Mild weather has been a big help to the fishermen and ladies by keeping the fish in shallow water active.

With surface water temperatures in the mid 50s, the shallow bite is still there. Normally in early January the water temperature of our lakes would average about 49 to 52 degrees and the deep bite would be stronger than the shallow fish activity.

Now we have to mix it up by fishing shallow and deep to put together a decent day on the water. There were more fish holding shallow than deep this past week.

One reason is the water temperature is not that cold and another is the higher water levels move baitfish shallow and game-fish follow the bait. The best approach for the bass fishermen is to pitch jigs with a plastic trailer. Tie on a heavy jig to cover water depths deeper than 8 feet, and a light jig for the shallows.

A couple of often overlooked productive winter lures are small crankbaits and spinnerbaits. Normally reserved for warmer water, these two lures will catch bass anytime, anywhere. When there are fish in shallow water a small Bandit or Bagley crankbait retrieved very slowly will catch those fish. The same deal holds true with a spinnerbait.

Just slow the spinner down and let it roll along the bottom for January bass. A big plus will come next month for these two lures. The fish are starting to get hammered by jigs on the most popular lakes, and fish get educated to the sting of a hook pretty quick.

Changing lures and not casting what everyone else is will give you an advantage when fishing highly pressured waters. And the fishing pressure is picking up big time. There were more boats out and about this weekend than I have seen in months. Hunting season is winding down and fishing boat traffic is picking up.

Of course we still have our coldest month ahead of us. It’s usually late January and early February before it really gets cold enough to drop water temps below 50. When this happens, just back off the banks, turn your sonar unit on and fish the submerged, deeper cover.

All of the area lakes are in great shape this month. Low water will not be a problem this spring when the spawn kicks off. Lakes Concordia, St. John and Bruin are a couple feet above normal pool level and that’s a good thing. The bass and crappie spawn could kick off as early as mid February and with all the high water, the fish will have plenty of places to spawn.

We’re getting ready for the 23rd annual J.R. Roberts Memorial on Lake Bruin. This long running event will cast off on Feb. 7 out of Shiloh’s Landing. We normally draw anywhere from 80 to 130 teams making this the largest open team bass tournament in the area.

For an entry form to the memorial event go to www.fishingwitheddie.com or stop by Eddie’s Marine and Tackle in Vidalia.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Democrat. He can be reached at fishingwitheddie@cox.net.