Last January, Ryan Ingram of Phenix City caught a 10 1/2-pound largemouth bass on a deep-water ledge on Lake Eufaula. Within minutes, his fishing partner hauled another hawg into the boat; it weighed more than 9 pounds.

The author looks on as Danny Walden tries to boat a wintertime largemouth from shallow water at Millers Ferry. Photo by Stephen E. Davis.

To the west, also in January, David Hagan of Clanton pulled a 9-pound, 7-ounce bass from an ugly brown patch of hyacinth floating on 49-degree water at Miller Ferry.

Biologists and anglers agree that these lakes offer the best chance of catching bass weighing 6 pounds or more from south Alabama waters in January. But it's not like fishing any other time of the year.

"It's not a very good month to fish overall," reported Damon Abernethy, supervisor of fisheries development for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. "Catch rates are low, but your chances of catching a really big fish are pretty good in January. If you can stand the cold, you can do real well in winter. I prefer to fish when it's cold."

Abernethy pointed out that bass are cold-blooded, which makes them less active and less likely to strike in cold water. In fact, biologists have found a largemouth's metabolic rate falls by a third of its previous rate for every 18-degree drop in body temperature. As their temperature falls from 60 to 50 degrees, the time to digest a meal of shad may increase from four days to six days. Though digesting food at an ever-slower rate, however, bass continue to eat through January and appear healthy, well nourished and ready to spawn in February.

Also, observations by biologists have confirmed what anglers have learned in their laboratory of hard knocks: Bass grow increasingly sluggish as water temperatures fall to 50 degrees, and markedly more so in the mid-to-upper 40s.

Both Ryan Ingram and David Hagan mark the break point for good fishing at 50 degrees. The former reported that water temperatures on Lake Eufaula normally range from 50 to 54 degrees in January, while the latter said that Millers Ferry runs a little colder, 46 to 53 degrees. These temperatures remain warm enough to keep largemouths biting through January.

This difference in water temperatures does, however, see the two anglers approach their respective lakes with different methods and techniques for locating winter hawgs.

LAKE EUFAULA
"By far," Ingram offered, "Lake Eufaula is your best opportunity to catch a 6-pound bass in the southern part of the state. It's leaps and bounds above any other lake around here."

Ingram qualifies as an expert on Lake Eufaula's bass. Having fished the lake for 23 years, he frequently wins or places near the top of the tournaments that he enters there. In the last several years he's won 50 local tournaments. Recent national and regional wins on Eufaula include the American Bass Anglers Grand Slam Series, the B.A.S.S. Masters Southern Tour, the ESPN Outdoor B.A.S.S. Masters Series and the Southeastern Stren Series.

"Fish form groups in January and February just like they do in the heat of summer," Ingram observed. "If we have a cold January, you can catch 20 to 25 fish a day and about half of those will weigh between 5 and 7 pounds. The fish may hold on the same ledges as in summer, but deeper. And the larger the group, the better your chances of catching a big fish."