Help with huge cold front, I’m worried ..

[J Francho]

It would be quite the swing to see a 3° shift in Erie at 15 FOW without some major wave action, rainfall, or turnover event.  Ponds are much more dynamic, and often the focus when temps are on the steady incline.

[Ksam1234]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

I got a window yesterday, and jumped on it, hitting my 12acre target pond. As I'd said above, this day followed several nights as low as 10 and 12F, with ~4" snow. So, what happened?

Before the front:

52F@15ft

55F@ 10-4ft ("Core")

58-60F@1ft (ST)

 

After front (as low as 10 and 12F and 4" snow):

49F@15ft

50F@ 10-4ft ("Core")

52-54F@1ft (ST)

 

It got knocked down, but not far from expected. Telling thing was how quickly it warmed over the few hours I was there. Despite not being a great heating day (that would be flat calm with bright sun), it gained 2-3F. Given a break from these fronts, which "should" happen, and the spawn should be pretty much right on time in this pond.

 

The fishing? I was skunked, and am pretty disappointed. It's a pond known to be difficult, with some large bass. Worth taking my lumps to figure it out. What's both interesting, and frustrating, was that there were signs that the fish were still quite active: shad 'blipping' on top, a couple carp breaching, and the ospreys , eagles, and herons appeared to be having a convention. Saw two osprey and an eagle catch fish -shad and a trout I believe. The only bass I raised chased my CB up at boat-side. I said, "Maybe I should pick up the pace?" I didn't; I fished "cold water" -slow rolling cranks and jigs. Dummy. Maybe.

 

The window shut early -in terms of the fisherman's side of the water's surface- and I chased off by the next front that came a few hours earlier than predicted!  Wind and waves too heavy for a float tube. I was still game, knowing the fish didn't likely care, snug in there resilient H2O, but boat control was gone and I was left pitching willy-nilly pelted by big fat rain/snow globs. "GET OUT!!!!" I swear i heard from that blackened sky. I had to anchor the boat on the downwind shore and hike to the other side for my backpack straps. Also telling, in terms of fish activity, the carp I saw breaching did so in those wind and waves! (In that 54F downwind water). On my hoof out, 5 herons lined the lee-side bank, still game! I went home.

 

So, the news from Lake Wobegone continues. Good luck out there. It'll get better, or more comfortable, soon.

Keep the news comming please! I look forward to some pigs being shown! I don’t have much news as we had horrible 50 mph winds recently. Water levels rose a few feet and it snowed last night.. stuck inside for awhile. 

57 minutes ago, J Francho said:

It would be quite the swing to see a 3° shift in Erie at 15 FOW without some major wave action, rainfall, or turnover event.  Ponds are much more dynamic, and often the focus when temps are on the steady incline.

We did have 50-70 mph gusts causing insane waves along with snow fall and temps in 28 degree range. Pretty crazy year 2020 is turning out to be lol

[J Francho]

36 minutes ago, Ksam1234 said:

We did have 50-70 mph gusts causing insane waves along with snow fall and temps in 28 degree range.

Those are the extreme events I was referring to.  We had them too.  It upsets fishing in the short term.  For the long term, it's a blip.  Two or three days of stable, upward trends, with safe water, and it's time to get out there.

 

 

Oh yeah, it's was snowing just a few minutes ago. ?

[Paul Roberts]

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

It would be quite the swing to see a 3° shift in Erie at 15 FOW without some major wave action, rainfall, or turnover event.  Ponds are much more dynamic, and often the focus when temps are on the steady incline.

Yes! Big deep water is pretty much buffered from the atmosphere. It's why bass in such waters spawn so much later. But, as you'd said, wind is the big water mover, able to bring more intense changes than the atmosphere probably ever could.

2 hours ago, Ksam1234 said:

Keep the news comming please! I look forward to some pigs being shown!

Me too! I've hit this pond 3 times this spring and only managed 4 bass brought to hand. Here's the best one so far, providing some motivation to keep trying.

