By Capt. James McManus
Well my favorite month to fish is finally here. Don’t get me wrong, I love to deer hunt and watch football, but there is something about cold water, surface to bottom fishing that gets me going when the first snow shows up. Our fish up here on Fontana love this time also. They are getting really stuffed, all bunched up and happy, picking off shad at will from the schools that are slowing down from the cold; Easy pickings for the fish and fishermen who can bundle up enough to make it comfortable for a couple of hours on the water.
Upper and lower are keys here. Both upper and lower ends of the lake and water column are items to remember. Shad will pull into coves and channel flats or points and just sit, sometimes for weeks at a time. When you find a bunch of bait, that location can be your destination for several trips, which is unusual for our lake. Depending on the time of day, they may move up or down in the water column, but usually don’t range, like they do in the warmer months, very far horizontally. I have found them way at the head of the lake or way down on the lower end, not so much in the midlake areas, but then I don’t look there as much, due to the longer, colder boat rides required.
Once you find them, you have several options. I love to vertically jig with either a Rapala ice jig or small Zoom flukes. The new wide jigs by Rapala seem to work even better than the original, but both will catch fish along with any number of spoons. Through the course of the day, fish move vertically so there can be some good surface feeding even in the middle of the day. You do need good electronics because there are times when the fish will plaster themselves to the bottom.
I love a picture of massive shad schools and obvious fish arches all around, but a blue fuzz right on a hard bottom may hold just as many hungry fish as the previous scenario. In a picture I just took, if printed, you can see the blue fuzz just off bottom, and we caught three really nice smallies, one after another, on three drops, there just wasn’t much showing. Heavy rains, cold snaps and other weather changes can put them tight to the bottom, but steady barometer and stable conditions will generally make them much easier to find.
Enjoy the season, dress warmly and be careful. Give me a call to get in on this great fishery. Later, Capt. James
Capt. James McManus is an expert guide on Lake Fontana and similar lakes in WNC and Upstate SC. He can be reached through his website at 153Charters@gmail.com