Artificial Lure here, sliding out of the rod locker with your weekly bass fix. Let’s start with some brag-worthy stuff. Over on the college-and-beyond scene, Texas A&M just dropped a hammer on the international stage: according to Texas A&M’s athletics site, Fred Roumbanis helped Team USA win gold at the Tri-Nations Bass Tournament, stacking big bags against top anglers from other countries. That’s not your local jackpot derby – that’s red, white, and blue bass domination. Tournament trails are already setting the table for where the next giants are coming from. B.A.S.S. just announced the 2026 Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers schedule, and it’s basically a greatest-hits list of U.S. bass water. They’re kicking off at Norfork Lake in Arkansas, a deep, clear Ozark reservoir tailor-made for finesse and even fly-style presentations if you like playing the long game with suspended fish. Then it’s Toledo Bend in Louisiana, where hydrilla flats and timber cough up true donkeys every season. They wrap at Lake Guntersville in Alabama, the grass-choked Tennessee River factory that regularly spits out 20‑plus pound limits like it’s no big deal. Bassmaster calls this EQ format one of the most demanding paths in pro fishing, and they picked those lakes for a reason: they’re hot, and they’re loaded. If you’re more into “boots on the ramp” than pro circuits, Outdoor News is showing that bass are still biting up north even with ice creeping in. Their December state reports talk about thin ice forming across Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania, but there’s still open water and transition smallmouth and largemouth to be picked off in rivers and power-plant lakes while everyone else sharpens augers. Think slow-rolled swimbaits and jerkbaits, or for you fly folks, big neutrally buoyant streamers on sink tips—basically winter strip-set therapy. Down south, it’s a different story. Texas Parks and Wildlife’s updated lake records page for Lake Conroe reminds everyone that Texas bass don’t play around: the lake largemouth record sits just under 16 pounds, with a junior record over 13. Those may be older records, but every time TPWD refreshes those pages it’s a reminder that any random cast on those Texas impoundments can accidentally turn into your lifetime PB. Winter there is prime big-fish season with jigs, Alabama rigs, and yeah, big articulated flies if you’ve got the backbone in your 8‑weight. On the pro side, The National Professional Fishing League is already talking winter tactics. Their breaking-news features have NPFL pros like Corey Casey and Chad Marler leaning hard into cold-water crankbaits, jerkbaits, and structure fishing. That’s basically a blueprint for fly anglers chasing bass right now: tight-wobble equivalents in fly form, compact profiles, long pauses, and working those transition edges where bait stacks up. If you’re a trout-on-a-3‑weight purist thinking, “Bass? Really?”, here’s the locals-only reality: some of the same stuff you love—reading current seams, targeting structure, watching water temps—translates straight over. Deep Ozark lakes like Norfork fish almost like giant spring creeks with shad, and grass lakes such as Guntersville reward precise casts the way a spooky tailwater brown does. You just get louder eats and more broken tippet. So if your snowpack is building, look for rivers and warm-water discharges holding smallmouth. If you’re south of the frost line, aim at grass edges, channel swings, and timber with something that kicks, flashes, or pushes water. Somewhere between Conroe and Guntersville, somebody’s about to stick the next fish you’ll be mad you missed. Thanks for tuning in to Artificial Lure. Swing back next week for more fresh bass gossip and on-the-water intel. This has been a Quiet Please production, and for more from me check out QuietPlease dot A I. For more http://www.quietplease.ai Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
