Pro Tips Weekly: Greg Bohannan

When fishing in warm weather isn’t an option

It seems like this cold winter isn’t going to leave anytime soon, but it’s not stopping the fish from biting – if you can stay out there with them. Cold temperatures affect the fishing performance of you and your tackle and there are a couple of things I do to keep things working properly.

First of all, I spray my rod’s line guides, the reel and the line with Ardent Reels Line Butter. There are all sorts of sprays to keep guides from freezing and the line from coiling up too bad, but Line Butter is the best thing I’ve found. It stays on longer and keeps the line and the reel in good working order.

Another thing I do in really cold weather is use monofilament instead of fluorocarbon with light baits, because it doesn’t seem to coil up as bad. When it’s really cold, you might be better off fishing without gloves so you can feel those light bites that you’re subject to get.

One new trick I discovered this year is making handwarmers with wrist sweatbands and those chemical heat packs like you get at Walmart. Activate the heat pack, then press it against your wrist and use the elastic sweatband to hold it in place. You can cast without worrying about the handwarmer coming off, too. It keeps the blood flowing past your wrists warm and that keeps your fingertips warm and flexible. Just remember to anchor the handwarmer down against your shirtsleeve rather than your bare wrist, or it’ll burn you.

—- Pop-Tarts pro Greg Bohannan, Rogers, Ark.