Fish Enid in December

Paul Elias said bass will be shallow on Enid Lake in December as long as the water temperature remains at 40 degrees or above.

Today, Enid Lake reigns as one of Mississippi’s best bass-fishing lakes, due to the numbers and sizes of bass being caught there: plenty of 3- to 5-pounders. Lakes go through cycles with down years, and then, at other times, large amounts of nice bass are caught.

I like Enid because the lake seems to be on the upside of this cycle. When you’re fishing in December, Enid will be 15 to 20 feet low for its winter drawdown. Bass will be more concentrated in fewer places, and these three lures should pay off best.

Crankbaits

I’ll fish a chartreuse shad Mann’s C4 crankbait on a cranking action 7-foot FX Custom rod with a Bruin 6.2:1 reel and 14-pound White Fluorocarbon line. I’ll fish a C4 as far back in Enid’s pockets and creeks as possible, starting at their mouths. I’ll search for cover or structure where bass will hold, including stumps, logs, rocks and boulders.

Although anglers consider sight-fishing and wearing sunglasses a spring tactic, in December, I’ll wear my Wiley X sunglasses to see shallow, underwater cover when the water is clear. In muddy water, I’ll use my Lowrance electronics to find shallow cover. In late December, bass will be pulling out of shallow water and concentrating on main-river points: their ends, the edges of their dropoffs and ditches off the edges.

The weather fronts coming through in December will tell you more about where to search for bass. Warm fronts mean bass will be shallow on the points. With a cold front, bass are on the edges of the points, the first dropoffs away from the points and the points’ ends. Once warm fronts come through, I’ll fish topwater lures like the Zara Spook.

Walking baits

I like lures like Spooks and Whopper Ploppers when fishing Enid’s shallows in December. These lures are most often fished in the spring and summer, early and late, but in the first two weeks of December, I’ll fish them from 1 to 15 feet deep, with 15-pound braid and a 6- to 8-inch monofilament leader. I’ll be using an 8:1 Bruin reel on a 6-foot-9, medium-action FX Custom rod.

I’ll retrieve a walking-type lure at a medium speed. I may stop the retrieve for a second or two, and then walk the bait again. If the water’s warming, bass may want a faster retrieve; if it’s cooling, they may prefer a slower retrieve. Try several types of retrieves and let the bass tell you how fast or how long to let the lure sit.

You won’t get many bites in December, but the bass that attack these topwater baits are usually larger fish than you’ll catch on other baits. Once the water starts cooling, bigger bass want to eat gizzard shad and bluegills and prefer bigger baits. The surface water temperature at Enid doesn’t get below 40 degrees until January, so when the air temperature’s in that 40-degree range, the big bass will attack topwater lures.

Jerkbaits

Although walking baits like a Zara Spook are considered spring baits, Paul Elias likes to fish them in December on Enid Lake.

I like a 5-inch suspending jerkbait in the Table Rock color: purple back/chartreuse sides/orange belly. I’ll be fishing with a 6-foot-6, medium-action FX Custom rod and 10-pound White Peacock fluorocarbon on an 8:1 Bruin reel. I’ll fish a jerkbait on main-lake points and steep banks for suspended bass, cranking the jerkbait down to the water depth where I want it to suspend. I’ll jerk it two or three times and then allow it to sit still for a 1-to-5 count.

The bass will tell me how to fish the jerkbait. If they’re biting it when it’s sitting still, you’ll know how long to let the bait sit still before jerking it again. If the bass take the bait when you’re jerking it, they’re telling you they want to bite a moving bait. As the weather cools at the end of December, jerkbaits may become your most-dependable lures.

Solunar tables

I depend on Solunar Tables in the winter. I don’t fish all day in cold weather, but instead, target my fishing according to the best feeding times indicated by the Solunar Tables.

I usually like to fish from 2 hours before the peak feeding times to 2 hours after, according to the tables.

When fishing Enid in December, I feel that catching eight to 10 keeper-sized bass in that 3- to 5-pound range just before, during and just after the peak feeding times recommended by the Solunar Tables is a great day of fishing.