Fall Cold Front Fishing... Slow!

[desmobob]

I got out today on southern Lake Champlain to see what was shakin'.  On my last trip out, on Veterans' Day, the water was 47* and the fish were willing.  I picked up several decent largemouths and a couple of nice smallies.  Today was a different story.  The water temp was down to just below 45* , a cold front had moved in, and the largemouths were not playing.

 

I threw a lightly-weighted T-rigged Senko in the same spots I hit them on Wednesday.  No dice.  They didn't want a jig, either.  I tied on a blade bait and immediately caught a five or six pound pike.  A couple of casts later, a big white perch ate it.  No bass.  I finally resorted to the ol' Ned Rig and started catching some smallmouths.  I got a half-dozen; all the same small size: about 1 1/2 pounds.

 

The wind started blowing out of the North at a pretty good clip.  At one point, I was casting straight into it and could feel the line fluffing up on my reel.  I turned the magnetic cast control way up and threw again.  Major league backlash!  I looked at the cast control to find that I turned it way DOWN, not way up!   Oops!!  Oh well... I needed to put fresh line on that reel anyway.  ;-)

 

Eight fish in eight hours of fishing.  Not great, but I guess it beats getting skunked!  I have tomorrow off and will most likely try again.  It will be a little cooler tomorrow with the morning temperature at 26* and a forecasted high of 46*.  I have a good feeling it will be my last day out for the season.  

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[A-Jay]

Way to stick with it ~ Congrats

 

Good Luck tomorrow

 

Stay Safe

 

A-Jay

[desmobob]

Thanks A-Jay!

 

I hate to see my season coming to an end, but on the other hand, I'm always looking forward to the next season.  For me, that's ice fishing season!

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[WPCfishing]

I was out for 4 hours today.. Had a few rolls on frogs but no hits.'

Water was 47-51 depending on the shore.

I'm done for the season.. Winter sucks.

[Bluebasser86]

I was out for 4 hours today.. Had a few rolls on frogs but no hits.'

Water was 47-51 depending on the shore.

I'm done for the season.. Winter sucks.

Frog fishing in water that cold?? Sounds like you could have adjusted your presentation to something a little slower and not on the surface and done some work. 

[Mainebass1984]

I got out today on southern Lake Champlain to see what was shakin'.  On my last trip out, on Veterans' Day, the water was 47* and the fish were willing.  I picked up several decent largemouths and a couple of nice smallies.  Today was a different story.  The water temp was down to just below 45* , a cold front had moved in, and the largemouths were not playing.

 

I threw a lightly-weighted T-rigged Senko in the same spots I hit them on Wednesday.  No dice.  They didn't want a jig, either.  I tied on a blade bait and immediately caught a five or six pound pike.  A couple of casts later, a big white perch ate it.  No bass.  I finally resorted to the ol' Ned Rig and started catching some smallmouths.  I got a half-dozen; all the same small size: about 1 1/2 pounds.

 

The wind started blowing out of the North at a pretty good clip.  At one point, I was casting straight into it and could feel the line fluffing up on my reel.  I turned the magnetic cast control way up and threw again.  Major league backlash!  I looked at the cast control to find that I turned it way DOWN, not way up!   Oops!!  Oh well... I needed to put fresh line on that reel anyway.  ;-)

 

Eight fish in eight hours of fishing.  Not great, but I guess it beats getting skunked!  I have tomorrow off and will most likely try again.  It will be a little cooler tomorrow with the morning temperature at 26* and a forecasted high of 46*.  I have a good feeling it will be my last day out for the season.  

 

Tight lines,

Bob

 

I was on Champlain last weekend. The blade bait bite was great for smallies in 15-35 ft. We had to be fishing around steep drop offs with rock and gravel bottom. We didn't get many I think we caught 18 bass for the day. Our biggest 5 smallies went 20 lbs 8 oz. We had to fish 15 ft or more if we wanted the bigger fish.

[desmobob]

I was on Champlain last weekend. The blade bait bite was great for smallies in 15-35 ft. We had to be fishing around steep drop offs with rock and gravel bottom. We didn't get many I think we caught 18 bass for the day. Our biggest 5 smallies went 20 lbs 8 oz. We had to fish 15 ft or more if we wanted the bigger fish.

