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P
ua Yang has been fishing since he was 4-years-
old. He has many fond memories of his father
fishing along the shore. Once Pua was older, he and his brother would target bass at ponds and rivers close
to their home.
“It was my brother that got me into bass fishing,” he
recalled.
Pua has also won several kayak tournaments in
his fishing career. Recently, won the 2023 West Coast
Championship, which is comprised of anglers from the
Western States – California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona,
Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. Here Pua explains how he breaks
down the West’s, deep clear reservoirs during the winter
months.
FISHING WATER COLUMNS IN THE WINTER
Pua stated that he initially focuses on the shallow fish because there are feeding all year long. “I never exclude the shallow fish.” said Yang, “I will start off with a moving bait like a ball head swimbait covering shallow water.”
Yang pairs his ball head with a 2.8” Keitech working it in the mid-water column for the aggressive feeding bass. He then presents his Keitech on the bottom with a slow drag keying on a hard bottom like rocks or hardpan.
“A jig is a lure I have a ton of confidence with during the winter months because it produces the bigger bites.” said Yang, “My favorite jig is the TM Custom Lure finesse jig in natural colors like green pumpkin.
He mentioned that the jig is extremely versatile when it comes to presentation, one can drag the jig, hop the jig, and swim it – it just gets bit.
POINTS, ARMS AND BIRDS
If the shallow bite is slow, Yang searches for the winter bass in deeper water around the 15- to 20- foot range; however, Yang stated that he has caught bass as deep as 75-feet.
“My first focus is to check the main lake points and arms leading into major creeks.” said Yang, “If the fish are not feeding on the main body, I will slowly move back into a major creek arm.”
Once Yang finds the bait fish, he knows the bass are close. “I like to look for birds working, it’s part of the food chain, find the birds, find the bait and the bass are close.” said Yang.
WINTER LURE GO-TO’S
Yang has five go-to lures for the winter months.
JIG: The jig just catches the larger fish and can be worked at any depth with many different presentations. “I like to mix it up with a jig and
find how the bass want the jig presented and then repeat,” he said.
DROP-SHOT : The drop shot fills his limit, it just catches fish!
BALL HEAD / KEITECH: The 2.8 Keitech works well during the wintertime with the bass focusing on bait. “The ball head 2.8 Keitech helps fill my limit,” he said. During the wintertime the 8” Hudd can produce giant bass when the water is clear. I like to work it two different ways, slowly dragging on the bottom and swimming it in the upper five feet of the water column.”
BLADED JIG: This one is Yang’s bread-and-butter lure. It has been a huge factor with his many tournament wins. “I’ll work the bladed jig from 1-foot of water to as deep as 50- feet.” said Yang, “The bladed jig is my most confident lure in my arsenal.”
FISHERY FLUCTUATIONS
Our deep clear reservoirs fluctuate hundreds of feet each year and during the winter months they can rise and fall several feet. Yang attacks both fluctuations with the same approach.
“First, I like to fish islands that are either covered with water or exposed,” he shared, “Typically islands that are
Winter 2024
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