Cold Water Fish

[K_Mac]

The weather has been a little warmer around here the last few days-temps around 30 at night and 50 during the day. I have fished the last couple of days with a friend at a club with old strip pit lakes. The water temp has been in the lower 40s. Tuesday afternoon we caught 6 nice fish, with the biggest in the 4 lb range. Yesterday we caught 8 good fish, with the biggest somewhere over 6 lb. My scale is not working so those numbers are not certified, but I am confident they are accurate  .

 

The reason for my post (other than a little shameless bragging) is the way most of these were caught. Tuesday all the fish were caught on jigs. Yesterday all of the bigger fish were caught slow rolling a 1/2 oz chatterbait. I know that for pre-spawn fish this is a great technique, but did not have much confidence in 41 degree water. I was a little surprised when on about the third cast I felt some old grass that that turned out to be a fine bass. I was also surprised when the biggest fish nearly took the rod away from me when it hit. I guess my point is I still have much to learn about bass fishing, and catching fish in February in the Midwest is wonderful thing.   

 

EDIT: I just realized I posted this in the wrong spot.   Sorry guys.

[Goose52]

Hey K_Mac - Congrats indeed - those are fine catches for anyplace this time of year - let alone being up north in Illinois, and especially when you would normally still have hard water. 

 

My previous PB (a 9.06) was caught on a Z-Man chatterbait on February 21, 2011, in water that had just warmed up to 49 degrees after being in the low 40s for weeks before that. My best 5 fish bag here in TN was caught just a few weeks prior to that, on February 7, 2011 - 19.5 pounds caught in water that had a surface temp of 40 when I started, and 39 degrees when I quit after dark.  This bag was caught on a spinnerbait and lipless crank.  Another notable catch was the 8.4 on New Years eve last winter on a lipless crank in 46 degree water.  The coldest water hook-up I had this winter was a nice bass in 38 degree water on a lipless crank - lost that fish at the bank. Like your experience - this fish started to rotate the rod out of my grip (of course, the two pair of gloves I had on and the blue, stinging fingers inside the gloves might have had something to do with that )

 

Not sure I know anything about winter fishing other than if you find them during that narrow window when they have the feedbag on...you get get some quality bites.  I think I also tend to land more winter fish since they don't seem to want to jump when the water gets into the 40s.  I have used the usual slow winter presentations (jigs, jerkbaits, and soft plastics) and caught a few fish, but most of my quality winter fish have been on moving baits - and in the case of lipless cranks - moving pretty fast.  I guess if they want to feed...they'll add the speed !

 

Keep getting out there good buddy.

[LgMouthGambler]

When the water temps get "just right" those fish will turn into monsters. Down here they were like that about 2 weeks ago. 2lbers were hitting and fighting like 5lblers. When I was in Maine over the summer fishing on my wifes grandfathers lake, those bass were insanely agressive and strong. The water up there is colder than down here, and in the summer its that "just right" temp for them to be real aggressive. The biggest one I caught was 6lbs, and I thought I had a 10lber on, she was pulling me around big time.

[K_Mac]

Hey Goose! It is good to hear from you, and good to know your still catching more fish than most of us will ever hope to catch! You are right about the fish not wanting to come out of the water, even though they all fought hard. FWIW if I would have had on gloves when the big girl hit, I would still be whining about it taking my combo...

 

LMG it is the reason we crazies go in all sorts of weather; you just never know when they will turn on...