Interesting article in the winter issue regarding LMB and winter. Mainly for southern guys, I see many common areas with summer bass, both southern and northern.

One area is size(matters). The article is talking about using Hawg Craws, a 6in. huge chunk of plastic. As soon as Gene Larew came out with these in the early 90's, we started using them and dramatically noticed our catch rate of larger fish increased. If you want to catch a LMB over 2 lbs., 'ya gotta feed them a "real meal". For structure fishing at night, a huge jig and craw fits the bill. You guys that fish the Twin Cities lakes(Minnetonka), here is a time proven technique that works on pressured lakes: be quiet, crawl a big craw, and fish at night during the summer. Eastern okl. highland, western Ark. highland, so. mizzu highland..these areas are the proving grounds of this technique.

Location is another area. The article talks about inside turns of creek channels...up north in the natural lakes the "inside turns" will be vegetation and structure. Find those in the day, drop a jig at night...the baitfish will seek the protection of "cover"(weeds), near to their feeding(open water during the day...plankton, phytoplankton) areas.

That's one thing that I have never really tried, fishing for LM at night. It's a great time to catch big walters and muskies for sure. It's probably not the time to be exploring new water, just stick to those areas that you know can hold the big ones. For me though, I would probably go with a big slow topwater.

quote Arlo Pankook: "That's one thing that I have never really tried, fishing for LM at night. It's a great time to catch big walters and muskies for sure. It's probably not the time to be exploring new water, just stick to those areas that you know can hold the big ones. For me though, I would probably go with a big slow topwater. "

Jitterbugs on top and black spinnerbaits on a clear lake and hold on !

I've caught some bigger in the Deep South, but on 'home turf' (Southern Ohio) my biggest Largemouth by far was caught on a big black jointed Jitterbug on a moonlit July night on a 5-6 acre lake.No boat. There were several caught that night in the 5-7 lb. range on the same topwater bait.

I enjoy throwing a big bullfrog lucky 13 at night when I'm in the Boundary Waters. You can't see the lure, but you can hear it popping and chugging out there. Then you hear the explosion and you just have to wait until you feel the fish on. I like using fireline when doing this. Just hang on when you hook up in the middle of the night with a big bronzeback and you have no idea where it is running or when its going to jump. I just sit around the fire until I hear something feeding out in the lake and then I grab the rod and make a few casts.

I grew up in Southern Ohio (Ironton Area).

This video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_3UUTunxWo

Made me realize I don't have big enough baits in my tacklebox.

Cool video!

Have you seen the size of those articulated swimbaits that they are throwing in California for L.M.? Wow!

Spendy too Swimbait

quote AirBlair: "I grew up in Southern Ohio (Ironton Area)."

I went to college in Athens, Ohio....Go Bobcats!

Go Buckeyes in the championship game Monday night!

The company I work for has a branch in Athens, OH! I am there about once every few months.

$135 for a fishing lure?!?!? Good grief.

Not at night but cold water, I assume you know about this win bassnet? Ok 42# limit

Hydrowave huh?

Yea, this lake is in so. central Okla, maybe 75+- miles south of OKC. I recall seeing this in the paper. Can you imagine AVERAGING over 8 a fish? Wow!!

It gets about the same pressure as Fork in Texas. Great SMB population. About the only time hogs(up to 14!!) are caught is when they first become active, in Feb. They haven't seen a lure for a few months so they aren't quite as cautious, so a lot of big ones domino. Some of the big 'uns are kept alive so that their eggs can be harvested and taken to hatcheries(and those fish are put back in the lake).

The F1 hybrid cross between the Florida and Northern LB are responsible for the last several state records, and I assume that is what these fish are.

Look at the size of the head/mouth.What size of lure are you throwing???????