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♦ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2006 2B Turning cold weather into hot fishing Ilf it’s not snow or freezing rain, it’s Bbone-chilling air temperatures and I icy winds that make a day on the water nearly insufferable. But just because you’re uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean that the bass are. Sure, it’s December, it’s cold outside and I’m sure you still have some holiday shopping to do, but bass are still in the lake. If they want to make it through the winter they will have to eat. As the water temperature drops, bass follow the migrating shad out to deeper water (deep being anywhere from 30 to 40 feet in clear, deep lakes or six to eight feet in murky, shallow ones). Use your electronics and find the balls of shad. There’s sure to be some bass nearby, holding up in vertical, deep cover. Typically, bass will be easier to find down lake on outside channel swings, bluff faces and points with vertical drops. Since bass are cold blooded, the colder water has slowed them down - so you IShST Contributed Ken Cook. SWEEP From page iB boys went 6-3 in the non region portion of their schedule. DEMONETTIS 49. LADY IRISH 36 Warner Robins High’s girls basketball coach Tom Mobley referred to Wednesday’s game as being “in the middle of nowhere” in terms of the overall schedule. TEAM From page iB of what he felt when first competing at the All-Air Force level. “At first I felt an over whelming dislike and want ed to crush every team out there,” he said. “But by the end there was definitely a sense of respect among all of the players. Don’t get me wrong we all wanted BROWN From page iB the National Football League overtime, does play like a regulation game, but all you might need to win is good luck with the coin toss. I might need another year to straighten out all these points and give you one definitive answer. What I want to get to now is another GHSA rule that did take effect last year. It’s the basketball version of the mercy rule. I saw it applied twice dur ing the recent Chick-Fil- A Bear Brawl at Houston County High. Basically, one team had a lead of more than 30 points after the third quarter, so the fourth quarter started with only six minutes on the clock and followed normal timing rules. Now if a team is down 40 or more at the half, the trailing coach can choose to have the third quarter last just six minutes. (The 30 or more after three quarters thing means an automatic six-minute fourth.) I won’t say who it was, but during the tournament one basketball coach stated a disagreement with this j||||& out our NASCAR page each week for the latest news|B FISHING ON EDGE By champion fisherman Ken Cook should slow down, too. This ties in directly to your bait selec tion, the most important aspect to catch ing bass in the cold. Just because the bass are following migrating shad that doesn’t mean that’s all they will eat. Fish biolo gists have discovered that a bass prefers a bait about three inches long and about an inch in diameter. That jig that you spent all summer pitching into the bushes will do just fine. But instead of relying on the oldest known fishing lure by itself, I like to dress mine up with the newest technologi cal advancement in fishing bait. On a 3/8-ounce jig, I trim the skirt just past the hook to keep it from having too large a profile since I want to put a large trailer on it. I rig a Berkley Gulp! Bat Wing Frog as the trailer. These two baits are meant to be fished slow - the perfect presentation for a cold blooded bass in wintertime. I cut the front of the bait off just behind the eye and thread it onto the jig hook. The legs on the Bat Wing Frog flutter like crazy on the fall and with the slightest movements. The Gulp! trailer isn’t made of plastic so it actually breathes underwater and dis perses scent like no other bait ever made. And the slower you fish it, the more scent builds up in an area, expanding the strike zone by drawing in sluggish fish in search of an easy meal that might have not been interested otherwise. There’s no secret to catching bass in the middle of winter. Just like any other time of year, you have to figure out the right pattern. And once you figure out where they are, slow down your presentation. The fishing can be good enough to make you forget all about the plummeting temperatures. Ken Cook is the 1991 Bassmaster Classic champion and a 14-time Classic qualifier. A former fisheries biologist, Cook