 

Nice.  There's not a lot of 15-35-foot water in my part of the lake (the very southern end).  I got my smallies in surprisingly shallow water, mostly around the concrete buoy bases north of South Bay.  I'm heading out in a little while to fish again today.  It's supposed to be much less windy today.  I'm waiting for the frost to melt off my boat.  ;-)

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[WPCfishing]

Frog fishing in water that cold?? Sounds like you could have adjusted your presentation to something a little slower and not on the surface and done some work. 

 

I agree but the bite was off on everything I threw. The only bit of action I had was on the surface.. 

[desmobob]

 

Eight fish in eight hours of fishing.  Not great, but I guess it beats getting skunked!  I have tomorrow off and will most likely try again.  It will be a little cooler tomorrow with the morning temperature at 26* and a forecasted high of 46*.  I have a good feeling it will be my last day out for the season.  

 

 

I got out again today.  The weather was about ten degrees colder and the wind was about 10MPH calmer.  The water temperature was a little over 43*.

 

I hit the same spots with the same presentations and things were much different!  At the first spot I always hit, I caught one small largemouth.  I started off throwing a jig, then switched to a T-rigged Seiko.  It was very cold in the morning and I got frustrated trying to fish a jig with gloves on.  Yesterday I got nothing at that spot.  At the next spot, where I picked up smallmouths yesterday, I got one nice largemouth.  I got another one in my next spot.

 

I was thinking it was weird how yesterday, I caught all smallmouths and today, all largemouths.  Then I picked up a tiny smallie on a 1/2 oz. gold blade bait.  I'm surprised he tried to eat it!  I picked up one more small largemouth on a Ned Rig, and that was it.  Twice, I lost fish I had on.  One seemed small and the other, decent.  Slow day.  But it beat the heck out of working!

 

I guess I'm just going to have to go out and try to do better tomorrow!  That leaves me a rainy Thursday to winterize the boat, then, back to work on Friday.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[gardnerjigman]

I agree but the bite was off on everything I threw. The only bit of action I had was on the surface..

Still should have been something to figure out. If fish are rolling on frogs in that cold of water they were still actively feeding. Spook, buzzbait, weightless fluke, spinnerbait, shallow running crank/square bill would have got the nod if it were me.

[WPCfishing]

Still should have been something to figure out. If fish are rolling on frogs in that cold of water they were still actively feeding. Spook, buzzbait, weightless fluke, spinnerbait, shallow running crank/square bill would have got the nod if it were me.

The bass that showed themselves were in 1-2 feet of water.

They were in whatever cover they could find and on the north west

side where the water was warmer. I threw t rigged worms, jigs and

I took a shot at floating jerk baits and square bills. I also tried spinner baits in 3' areas along the standing reeds.

We had 4-5 straight days of cold air and 20 mph winds prior. The water had been 60-63 degrees. The quick temp drop and consistent winds had much to do with the lack of activity.

FYI this lake is about 6'-7' deep. There are big Pick and Pike out

In the deeper areas. The bass are always in the shallows so going deep wasn't an

option.

[Bluebasser86]

The bass that showed themselves were in 1-2 feet of water.

They were in whatever cover they could find and on the north west

side where the water was warmer. I threw t rigged worms, jigs and

I took a shot at floating jerk baits and square bills.

We had 4-5 straight days of 20 mph winds prior. The water had been 60-63 degrees.

Sounds like the fish I encountered a couple weeks ago. Cold, windy, post cold front conditions. I felt like they should have moved deeper and been fairly inactive. After a couple hours of trying to force them to follow the rules with 1 dink and 1 good fish to show, I went shallow (2' or less), with a black and blue bladed jig and ended up with a 20 pound bag in about 2 hours. Another case of fish just not reading the book. Like in your case, they wouldn't touch a spinnerbait, trap, squarebill, or swimbait, but they jumped all over the bladed jig.

[davecon]

Come on down to Florida and see what a cold front does here !

Doesn't get that cold really, but the weather change literally throws a switch on em.

