Changing Water Temperatures
Regardless of the time of year the bass react differently to falling water temperatures. I have seen the affects of water temperature for many years now, and understanding it is key. Cold months like March with temperatures dropping are different than cooling temperatures in the fall. The water temperature taking a quick drop in March, really changes the bite to the worse but cooling temperatures occurring over a short period of time in the fall quickly increases activity. Hence temperatures dropping from 55 degrees in March to 47 degrees makes it tough to get a bite yet cooling from 82 degrees to 75 degrees in October can really turn the bite on!
To me this is not only been my experience in the fall and winter but also in the middle of summer, I have seen times when we had 90-degree water and we were catching fish on top water all day long and suddenly, a cold front comes through drops the water temperature a few degrees and we are struggling for a bite. It like a shock to their system and a perfectly good few days on the water becomes a struggle. Knowing this can happen and preparing for it can make your fishing day much better.
The real question is what happens and what you can do to find active fish; I believe to find them under these conditions you must first understand what happened. So now we can relate to the issue and the result and the real answer is the fish need to be hand fed while the water temperature stabilizes or comes back up. This is an ideal time to really go to slow moving and precise fishing, like working a jig or a worm, a shaky head or even a Carolina rig very slowly around the edges and drops very near the areas you were catching fish the day before. This also is a perfect time to go to a suspending bait to let the bait rock and entice a bass while his body is recovering from the shock of the temperature change.
Dropping water temperature means activity slows, fish slower moving baits but it’s generally just for a short period of time; hence when it stabilizes it gets stronger again and you can deal with it.
Fish Lake Guntersville Guide Service
www.fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com
Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Call: 256 759 2270
Captain Mike Gerry