Fall fish water temperature

[Maggiesmaster]

I know it’s the first of October, but the temperature here in Arkansas is in the high 80’s and the water temp. is 79 or so. What should the water temperature be for the fall pattern to start—bass hitting  crankbaits, etc?

[WRB]

68 to 58 degrees*

Tom

* reference, Cosmic Clock and Bass Calender.

[Catt]

Quite watching water temperatures & start watching the bait fish!

[scaleface]

11 hours ago, Maggiesmaster said:

I know it’s the first of October, but the temperature here in Arkansas is in the high 80’s and the water temp. is 79 or so. What should the water temperature be for the fall pattern to start—bass hitting  crankbaits, etc?

There is  no temperature where bass start hitting crankbaits in fall , bass have been hitting them   all along .

 

  Yesterday the water temp was 70 degrees and there was an angler camping out on a deep point I like to fish  . I assume he  was catching them or he is one stubborn angler . I caught 32 bass shallow mostly on buzzbaits . They were scattered  from the main lake to the back of arms . My depth finder showed fish everywhere between 20 foot to shallow . So I'm assuming water temps and oxygen content has become stable from the shallows to about 20 foot .

[Catt]

58 to 68° water temperatures where?

 

Down south where I live?

Up north where @A-Jay lives?

Over on the right coast where @Sam lives

On the left coast where @WRB lives

 

Some states are already in fall patterns, down here the shad are just now bunching up. 

[A-Jay]

14 hours ago, Maggiesmaster said:

I know it’s the first of October, but the temperature here in Arkansas is in the high 80’s and the water temp. is 79 or so. What should the water temperature be for the fall pattern to start—bass hitting  crankbaits, etc?

 

38 minutes ago, Catt said:

58 to 68° water temperatures where?

 

Down south where I live?

Up north where @A-Jay lives?

Over on the right coast where @Sam lives

On the left coast where @WRB lives

 

Some states are already in fall patterns, down here the shad are just now bunching up. 

@Catt -

 If we are talking about 'the fall bite' as a time when bass move shallow, stay shallow (for the most part) and are in a positive mood more than a neutral or negative; meaning they'll be willing to strike most of the time,  then I will say that I am fairly convinced that although there will always be "a water temperature" what ever it may be Is Not what moves fish shallow.  Also there is routinely mention regarding 'length of day' - again there always one - but I can not say with any consistency how many hours & minutes of daylight trigger bass movement.  And as for the 'angle of the sun' - there's no protractor in my boat and until my Humminbird units can measure that and come up with some predictable bass locations - I'm not buying it.  

 

 Each season both early & late season climates have varied wildly.  The local water temps have varied wildly as well; despite being the same calendar day one year apart.  With that, the basses locations and mood have been all over the place.  Nothing has been consistent or any where near 'predictable' to where this basshead really had to have a very open mind as to where & when I could expect a 'fall bite'. 

 

  Case in point - this August - water temps in the mid to low 70's - bait & big smallies were super shallow.  This is routinely a mid-60's deal and At Least the End of August / early September deal - at the earliest.  If one was not out on the water looking for bait right there - it would be missed.  I did not miss it btw ~ 

  I believe that it's better ( as @Catt already mentioned here) to have an idea when the predominate bait moves and becomes vulnerable to the bass.  Knowing when & where that happens may be a better predictor of a good bite than the water temps alone will ever be - at least for me.  When it happens the Bass Will not be far behind. 

Camp out on the bait. 

Finally, this may be the long way around for me to openly admit - after all these years, I can not predict this as every season is different. 

So rather than attempting to study how to predict, I chose instead to learn how to locate.  Because in the end, regardless of the season, the water temps, or their mood, we still have to find the bass first. 

And I'm still learning - hopefully I always will.

A-Jay

 

[TnRiver46]

The problem you run into on the TN river is the bait is literally everywhere. If you throw a cast net one time you usually discard 99 percent of the shad you catch and keep the other 200. And that's every cove on almost every lake, so finding the bait isn't hard. There are fields and fields of shad everyday that aren't being attacked at any point in time. So basically, like @Catt said, it differs from one place to the next. Best advice I can offer is throw your fall stuff and let the fish tell you when they are ready

[Boomstick]

14 hours ago, WRB said:

68 to 58 degrees*

Tom

* reference, Cosmic Clock and Bass Calender.

Up here in the northeast it's more like 50 to 64 that's ideal for moving baits. We're already in the middle of fall patterns as the water is right around 60 degrees.

[Log Catcher]

If somebody knows what they are hitting on let me know. I went fishing Monday. Water temp 74 degrees. Caught one 11" monster. Caught it on a baby brush hog. Nobody was having much luck that I talked to down there. Don't tell Catt I caught on a green pumpkin purple color. I know how much he loves green pumpkin.

