stripers then would only swirl the water as they took the baits.
 I had run into a similar situation the week before and all I had was big shad and large Redfins and I never caught a fish. The small threadfins would go through the mesh on the cast net or get hung in the mesh injuring the bait too badly to use. I had bought several dozen medium sized tuffy crappie minnows which were about the size of the small threadfins. These minnows definitely stand up to name "tuffy" because I have had the water freeze on my minnow bucket and the small minnows keep on kicking so the cold water in the lake has no affect. I put on a small Mustad Special live bait hook and put a small 1/4 ounce split shot about 18 inches above the hook. I rigged a small snap on crappie bobber and set it at 10 feet deep.
         My friend looked at me as if I was out of my mind for fishing such a ridiculous rig for a 20 pound fish. Before he said anything, I handed him a rod and told him to let the bait out about 100 feet behind the boat. As I turned to dip out another small minnow, a big striper inhaled my buddy's tuffy minnow just as he started to let it out. For about an hour before the wind started to blow, we caught fish as fast as we could get the small baits into the water. We didn't have a fish under 15 pounds and had several that would have pushed 20 pounds. On that particular day, the fish would not even swirl a Redfin or any other top water offering.
         Of all the troubled situations I have seen anglers try to cope with, this one seems to give them the most problems. Stripers do not feed on small bait fish because of a lack of big gizzard shad or herring. This is a body chemistry made up that is triggered by cold water conditions in the winter and early spring. Just as with any other species of fish making a transitional change, not all stripers will feed on small baits in the early fall or late spring as the water first begins to cool off or warm up. In late fall or early winter, the water temperature will usually go down past fifty degrees and this will force almost all stripers to feed on very small bait fish. The cold water slows the digestive system of the striper and also slows down the normally quick swimming movement as a striper chases on baitfish. Don't think for one minute that a striper will get sluggish after he is hooked in the cold winter months. The cold water conditions work in favor of the striper during a tug-of-war between you and a big fish. However, most surface feeding fish will swirl the water instead of explosive actions that occur in warm water conditions.
         The small bait pattern is a pattern triggered by cold water and not necessarily a pattern for any individual lake. I have found it to work on several lakes around the country during the winter months. There are several tricks of the trade that I have found that will help catch fish on a consistent basis. Locating stripers during the winter months is not a difficult task because there is no thermocline and the stripers are usually scattered over the entire lake. One pattern I have noticed is that most large schools of fish will be located over deep water. Underwater structure doesn't seem to play a dominating role in fish location simply because the large schools of threadfin shad are roaming the deep water and naturally the striper will follow in hot pursuit. Deep water conditions usually are found around the old river channel. Water depths are obviously different on most lakes but as I have mentioned the deep open water area seems to be where most fish are located.
         One of the most important factors using this pattern is the wind. As we all know, it is hard to pin point a day during the winter when we have no wind and slick water conditions. Surface feeding stripers will work around areas that are protected from the wind. I have noticed that even during a slight breeze that will create a small ripple on the surface the feeding activity will move around just outside the ripple line, I don't know if the wind forces the shad down or the surface disturbance actually drives the striper away but in most cases the fish will stay around areas of slick water on the surface. If you must plan your trip regardless of weather conditions and you are forced to put up with the wind, you may look for big schools of bait on your graph or video. I have found that if the bait is stacked up it is a wise choice to stop and put out a couple of baits. The wind doesn't turn the fish off it simply means riding and looking for the gulls or surface feeding action.
         Water color is another factor that will make a good day either great or terrible. If I had my way, I would also prefer very clear water when using small baits. I feel this is a mechanical factor that the stripers can see the smaller baits in clear water and come up from very deep water to strike. When fishing deep open water, water color is usually not much of a problem. The rain run off in the feeder creeks has plenty of time to settle before hitting the main body of the lake and clear water can almost always be found during the winter months in the big open expanse of water.
         Both live bait and small artificial can be extremely productive when fishing cold water. I have tried using the small thread-fin, catching them with a very small mesh cast net. The trouble with these baits is they are usually already weak from the cold water. When put on a line, the baits won't usually last over 10 or 15 minutes. They may not actually die but they don't have enough strength to keep in an upright natural swimming position. The small tuffy crappie minnows are very handy and will stay alive on a hook for hours at a time. Shiners are good as well as creek minnows and sometimes goldfish are a good choice. The type of minnow is not the deciding factor in cold water. The size of the bait is the most important item. I never use a bait much longer than 3 inches. I have caught big stripers on baits only 1 1/2 inches long.
         When rigging for these small baits, I prefer 14 pound test line. I've tried lighter line with the tiny minnows but I never can get a good solid hook set on a 8 or 10 pound line because of the distance the bait is run behind the boat and the stretch in the line. The size of the split shot will vary due to another if the wind picks up. I like to use as small a bobber as I can. A small bobber of 1 inch in diameter will usually get the job done. The depth of the bobber may vary in different lakes but I have found that 8 to 12 feet is sufficient on most lakes. The trick is to put the baits out far enough behind the boat. I like to stagger two or three rigs to prevent tangling. I usually put the first bait out around 30 yards and stagger the other at 20 feet intervals. During the cold water feeding periods, most stripers will take the bait very lightly.  I always put my reels in gear and put them in heavy duty good rod holders.  When a striper hits, the hook will almost always be just inside the edge of his mouth. I have tried fishing weighted baits fished 25 to 40 feet deep, after seeing a large school of fish on my graph. I have caught a few fish but the striper's feeding zone seems to be from the surface down to 10 or 15 feet deep.
         Several artificial lures are good but again the lure size is the important factor. Small bucktails are good producers. I have always been partial to white 80% of the time and chanteuse the remainder of the time. When choosing a bucktail, again the weight of the lure is determined by the wind. I have found a 3/8 ounce weight a good choice.  I never put on any trailer during the winter months. The trailers will add a few more inches in length to the bait that is usually a turn off to the striper. Anglers who prefer plastic baits may find the sassy shad by Mister Twister or a white or chartreuse curly tail by Mister Twister in a small 3', size. Both lures work best with a ¼ or 3/8 ounce head. When casting bucktails and grubs, be cautious on the depth you present your lures. If the fish are on the surface, don't let the bait fall too deep. If the stripers are showing up on your graph at 25 feet, be sure and let the baits fall in the strike zone just above the striper's head.
          Spoons are good choices because of the close resemblance to the small thread-fins. Accetta spoons has just brought back the Mr. Champ spoon. The bait is available in different weights for casting or vertical jigging. The ½ ounce size in a nickel finish has always produced fish for me during bright and sunny days. The Accetta Pet spoons, with a small feather on the rear, can be a good choice when the fish are on the surface. I often use a light weight spoon 1/4 ounce fished 5 or 6 feet under a bobber for easy casting and presentation for good results.
 Eppinger manufacturers who have been making spoons for many years for the big trout and musky anglers has just introduced several spoons designed especially for the striper anglers. They have one design with a shad pattern paint finish and another with a rainbow trout finish. These lures have already taken several big stripers and should be one of the honest lures to hit the market in years. These new spoons also come in several sizes and weights that can be cast to breaking fish or worked to a deep school during a brisk wind.
         Whether you are a live bait fanatic or a lure chunker, cold water striper fishing calls for one thing, Small Baits. Don't he a statistic who tells a story of "they were everywhere but I couldn't get 'um to bite."
 
 

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