Fishing Tips by Month from Woo Daves
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JANUARY -- Unless your in the deep south, January as a rule is not a good fishing month. This is a time for maintenance on your boat and fishing tackle. Go over your boat tightening things up and generally storing your fishing tackle and other accessories where you can readily find them. My Nitro has so much storage that I often misplace things, so it helps to have them organized where you can lay your hands right on them, whatever you need such as a marker buoy, tool, Golden Rule, etc.

Now is also a good time to clean and oil you reels, check your rods for worn guides and replace them, if necessary. Arrange your tackle - Tackle Logic is a great system for this, as they make a storage system for everything. Change hooks on your favorite lures, sharpen hooks, and change line on your reels.

I try to make a list of everything I will need in my Nitro for my next fishing trip. From your SOSpender's life jacket, rain suits, my running lights working, hooks, weights, toothpicks, spinnerbaits, worms, jigs, crank baits, marker buoys, and on and on. Check each one off as it goes in the boat. Once you get on the lake and you left something in the garage it won't do you any good.

This is also a good month to visit the boat and tackle shows. Visit your local Nitro dealer and check out the new models.

FEBRUARY - As a rule you start getting some warm days in mid to late February and bass will start to feed. Lures such as the Stinger jig and pig, spinnerbait and a jerk bait such as the KPS Lazer Eye jerkbait come into play.

One thing to remember about February is this is a slow fishing month. By that I mean work your lure slowly and after a while realize that you are probably still fishing too fast and really slow down. Bass are not going to chase a lure. Run your Motorguide on low speed, thoroughly working over an area. Do not run and gun. One tip that will help you is to use an Extreme 40FA reel that has a 4.8:1 gear ratio that will really help you to slow your lures down. "Your still fishing too fast, I said, SLOW DOWN." Look for fish on points with channel swings, bends of creeks, and late in the day on the northern side of windy banks.

MARCH -- When I get into my Nitro in March, I'm thinking big bass and lots of them. Probably more big fish caught in March than any other month. They are in shallow and feeding in the warming water, getting ready to spawn.

Three favorite techniques I use in March are slow rolling a 1oz. spinnerbait, flipping a jig around wood, and fishing an eight inch Zoom Lizard, sprayed good Jack's Juice on a Carolina rig in shallow water. I like to fish rocks in early March and stumps later on in the month. If the wind is blowing, stay with windy points and coves as the shad will be pushed up on these places.

March is one month you will rarely find less than 20 pound Stren on any of my reels.

APRIL - This is another great fishing month. Plastics really come into play at this time, as the water has warmed and the bass are either bedding or getting ready to. My favorite lures now are Zoom U-tail worms, gitzits, Zoom 6 inch lizards, Zoom French Fry, trick worms, and top water such as stick baits or the Bug Eye popper.

We are going to fish in water less than five foot deep and move along at a fast pace. Fish will be really aggressive at this time of year. You can usually put some nice bass in your Nitro live well by fishing top water early and then going to plastics later on in the day. Look for shallow cover such as buck brush, grass, willows or lay downs back in pockets and in the back end of creeks. Fish like to stay close to spawning areas.

This is also the time of year you want to get your floating worms out, rig them on 10 pound Stren line, with a 2/0 Mustad ultra point hook, medium action Extreme rod, EX30FA reel and cover a lot of ground looking for structure and shady spots. Pink, white, and yellow are my favorite colors to use.

One of my favorite spring time techniques is to skip the rubber bodied Possum Lures under boat docks. You can skip this lure just like a worm or jig and its life like action is great. This allows me to fish crankbaits where no one else does.

MAY - May is probably the best fishing month there is without a doubt. Some bass are bedding, some have finished, and shallow water fishing is at its best. If you could only pick one month a year for action, it would have to be May.

Top water fishing is at its peak with buzz baits such as the XPS buzzer, popper plugs such as Extreme Z-POP, stick baits like the Devil Horse and Bango Lure. Floating worms like Zoom trick worms are great.

Plastic worms like the Zoom U-tail and the Mag II will work wonders along with Zoom Lizards, be sure to spray them well with Jack's Juice. I also like to use shallow running crank baits like the Lazer Eye Extreme crankbait. As you can see I've picked a lot of lures, that's because it's May and they all work wonders at this time of year.

This is a good time to look at secondary points and at the back ends of creeks or flats. Bass are going to be shallow or on the first shallow drops you can find near spawning areas. I will start out early with top water tactics and go to plastics when the sun comes out. If you have inclement weather, stay with your surface baits.

One tip, when fishing top water or jerk baits (XPS Lazer Eye, Rogue, or Long-A) use a real limber rod such as a 6 foot medium light Extreme. A really limber tip rod will not only give your lure more action but will keep it in the strike zone a lot longer. Most of the time, if you are like me you will set the hook too fast on a top water strike and the limber rod will allow the fish to suck your lure in. Also if you are fishing top water and have a blow-up, follow it up with a Zoom Fluke and a lot of times the bass will come back. I like a 3/0 wide gap Mustad ultra point hook in the Fluke.

JUNE -- This is another good fishing month and now is the time to start paying close attention to the depth finder mounted on the dash of your Nitro. Bass will be schooling and relating to drop-offs usually in the 10 to 12 foot range. You can really have some great action that produces numerous bass in a fast pace bite when you locate them.

Four primary tactics I use at this time are big top water lures such as a Zara Spook that will draw bass up. This is a good way to locate a school of bass, simply follow the break line until you get a strike, if you catch a fish or two you are in the right area.