[scaleface]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

The problem you run into on the TN river is the bait is literally everywhere. If you throw a cast net one time you usually discard 99 percent of the shad you catch and keep the other 200. And that's every cove on almost every lake, so finding the bait isn't hard. There are fields and fields of shad everyday that aren't being attacked at any point in time. So basically, like @Catt said, it differs from one place to the next. Best advice I can offer is throw your fall stuff and let the fish tell you when they are ready

Thats the way it is here to . Shad are so thick they are in the coves  and main lake , they are everywhere . 

[Chris186]

23 hours ago, Boomstick said:

Up here in the northeast it's more like 50 to 64 that's ideal for moving baits. We're already in the middle of fall patterns as the water is right around 60 degrees.

A bit further south of you the water is still mid to upper 60's

[J.Vincent]

In the North, when the water touches 70 degrees, I start fishing shallow Spinnerbaits, Shallow Crankbaits, Walking Topwaters and Lipless Crankbaits more often. But from my experience, the optimum temperature for these lures in the fall would be 65 degrees and cooler. 

[NHBull]

In Central NH surface Temps are around 62. No clear pattern, or at least one I can see. Had the day of the year last week and was all but shut out yesterday.

 

Back to the hunt tomorrow!

[WRB]

Fall inthe bass world isn't the fall equinox it's dependant on water cooling temperatures from the summer period, the warmest water period. Fall for bass is a transition period between summer warm water and winter cold water. Cooling water from summer to winter happens everywhere bass live and the depth of water they are acclimated to.

Cooling water isn't only the top foot of water, it's the water column where the bass.

The consenses of the responses tend to indicate 70 degrees is the average and I will go along with that because anglers today use temp probes reading the top foot of water, no the basses body temperature. 

Shorter days warming the water reduce it's surface temperature, shorter days also signal green plants photo period and they begin the cycle to be dormate. All these changes combine and affect the location of baitfish and bass. Water temperature is 1 factor that is measurable everywhere.

Tom

[NorthernBasser]

How do you guys get an accurate reading on water temps? Sure, the graphs show the temp, but that's more towards the surface. 

[A-Jay]

12 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

How do you guys get an accurate reading on water temps? Sure, the graphs show the temp, but that's more towards the surface. 

Yes from the graph and yes it's the surface temp.

That's all I've ever used and it's just a reference.

Another 'piece of the puzzle' if you will. 

While the water temp can help dictate what, where & how I fish, it's not The Only factor which determines that.

 More like One of many.

YMMV

A-Jay

 

 

[NorthernBasser]

36 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Yes from the graph and yes it's the surface temp.

That's all I've ever used and it's just a reference.

Another 'piece of the puzzle' if you will. 

While the water temp can help dictate what, where & how I fish, it's not The Only factor which determines that.

 More like One of many.

YMMV

A-Jay

 

 

Same here. But I'm always curious how much different the water temp is at 10 ft....20 ft...etc. 

[Paul Roberts]

On 10/3/2018 at 10:36 AM, A-Jay said:

...

And as for the 'angle of the sun' - there's no protractor in my boat and until my Humminbird units can measure that and come up with some predictable bass locations - I'm not buying it.  

...

  Case in point - this August - water temps in the mid to low 70's - bait & big smallies were super shallow.  This is routinely a mid-60's deal and At Least the End of August / early September deal - at the earliest.  If one was not out on the water looking for bait right there - it would be missed.  I did not miss it btw ~ 

...

So rather than attempting to study how to predict, I chose instead to learn how to locate.  Because in the end, regardless of the season, the water temps, or their mood, we still have to find the bass first. 

...

 

Gotta chime in on this...  Great post A-Jay, all of it.

 

"Prediction" is easy when we're talking broad time scales. Things get chaotic as we narrow the timing, down to... days, or hours, or... Heck, when a bass bites, it's really a momentary decision.

 

I know my bass will initiate spawning between mid and late April every year. But, when each water body, or population, initiates is a matter of conditions, circumstances, and likely, history of that population. And in terms of mood and feeding behavior, there are a lot of potential variables: motivators and disruptors. The game is not some machine we can plug in some data and spew out a solid predictable answer. Thus, the "search", each and every time out.

 

As to sun angle -I know where you got that one : That's not something we need on our electronics units. It's occurring in large scale, but it is what drives heat gain and loss, seasonally. Following "sun angle" would be like following the Julian calendar for our fishing. That said though, a bright sunny day in March, or October, is a whole different animal than one in July, or December.