lives on a ranch in Meers, Okla. Coming off a third-place finish in the Chick-Fil -A Bear Brawl at Houston County High (and the Christmas holiday), the Demonettes beat Dublin High 49-36 to improve to 10-2. Warner Robins won’t play again until region play starts on Jan. 5 at Lowndes High. In the girls’ victory, Cherie White recorded a near triple-double with 27 to beat the other team because of bragging rights, but there was a bond that we all shared from being in the military and it was evi dent in the way each team played.” The game has been a part of the lieutenant’s life since he was a kid but he still knows what really matters. “People ask me all the time why I didn’t go to a bigger college or why didn’t I try to play pro ball over "You can definitely feel the emotion of the loss of all those people and the desire to keep football going." rule. In fact, this coach, who was on the good side of a 30- point lead after three quar ters, admitted to not know ing that the fourth period lasted just six minutes. This coach presented sev eral parts to the argument against this mercy rule. One was that a team should just take the big loss like any other. Other parts had to do with being on the opposite side of a huge deficit. For one thing, the coach said a full eight minutes gives the team trailing a chance to get better. Plus, they can also have the goal of trying to win that quar ter. All valid points. Myself, being from the reporter’s perspective and our deadline-oriented busi ness, I believe we like to get things over with as soon as possible. We know that, even if we see one team scoring a points, 10 rebounds and seven steals. Mobley said White did most of her damage on the inside by posting up and driving to the basket in addition to scoring off her steals. Kitteiy Maine had seven points. “We were a little flat,” said Mobley, whose club led 29-21 at the half. “We had some players in foul trou ble. That slowed us down.” seas, the reason is simple,” said Pina. “It takes a lot of want and desire to play basketball day in and day out especially at the college and at the pro level and I love other things. “I love flying, I love my family, I love my fiancee, 1 love the Air Force, I love my dogs, I love my truck, then I love basketball and all the talent in the world couldn’t overcome putting all those things ahead of the game.” whole lot of runs early in a baseball or softball game, it’s probably going to end after five innings. And we love seeing that clock run in a blowout football game when all the important stuff’s already gone down. All we need, which is what I’ve been told most people look for first in a game story, is that final score. Before closing out the last column of 2006, I must get in a plug for a good sports movie, “We are Marshall.” My parents and I took it in on Christmas Day. I was only a little 7-month old when this tragedy took place. It’s something I didn’t hear a whole lot about as my interest in college foot ball grew. Most Georgia fans know Marshall as the place Jim Donnan came from after leading that program to 1-AA national titles. You can definitely feel the emotion of the loss of all those people and the desire to keep football going (they had to feel that taking it away even for one year would make it almost impos sible to get back). Mixed in are some good hard-hitting football action and 1970 s fashion sense (yuck!). Go enjoy the film and what’s to come in 2007. SPOUTS A- C f MrSg A i A' ■ Jl© I IfV ( II | ~~ “ j 1 m " A CLEATS f&~20 —— e-mail Cteatsmaii@aol com I WWW gocomics com ’ ' (c; 2006 Bill Hinds, Dist. by Universal Press Syndicate * 1 f THIS. WIT j 1 60 OP. J Play Better Golf with JACK NICKLAUS I www gocomics com v- v " ~ '~~ e-nai DeatsmanQaoi com [(c) 2006 Bill Hinds. Dist by Universal Press Syndicate J THE HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Jingle Jog The inaugural Downtown Perry Jingle Jog was held recently. TOP: Jingle Jog winners ages 10 and under were, from left to right: Grant Shelton (first place boys); Carter Shelton (second place boys); Lanier Shelton (second place girls); Laura Liz Bryan (first place girls); and Mary Claire Kinnas (third place girls). ABOVE: Jingle Jog win ners ages 11 to 17 were, left to right: Kylie Williams (second place girls); Hunter Wojohn (first place boys); Spencer Freeman (second place boys); Drew Whitehead (third place boys); and Bethany Loggins (first place girls). LEFT: Overall winners were Jacob Parnell (18:53) and Leigh James (23:39). Contributed