TEXAS, USA — In this week’s Hooked on East Texas, we found out just how cold January days can get on lakes. We discovered the fish were still biting as temperatures dropped and headed to Cedar Creek Lake to get tips on where to find the fish and how to catch them.
We bundled up with temperatures barely above freezing and set out to find some water between twenty and fifty feet deep. Our guide is Herbeck’s Lonestar Fishing Guide, Brent Herbeck. We were fishing for Hybrid Striped and White Bass. Herbeck knew of a couple of areas where birds were flocking to feed on bait fish that were swimming near the surface.
After a cold fifteen minutes, Herbeck slowed the boat we set up to fish an area with a water depth of 22 feet. We used a technique called dead sticking where we drop the bait to the bottom, then slowly lift. It didn’t take long before we were catching fish. Not just one, but several fish in a short period. It turns out the birds were telling us something. Not only were our feathered friends feeding on shad and minnows but the fish were also in a frenzy. Here’s how Herbeck described the bait we used.
“Today we’re using a quad rig. It’s a one-ounce jig on the bottom with three smaller tails above it with just single hooks. And this drives them crazy,” Herbeck said. “All different colors and our action is just to bring this up slowly bringing it up off the bottom.”
But why are the fish attracted to these lures?
“This emulates the the shad or the minnow. Something that’s a small profile. It’s what they’re looking for a really small bait right now,” Herbeck said.
We caught a lot of fish but threw them all back into the lake. This was a catch-and-release kind of day. Why not let someone else have a shot at catching a lot of fish on Cedar Creek Lake?
Of course, it might be a little tougher now with the round of arctic air that invaded East Texas earlier this week. When the water temperature drops into the 40s, the metabolism of bass drops and they aren’t as aggressive going after bait as they would be if the water temperature was warmer. The spring spawn is right around the corner so we expect the fishing to heat back up.