[Ksam1234]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

Those are the extreme events I was referring to.  We had them too.  It upsets fishing in the short term.  For the long term, it's a blip.  Two or three days of stable, upward trends, with safe water, and it's time to get out there.

 

 

Oh yeah, it's was snowing just a few minutes ago. ?

Ugh I feel your pain! And that’s a nice fish @Paul Roberts !! Trying to stay motivated 

[J Francho]

I keep telling myself I'm going out Sunday.

[Boomstick]

On 4/13/2020 at 11:15 AM, J Francho said:

We're not even close to spawn, let alone ruining it.  Just fish.

What he said. We get a couple inches of snow and then it's going to warm up again and it should stay warmer in the foreseeable future.

[BigTimeBassin]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:23 AM, J Francho said:

I keep telling myself I'm going out Sunday.

Right there with you.. this weather has been discouraging.

[cyclops2]

Fire place, chair and snacks........What cold front & winds >    

[Paul Roberts]

On 4/16/2020 at 1:25 PM, Ksam1234 said:

Keep the news comming please! I look forward to some pigs being shown!

Quick follow up: Seasonable weather came back in -60s for highs. Temps shot back up -took a few days- to mid 50's cores and ST's into low-60sF. My smallest ponds saw the first males with beds down, but only on the morning incident banks (W now) in my two "reference ponds". They are reference ponds bc they were part of the series of ponds I followed spawn initiation in over 3 springs; They were the first to initiate spawning behavior, being the shallowest. So... it came just the same, although delayed about a week.

 

I had also continued fishing my target water, getting skunked (on mature bass) on the next two outings. I actually started to wonder if the bass popn was low. Then... the heat came back. And... omg, the number of little bass that filled the S (organic, heated) shoreline was... unbelievable. The following day they had moved off the shoreline, along with larger bass, holding 4-6ft down in numbers. I suspect the larger marks were pre-spawn adults staging at spawning depth. The first wave is due in very soon. (Will have a VFJ out on it, and the other stuff that that water body tells us about bass... eventually. I'm not running a vlog.)

 

[Ksam1234]

9 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

Quick follow up: Seasonable weather came back in -60s for highs. Temps shot back up -took a few days- to mid 50's cores and ST's into low-60sF. My smallest ponds saw the first males with beds down, but only on the morning incident banks (W now) in my two "reference ponds". They are reference ponds bc they were part of the series of ponds I followed spawn initiation in over 3 springs; They were the first to initiate spawning behavior, being the shallowest. So... it came just the same, although delayed about a week.

 

I had also continued fishing my target water, getting skunked (on mature bass) on the next two outings. I actually started to wonder if the bass popn was low. Then... the heat came back. And... omg, the number of little bass that filled the S (organic, heated) shoreline was... unbelievable. The following day they had moved off the shoreline, along with larger bass, holding 4-6ft down in numbers. I suspect the larger marks were pre-spawn adults staging at spawning depth. The first wave is due in very soon. (Will have a VFJ out on it, and the other stuff that that water body tells us about bass... eventually. I'm not running a vlog.)

 

Tomorrow will be my first day out in two weeks! Temps have been slowly going up. Thursday was 45, today 56 and sunny and tomorrow 61 and sunny. I’m hoping the last 2 days with warmth will make saturday a good day! Water turned into gross stained nasty brown but eh I’ll have to do what I can. Used to clear water but I’m sure the bass are still there. 

[Paul Roberts]

27 minutes ago, Ksam1234 said:

Tomorrow will be my first day out in two weeks! Temps have been slowly going up. Thursday was 45, today 56 and sunny and tomorrow 61 and sunny. I’m hoping the last 2 days with warmth will make saturday a good day! Water turned into gross stained nasty brown but eh I’ll have to do what I can. Used to clear water but I’m sure the bass are still there. 

Good luck with it.