Most people are thinking hunting, not fishing, this time of year but fishing can be excellent right now. For many years I spent Thanksgiving Holidays at Clark’s Hill fishing for bass, hybrids and crappie. I often had the lake to myself.

Now fishing is more popular in the colder parts of the year but the lakes are much less crowded. There are almost no skiers and skidooers and far fewer fishermen are on the water since many are in the woods. But the weather is often beautiful and fish sometimes cooperate.

Friday before last I went to Bartlett’s Ferry to get information for a Georgia Outdoor News article. I met Tommy Gunn there and he showed me some of his favorite ways to catch December bass on the lake. We fished some of the ten spots that will be on the map in the article. Bass were already starting to feed on them.

Tommy lives just over the Alabama line in Cusseta and makes Jawbreaker Jigs to use and sell. One of his patterns in the winter is to flip and pitch a jig and pig to shallow water cover like docks and he caught a four and a half pound largemouth bass on that pattern.

We also fished points and drops with jig head worms and caught several spotted bass. None of the spots weighed over about two pounds, typical of lakes where the spot population has exploded. You can catch a lot of spots but they just don’t get very big compared to largemouth.

That trip gave me confidence in a jig and pig. The Flint River Bass Club fished Jackson Lake last Sunday for a November tournament. Al Bassett called me Saturday afternoon and told me his club had a tournament at Jackson that day and it was won on spinner baits, so I made sure I had one tied on, but I also tied on a jig and pig.

Al said they caught fish on wind blown points and it was real windy Saturday. Sunday dawned cold and calm and we never did get much wind. I started with a top water bait then tried crank baits and spinner baits but did not get any hits. At 9:00 I got a bite on a jig and pig and landed a 14 inch spotted bass, my first of the day.

That got me throwing the jig and pig a lot and a few minutes later I made a long cast down the bank across where an old dock used to be. There were still two posts in the water and I threw between them and the bank and got a hit. When I set the hook a nice bass came to the top but went back down. I pulled it up and down several times, thinking I was hung in brush.

About that time I remembered there is an old concrete and rock pier under the water there. I had thrown across it and the fish hit on the other side. I was pulling the fish to the top then it would go back down.

I finally got the fish over the pier and it came to the boat fairly easily. I guess I had knocked it against the rocks too many times and took the fight out of it. The fish was a 3.71 pound spot, a big one and they usually fight hard. I was lucky I was using 20 pound P-Line Fluorocarbon line. It was frayed for about eight feet but it held up.

A few casts later I got another keeper spot then cast onto the apron of concrete coming out of a boat house. When my jig fell off the end into about a foot of water I saw a fish swim off and thought I had spooked it. Then I realized it had my jig. I was lucky to land a three pound largemouth. That was my fourth bass by 10:00, in one hour.

The rest of the day was slower and I caught three more keeper bass, two of them spots and one largemouth. The rest of the club had a pretty tough day, too. Many said they had been catching fish on spinner baits up until Sunday but they did not hit them during the tournament.

We had ten fishermen in the tournament. My five fish limit weighed between 11 and 12 pounds and I placed first. The 3.71 pound spot was big fish. Tommy Reeves also threw a jig and pig and had a limit weighing between eight and nine pounds for second. I can’t remember who came in third but Tony Evans placed fourth.

If you get a chance, go fishing this winter. You might be surprised at what you can catch.