Lessons to learn when spring arrives

In a normal year, February is weather purgatory – winter up north, spring down south. This year, however, (as if you need to be reminded) February has been nasty, with low temperatures and wintry precipitation that’s touched even the most Southerly cities.

Winter’s lingering presence is having some interesting effects on the bass fishing world. For instance, FLW postponed the upcoming Walmart Bass Fishing League event on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tenn., because of too much ice on the bay in the state park where takeoff was scheduled. You can probably bank on several other events being postponed this week due to the ice and snow that’s making Southern drivers look incompetent from Atlanta to the Atlantic Coast.

Pros who got a late start heading home from the Walmart FLW Tour season-opener on Lake Okeechobee had to deal with the beginnings of that Southern storm the last couple days too. I even saw a few social media posts from pros in the Guntersville area that were welcomed to the site of the upcoming Bassmaster Classic by a blanket of snow. I think we can safely assume that weather will be at least a component of the headline at this year’s Classic.

The reports I’ve heard are that Guntersville could pump out some major weights later this month, assuming pros can back their boats safely down the ramp when the Classic starts, and I’m anxious to see how the anglers will account for the chilly air and water temps when trying to figure out the bite.

The “lingering cold” theme will likely be felt at Lake Hartwell next month when the Tour makes its second stop of the season. I already talked to one local pro who has his fingers crossed, hoping that the winter weather will hang around even longer into the season and postpone any warm-water, shallow migration of bass that could make it anybody’s tournament. This particular pro is a deep-water expert who cleans house on Hartwell in late winter, and if cold weather keeps the bass in the depths, it could line him up for his first Tour victory.

That’s the kind of game planning that bass anglers should be thinking about as we wait for spring to arrive. What will be the effects of winter 2013-2014 on the bass fishing world, and how can I make it work to my benefit?

Traditional tactics for early tournaments could change. How will you counter? Tournaments that get postponed could be moved to the end of the season, so if you’re an offshore angler who struggles during “jerkbait season,” this could be your year to make a run at an angler-of-the-year title in your favorite circuit. Will you be ready? And just wait until all that snow in the Upper Midwest makes its way down the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi rivers as snowmelt. You might need to pick up a new flipping stick to pick apart all the flooded cover that could be the result.

I know that as I wait out the last few weeks (or months, if you live in Minnesota) of winter in anticipation of spring, I’ll try my best to not get caught up in the frustration of bass fishing withdrawal. Instead, I’ll keep an eye on FLW tournament results around the country and look for trends that might apply on my home lake when the weather breaks. It’s going to be anything but a typical year, and the anglers who focus on fishing the conditions and don’t get caught up in what’s supposed to work in spring are the anglers who’ll have the greatest success.