Many years ago a local club I was in had a little tournament. 22 boats. On Saturday 18 of the 22 had at least one eight pounder. You were embarrased to go to the scales with less than 25 pounds. Saturday night a cold front came through and on Sunday not even one bass was caught. Same guys, same lake. That is typical of what a front does down here. Sounds to me like you did OK.

[WPCfishing]

Come on down to Florida and see what a cold front does here !

Doesn't get that cold really, but the weather change literally throws a switch on em.

Many years ago a local club I was in had a little tournament. 22 boats. On Saturday 18 of the 22 had at least one eight pounder. You were embarrased to go to the scales with less than 25 pounds. Saturday night a cold front came through and on Sunday not even one bass was caught. Same guys, same lake. That is typical of what a front does down here. Sounds to me like you did OK.

Last year water temps weren't below 50 until January 1st.

It's disappointing the 40' water came so early.

I may visit a deep water reservoir and go deep for small mouth before

I put my gear up. Depends on the weather. It's not looking good.

[davecon]

Don't mean to rub it in but the fishing is just now about to turn on here in central Florida.

I fish for Snook during the summer/early fall then bass in the winter/early spring.

Went snook fishing this morning. Water temp was 73 at dawn, 75 at noon. High temp today was 87. Our summers are long and brutal but the winters are great except for the cold fronts.

See my recent post in the "Other Fish Species" section.

We are supposed to get a cold front late this week but it will only get down in the 60's. The humidity will drop and the fishing may slow a little. It's really later in the winter that the cold fronts have the most impact.

I *** the cool days you guys have, must be nice to not sweat every time you go outside, but I don't want any part of your winters.

Good fishin !

[desmobob]

I *** the cool days you guys have, must be nice to not sweat every time you go outside, but I don't want any part of your winters.

Good fishin !

 

It was a balmy 20* this morning when I got up.  I'm waiting until 10 am to head out... the frost may melt off my boat by then!

 

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[desmobob]

I got out on the water at 10 am... it was up to 33*.  

 

I picked up a couple of decent largemouths right away, then couldn't buy a bite for the rest of the day!  The wind was nasty and prevented me from fishing a couple of spots I usually hit.  It was a good day, though.  The sun came out and it was fairly comfortable if I stayed out of the wind.  Unfortunately, the spots that weren't windy weren't good fishing spots!

 

[Check out the difference between the lateral stripes on these two bass....]

 

 

 

 

Today was my last day out with the boat for the season.  I'll get her wrapped up and put away this weekend (or maybe tomorrow if it doesn't rain).  I had a safe and enjoyable season, and I hope everyone else did, too.

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[long island basser]

It has to be at least 40* and no wind for me to even think about going out.

I give you credit for heading out, and end up with a couple nice bass.

[Turkey sandwich]

Those are two solid fish to end the season on.

I'm hoping conditions aren't too awful this weekend and that I can get a few days on the Suquehanna before calling it quits. Back surgery pretty much wrecked late summer/fall for me that might be forgiven if we can get into some solid 4+lb fish. Fingers crossed that water levels don't get crazy.

[desmobob]

It has to be at least 40* and no wind for me to even think about going out.

I give you credit for heading out, and end up with a couple nice bass.

 

Thanks!  Sometimes, things are so slow late in the fall I'm worried I'm going to get skunked.  Luckily, it seems there are always a few gullible bass out there somewhere...

 

 

Those are two solid fish to end the season on.

I'm hoping conditions aren't too awful this weekend and that I can get a few days on the Suquehanna before calling it quits. Back surgery pretty much wrecked late summer/fall for me that might be forgiven if we can get into some solid 4+lb fish. Fingers crossed that water levels don't get crazy.

 

Thanks.  I hope you get out on the weekend.  Don't catch any monsters that will strain your back!  ;-)   We're only forecasted to receive a small amount of precipitation this week (up here in NY, anyway).

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[Bankbeater]

Good job dealing with the wind and cold weather.  I will go out when the temp is in the 30's as long as there is no wind.  Other than that I wait until the temp is in the 40's.

[desmobob]

I just finished covering up the boat for the winter.  It will sit for about five months.  How depressing!  Thank goodness I have ice fishing to look forward to...

 

Tight lines,

Bob