Jonathan Newton’s Top 5 Early Winter Baits

The late fall-early winter period finds Walmart FLW Tour pro Jonathon Newton snooping around the creeks of Pickwick Lake and other Tennessee River impoundments in search of bass rounding up remaining shad.

Long gravel points and shell beds are his main targets, and, depending on how the weather has fish positioned, he might be fishing up shallow, or he might pull back and work the deeper edges, making long casts when the fish are spooky.

Newton favors areas where a creek channel cuts close to the bank, but if the deep side isn’t happening, he’ll check the shallow flat side too.

Here’s what he’s likely throwing.

1. Homemade Flipping/Pitching Jig

Working around shallow wood or rock, Newton fits his 1/2-ounce black-and-blue bullet-style jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer. He uses this primarily on high-pressure days when the fish get up tight to cover. Presentation speed varies, so Newton varies the look until he dials in what the fish want.

“It depends on the day’s conditions, but a lot of times it’s a slow grind,” Newton says. “Some days they want it hopped; some days they want it crawled. You just have to figure out what they want that day.”

2. Texas-rigged Zoom UV Speed Craw

Favoring a green pumpkin Speed Craw, Newton turns to this more subtle presentation when the fish don’t want to bite the jig, or after he’s caught a few on the jig and needs to mop up with another look.

Newton pegs a 3/16-ounce weight when cloudy skies find the fish roaming and a 1/2-ounce weight when bass hug the hard stuff.

3. Zoom Swamp Crawler on a Shaky Head

If he can’t get bit around shallow cover, Newton will back off and fish deeper edges with a 1/4- to 1/2-ounce shaky head. High pressure typically puts fish right on the bottom or up against cover such as logs.

4. WEC E1

A shallow-running crankbait is a good tool to cover water and find active fish. Newton fishes the E1 primarily around rocky banks (natural or riprap), targeting east-facing banks early. Black/chartreuse is his favorite seasonal color pattern.

5. Zoom Swimmin’ Super Fluke

When he locates big schools of shad on his depth finder, Newton rigs the Swimmin’ Super Fluke on a swimbait head and runs it through the bait balls. Retrieve speed depends on the level of feeding activity. Sometimes a straight wind works, but Newton finds a stop-and-go/dead-stick retrieve highly productive.

“You reel it really fast, kill it, reel it really fast, kill it and let it go to the bottom,” he says. “A lot of times, that’s the trick to catching them.”

Newton prefers a 1/2-ounce swimbait head so he can get under the baitfish in 8 to 10 feet. But if the shad are really high in the water column, he might go with a 1/4-ounce head to run the bait closer to the surface.