 

Agreed, prey locations matter enormously. If there was one crucial variable, it's that. I find my baitfish -mostly bluegills, here- visually. It saves me a bunch of nearly wasted time to do a tour of a water before I start to fish, to locate clusters of bluegills. There will be bass there too. But those 'gills are in those locations for a reason, and it has to do with food, protection, and at times, heat. Heat, also has an effect on how aggressive, or catchable, fish are. No... I do not track heat as some end all, be all. But I don't ignore it either. It can be a major factor behind what I've come to call "Carnage Zones". No, unfortunately, most of my fishing does not involve Carnage Zones, but I certainly don't ignore the potential.

 

Following this Carnage Zone idea... I fish small waters, some really small. So, locating fish is not the issue; They are all a cast away. Instead it's locating scenarios that make those fish vulnerable to lures. That involves conditions and circumstances that are at play, at all time scales. I do see patterns, that are repeatable year to year. And, yeah, exactly when they set up varies to some degree, bc there are multiple variables potentially at play. I think it's worth understanding those variables. Heat is one. And in my experience, it is a big one.

 

Here are a couple trip reports, from.. a ways back... that describe targeting heating. Photos are long gone, unfortunately, but the text is interesting and enlightening. Sure made my idea bulb burn brighter.  :

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/46927-two-more-fascinating-days-on-colorado-pond-almost-a-skunking-and-pure-carnage/

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/116606-searching-out-those-zones-of-carnage/

 

In the end, yes, we have to find biters, and searching out prey fish whereabouts is key. But we cannot always know what the immediate results will be, so we have to search to get plugged in. But, there are reasons for those big bites, and those dead periods. They only appear random, esp over fine time scales. It sure helps to fish every day. Not many of us can do that.

[Catt]

On 10/3/2018 at 11:36 AM, A-Jay said:

So rather than attempting to study how to predict, I chose instead to learn how to locate.  Because in the end, regardless of the season, the water temps, or their mood, we still have to find the bass first. 

And I'm still learning - hopefully I always will.

 

8 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

Agreed, prey locations matter enormously. If there was one crucial variable, it's that. 

 

If we find optimal water temperatures it in no way shape or form means the bait or bass will be there.

 

I fish a lot during the dead of winter & I've been told find the warmest water in direct sunlight.

 

What I've learned is that doesn't mean the bass will be there.

 

Many many times I found the bass in the shade, in the coldest water around. Once the sun got high enough to eliminate the shade & warm the water, the bite stopped.

 

[WRB]

One of the things that happen in the fall period where I fish is turnover, then the lake settles down after a few weeks and continues transitioning into winner cold water period. You have no idea where bass are going to when the water column is equal water temperature. The only thing that tends to hold true is find the bass, you can't catch them if they are not where you are fishing.

During the warm water period of summer the bass have lots of choices where they want to be near prey becuase it's everywhere. During the winter the basses options are reduced to where the prey is now located and it isn't everywhere, but it's somewhere.

The thing is not many bass anglers are out fishing, often you are on your own to solve the question where to fish. I se fish eating birds to help me locate bait, they know where the bait is and it's usually deep in cold water period.

We have planted trout that move up into shallower cold water so the big bass that feed on trout are no longer deep like during the warm water period because the cold water prey is now in shallower water.

You need to know what the bass are feeding on deeper Shad or shallower trout for example. Crawdads can be anywhere just to keep you on your toes.

Tom 

[WRB]

On October 5, 2018 at 1:19 PM, NorthernBasser said:

How do you guys get an accurate reading on water temps? Sure, the graphs show the temp, but that's more towards the surface. 

If you go the marine electronics forum and read my reply to vintage Humminbird, there is a photo of the analog temperature meter I used for several years measure water temps and bass body temps at the depth they were caught. I put the temp probe into the basses throat read the temp, then released the bass. I did this for years and came up with seasonal behavior based on water temperature the are in, not the surface temps.

Tom

[GReb]

Water temp here yesterday was around 79-81 degrees. Followed a gigantic Shad school for hours and didn’t catch a single scoreable bass. But that’s just how it works sometimes. Perfect conditions and good water current. 

[Catt]

If we look at the wide range of answers here they pretty much cover the entire country from west coast to east coast & from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico & the entire heartland.

 

We covered natural lakes, reservoirs, ponds, rivers, bayous, & marshes.

 

So ya gonna tell us you can determine seasonal behavior based on water temperature?

 

[TnRiver46]

On 10/5/2018 at 5:19 PM, NorthernBasser said:

Same here. But I'm always curious how much different the water temp is at 10 ft....20 ft...etc. 

They make a thermometer for that. I want to say it’s called fish hawk

[J Francho]

On 10/5/2018 at 4:19 PM, NorthernBasser said:

How do you guys get an accurate reading on water temps? Sure, the graphs show the temp, but that's more towards the surface. 

Pool thermometer.  Tie it on, cast it out.