Jakes Blog January

It’s January and the daylight hours are getting longer every day. We have seen very little precipitation in December, and the Shenandoah has seen some frozen areas with temperatures ranging from mid-40’s to low 30’s. The windy days has made fishing difficult, but anglers are still finding success. Air temps have been all over the place from the high fifties to low twenties, but the fish still must eat. Choose your days according to the weather a little wind is good to much wind can make for a hard day for fishing. Lake Fredrick has yet to freeze over and anglers have been catching some nice largemouth on spy baits, jerkbaits, jigs and blade baits. They have been on points as well as cruising the middle of the lake following the blueback herring. The anglers are having good success using Forward Facing sonar to find them. The Shenandoah has thawed but is still very low due to lack of precipitation. The fish are in deep pools as deep as 25 feet and are feeding at different times of the day. If you are fortunate enough to catch a bite window you could be in for a great day. Baits such as Rogers hair jigs in 1/8 to ¼ ounce with a craw trailer are a good choice especially green pumpkin purple, or black marabou jigs or rabbit fur jigs. Ned baits as well as small minnow baits on a 1/8-ounce ball head jig are the ticket. Smaller baits work best this time of year. Don’t forget your blade baits and jerkbaits as well. Blade baits need to have that lift and drop technique and jerk baits need to reach deeper depths and twitched very slowly with little to no movement. When fishing the Shenandoah, you must have tubes in your arsenal. They will always work in rivers anywhere. This time of year, they can shine when dragged slowly across the bottom. Look for water temp stabilization, the fish become more active. Severe changes in water temps makes the fish more sluggish. A fluctuation of one to two degrees not so much as five to ten can make a big difference. Come to Jake’s Bait and tackle to get all your tackle and information on how to use and where to use it. Good luck, tight lines hope to see you on the water.

 Lonnie Conner