I was taught a lesson about fishing a spinnerbait in grass beds on Lake Sinlair one December. Charles Redding allowed me to fish with him at Sinclair to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article. We caught nine nice keeper bass on a pattern I would not have fished.

It was in the early 1970’s that I first heard Charles’ name. He pretty much invented spoon jigging at Lanier. Over the years I got to know him as one of the best spinnerbait fishermen in Georgia. He was a member of the South Cobb Bass Club, the club that won 9 Top Six tournaments in a row! He now fishes team tournaments many weekends and usually is in the top fishermen.

Sinclair has lots of grass beds. In the spring, you can cast a spinnerbait into them and expect to catch bass. I do not think of that as a December pattern, but that is what we did. Although the water was dropping and that always makes shallow water fishing less productive, Charles showed me bass can be caught shallow even under unusual conditions.

Water temperature ranged from 58 to 63 degrees in the areas we fish, and we tried grass beds from Nancy Creek all the way up into Rooty Creek. Charles kept the boat close to the grass, making short, quick cast and then moving on. He said he expected to find feeding fish somewhere during the day while fishing like that. His success in tournaments proves him correct.

If you try Sinclair during the winter, Charles says fish hit all winter long on the grass bed pattern. Just don’t give up on it.