With ice covering yards for a good part of the last month, common sense dictates that fish would dawdle in an early winter slumber during such weather.

            In this case, common sense fails. The ice and snow bother us much more than the fish swimming in the lakes and rivers of Kentucky. Now is the time to fish for striped bass, crappie and smallmouth bass.

            “I didn’t even get all of my lines out before they hit,” said Joe McWilliams, an avid striper angler who fishes Lake Cumberland year-round. “I put out two lines with bobbers and I just put out a third line with a planer board when one of the bobbers went down. It was a 28-inch striper.”

            McWilliams landed the fish on Dec. 27. “I just got my fourth line out when one hit the line with the planer board. It was a 30-incher,” he said. “I started fishing at 4 p.m. By 4:20 I had my limit of stripers.”

            McWilliams slowly trolled shiners in the mid-section of Faubush Creek in the upper lake. “I caught them up by the split in Faubush,” he said. “I fished 20 to 24 feet deep in 45 to 55 feet of water. Those stripers were in excellent condition.”

            Smallmouth bass fishing also warmed up as the temperatures dropped. Laurel River Lake, Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow Lake all produced quality smallmouth bass fishing over the past couple of weeks.

            “We caught some really good smallmouth bass on Dale Hollow on December 22,” said Chad Miles, administrative coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “I caught a 5 pounder and my fishing partner caught one over 4 pounds. We fished football jigs in very natural, subtle hues of brown, green and orange. You have to keep your bait on the bottom and fish it super slow with a crawling retrieve. You don’t want any extra action on the jig.”

            Miles also eschews jig trailers with flapping appendages. “Use a smaller trailer that doesn’t have much action,” he explained. “I also trim the skirt if it is puffy. You want a small profile on your jig.”

            He also uses the temperature gauge to determine the warmest water. “A degree or even a few tenths of a degree makes all the difference in the world,” Miles said. “We started fishing the back of creeks because they are usually warmer, but found the water near the main lake just a tad warmer. That is where we caught our fish.”

            He also uses his sonar unit to find concentrations of baitfish. “We found baitfish often in the middle of the cove,” Miles explained. “Fish the point closest to the baitfish.”

            He also caught some smallmouth recently on Laurel River Lake using 3-inch pearl-colored boot-tailed grubs fished on the bottom, resembling an unaware shad.

            Anglers also report catching smallmouth on Lake Cumberland by casting red deep-diving crankbaits in the middle and backs of creeks. The float and fly pattern is also producing some fish on main lake points.

            Winter may be the most consistent time of year to catch crappie. Due to the drawdown of the lake stemming from ongoing repair work on Wolf Creek Dam many points, flats and channel breaks once too deep for crappie are now crappie holes.

            “A lot of people sank brush since the drawdown,” McWilliams said. “They are catching the crappie on the brush.”

            Check points, flats and channel breaks for crappie by slowly drifting a minnow over them. Stop and fish if you catch a crappie, no matter the size. Work the minnow deeper to catch larger crappie on Cumberland.

            On Taylorsville Lake, crappie crush minnows fished amid the flooded timber during the winter months. Keep working the minnow deeper until you hit pay dirt. Crappie gather in schools in winter, so work an entire flooded section of timber if you happen upon some fish on Taylorsville. The lake holds many crappie around the 9-inch minimum size limit. There is a 15-fish daily creel limit for crappie on Taylorsville Lake.

            Drift crappie minnows along channel drops near the mouths of major coves on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley for winter crappie. Also, target bridge abutments for winter crappie on these lakes. Those abutments closest to a channel drop or a cove often hold the most crappie.

            A mid-winter warming trend sends black crappie to the shallows on these two lakes. Cast small white, blue or chartreuse tube jigs along the banks during these warming trends. This fishing pattern gathers more steam from late winter into early spring. Black crappie spook easily, so keep boat noise to a minimum.

            Don’t mope the winter away, waiting for sunshine and 70 degree days. Layer up your clothing and get to the lake right now. You may catch the biggest fish of the year without hearing the sound of another outboard all day long.

Author Lee McClellan is an award-winning associate editor for Kentucky Afield magazine, the official publication of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. He is a life-long hunter and angler, with a passion for smallmouth bass fishing.