Now I will slow down and use a mid-range crank bait like the Lazer Eye, slow roll a 1 to 11/2 oz. spinnerbait, also I start using a little bigger worm such as a 7 inch Zoom Mag sprayed good with Jack's Juice. I spend more time near the mouth of creeks and try to fish points that are either on the main lake near creek mouths or the first few points going into the creek. One tip, when you locate schooling bass in an area and they stop biting your presentation go to your other lures in the same area, as this will sometimes create more strikes.

JULY -- Hot weather and deeper fishing. There are always some shallow bass, but as a rule the fishermen that finds em' deep makes the rest at the scales weep. I put a lot of ice tea and Mountain Dew in my Nitro cooler, put plenty of sun tan lotion on, get out my deep running crank baits and my Carolina rigs, and start looking for drop-offs with my depthfinder.

I will use the deepest running lures I have, such as the Lazer Eye 15, something that will reach down 14 to 22 feet. I fish these on an Extreme reel, Extreme cranking rod, 8 to 10 pound Stren cranking line. The lower gear reel makes for easier cranking on the big plugs. Once I locate fish or a spot that looks fishy, I will pick up my Carolina rig and start covering the area thoroughly.

I like to have one rod rigged with a big worm and one with a Zoom French Fry. Sometimes they want the bigger bait and sometimes the smaller French Fry will work wonders. I use a Mustad 2/0 ultra point hook, 90% of the time when I am Carolina rigging.

AUGUST - This is the month my Nitro storage boxes are loaded with big Zoom worms. Fishing is usually slow this time of year and the bass are sluggish and are relating to deep drops. I fish the Magnum worms on heavy action 7 foot Extreme rod (for deep hook setting power) with 17pound Stren Super Tough line rigged on 3/8 to ½ oz. bullet weights.

I'm watching my depth finder and looking for stumps on drops, rocks in deep water and it helps to be in an area with bait fish. This is a good time to also look for brush piles in deep water. I try to cast past the objects and work the big worm into them. There is nothing nicer than to feel that tap in deep water, because more than likely it's going to be a big bass. I will use a lot of Jack's Juice on my worms this time of year. Remember, three or four good bites in a day, this time of year will win you a tournament, so be patient.

SEPTEMBER - There is a lot of turn over in most lakes in September, but you can still catch fish, so don't let the dock talk get to you. The first thing I'm looking for is an area loaded with bait fish. If you can find bait, you can find bass. Be it shallow or deep. In the early morning, I will start with an Extreme buzzer or a Zara Spook, later on I will go to a jigging spoon, especially if I can find shad near the bottom.

This is a good time of year to start probing the back of creeks and up river flats as bass will start to chase bait into these places as the water starts to cool down. Another good tactic I like is to fish floating docks with a small spinnerbait which I will wrap lead wire around the shaft. The extra weight will give me a small profile bait that I can cast farther and really burn the lure by the docks. The bass like to hang around the styrofoam corners on docks in ambush. When you run that small lure by them at a fast pace they can't stand it. It also helps to have a Stinger hook on at this time.

OCTOBER -- October is a good fishing month as the bass are really chasing shad and starting to feed up for the winter. This is a month when you will find several jigging spoon rods on the deck of my Nitro.

I find a lot of fish in two places this time of year. In the back of creeks around shallow stumps and out on long tapering points that have schools of bait fish on them. In the back of creeks I will use a 3/8 oz. white spinnerbait and a shallow running Lazer Eye crankbait. Simply cast past the structure and bring your lure by at a medium speed. If there is a bass in the area, he will nail it.

You want to be in an area with bait fish for this to really work well. Another tactic that can really get you well in a hurry is to fish a 3/4 or 1oz. jigging spoon in schools of bait fish located on long tapering points or around creek channels. I use a medium action Extreme 6 ft. rod with an EXT1H 6.1.1 high speed reel, and 14 pound Stren Cranking line. Simply jig the spoon slowly in the bait fish. I've found that if you jig too fast you get a lot of other species of fish instead of bass.

NOVEMBER -- November is a great shallow fishing month and if possible, I want to fish wood. Two great patterns or techniques to use are the Jig and pig and shallow crank baits. This is the time of year I'm taking my Nitro into some super shallow water looking for logs, lay downs, and super shallow docks. Just any super shallow water. I like to have two Extreme pitchin' rods (7 foot), 20 to 25 pound Stren High Impact. One rod is rigged with a 3/8 oz. Stinger jig and a Zoom Super Chunk, the other one is rigged with a 5/8 oz. Stinger jig. This gives me a slow fall and a fast fall presentation, which I will rotate until I figure out which one is working the best. Be sure and make repeated flips or pitches to the same target. A lot of times the fourth or fifth pitch will produce a strike.

The other pattern is to run your crank bait through the same structures you are fishing. This is one time I will use heavy line, 17 to 20 pound Stren High Impact. This allows me to pull the lure through heavy cover and bump stumps and if I hang up I can rip the hooks loose. A buzz bait or a Zoom fluke sprayed with Jack's Juice are also two great backup baits in November. Be sure to use a 3/0 wide gap Mustad ultra point hook.

DECEMBER -- December is on and off fishing, depending on the weather. Spooning can be great as well as mid running crank baits. A jig and pig is also a good choice. I like to fish a Stinger jig along bluff banks this time of year more or less swimming the jig. Be sure to spray your jig well with Jack's Juice Crawfish.

If you can find a piece of wood on a bluff bank this can be a deadly fish holding piece of structure. Another great tactic is to parallel bluff banks or creek banks with a crank bait. I've found that a really slow retrieve this time of year works wonders at times. This is also a good time to go to your Bass Pro Shops catalog and order the Woo Daves' fishing DVDs. They make great Christmas gifts for your friends, but you better get a set for yourself, as they contain great fishing information that you need to know.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God Bless you and your fishing!