Fishing tip of the week

Fishing Tip of the Week

Monday, 16 September 2024 09:55

Dropping Water Temperature
by Mike Gerry

Dropping water temperatures have different effects on the fish depending on the time o year and the difference in cooling water temps vs. water becoming cold like in the winter. I have seen the affects of water temperature for many years now, and I thought it might be time to help my readers understand it also. This past month of March the water temperature took a downturn around the 10th of the month; the bass were feeding and active and they shut off like turning off a facet. The water temperature dropped from 55 degrees to 49 and it was like fishing for ghosts. However, water temperature dropping from the mid 80’s to the upper 70’s is more of a cooling effect like we see in the fall, and it turns the bass on.

To me this is not only been my experience in the fall but also in the middle of summer, I have seen times when we had 90-degree water and bites were fair then a cold front comes through drops the water temperature a few degrees and it’s on. There are definitely many other factors to the cooling temps like barometric pressure and more, but in general it’s just about the water cooling vs. turning cold.

The real question is what happens and what you can do to find active fish; I believe in order 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 when it turns to cold water. This is an ideal time to really go 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 of the very area you have been successful in before. In the fall the cooling temperatures become your friend a few degrees of drop causes them to become active and chase bait allowing you to go back to fast moving baits causing reaction bites and helping them to compete for food.

Dropping water temperature means activity turns on; water turning cold means tough conditions. Right now we are seeing cooling temps and its fun!
Captain Mike