Cold Front: What Will The Fishing Mostly Be Like? How Should I Fish?

[tcbass]

Got a cold front tonight. From days in the mid 70's down to 52' degrees tonight in Minnesota. Should be back up to 76' degrees tomorrow when I get out on the lake. The other day we were sling quite well with topwater KVD Sexy Dawgs.

What will this do to the fishing tomorrow? How should I plan on trying to catch some?

[iceintheveins]

If they seem fussy go with smaller plastics and jigs. Senkos, finesse worms, small creatures, ect.

[Felix77]

It may not impact the bite at all. I would start power and slow down if they seem picky. As stated already finesse it if it gets tough

[PersicoTrotaVA]

Going into summer a cold front can make the bite really slow.  Down size your baits and slow down the presentation.

[timsford]

I always slow down and pick apart cover during cold front conditions. Sometimes flipping a big jig or plastic with a heavier weight gets a reaction strike when fish arent feeding. The finesse tactics work too but i still stick next to cover. This is usually my last resort though because i feel like i get better quality fish on bigger baits, especially jigs

[Fishes in trees]

When I get confronted with a summer cold front, I go to the deep weed line on points, main lake points and maybe the first or second secondary points leading into a cove.  I want to fish the sparse weeds on the edge of the weed line out to 4 or 5 feet past where the weeds stop.  Most guys use a jig or a tx rig for this fishing.   These days I'm mostly using a 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz jika rig or a bubba drop shot with a half ounce weight.  The productive areas I'm looking for, on the lakes that I fish are mostly between 8 and 15 or so feet, maybe 20.

 

If I don't get bit on the first point, I go to the next, and I'll go to a dozen points before I'll try a different pattern on front days.   I'm sure that there are different front patterns that would work, but last year and so far this year, this is the one that has worked best for me.

 

You could probably go shallower and punch holes in weed beds, the last couple of times I went fishing, I didn't have a punch rig rigged up so that wasn't a primary or secondary option for me & I didn't want to spend time tying one 

 

Last time I went, (post front conditions, day after a 2" rain, water temp dropped several degrees from pre-rain temp) the deep weed line pattern was working from mid-morning to mid afternoon.  Later in the afternoon, around 5 or so, I thought I needed at least to try something shallow.  Not a lot was happening, but on one grass flat, due to the rain and the subsequent rising water, there was 6 or 8 inches of clear water above one grass bed.

 

I threw a real light Rapala minnow on light gear and caught 8 or 9 shorts & slot fish one after another, a nice little flurry.  Trying to move slightly deeper for bigger fish didn't work and I also tried several other grass beds with nothing happening shallow or slightly deeper.

 

So, that's my current theory on summer post front fishing conditions.   Half ounce jika rig, 15 or 17 lb fluorocarbon line, creature bait or power bait lizard 

fished on deep weed lines on main lake points (or the 1st or 2nd secondary point inside a cove)  On my lakes, for the most part this translates into  fishing 8 to 15 feet or so down, maybe deeper on your lakes.   Oh yeah, secchi disc reading was 3 1/2 to 4, which translates to a water visibility of 7 to 8 feet.  This was a little murky by my lake standards, secchi disc readings of 4 to 6 are common.

[tcbass]

Update:

Fished normally in the shallows and caught about 4 on my KVD Sexy Dawg. Missed 2. Then I caught some on flukes and with a spinner bait. Not a bad day.