Is Bass Fishing a Seasonal Sport?

[N Florida Mike]

3 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Go to FLA! 
 

 

fishing is better in winter where I live but it gets dark at 6 so by the time you get off work it’s all over 

Nice sheepies! They are so good fried.

Where was that at?

[TnRiver46]

5 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

Nice sheepies! They are so good fried.

Where was that at?

Fort Myers . And they ended up fried! 

[Bird]

November is Reserved for hunting then back out in December but pick my days wisely, can't fish with frozen fingers.....January and February are a wash. 

Pre-spawn has always been my favorite time to fish, bigger ones end up in the boat. 

[gim]

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Dude, I don't even have enough money to spend the winter in Iowa.

 

Not to mention no one would ever WANT to spend the winter in Iowa anyways...

[TnRiver46]

35 minutes ago, Shimano_1 said:

X2 this is usually how my season goes. Usually don't have frozen lakes but January is usually a cold all month deal. Honestly wouldn't trade our weather for Florida's.  You can have that summer heat. Older I get the more I prefer cold weather over hot weather. 

 I feel like it hits triple digits a lot of places more often than Florida. There’s some spots in the Midwest that seem to be upper 90s to 100 fairly often in summer . Georgia and Alabama have always felt like the hottest places on the face of the earth to me 

[soflabasser]

Throughout the years I have fished every single month of the year. I have fished during heat waves, tropical storms, before and after hurricanes, cold fronts, and other less than optimal weather conditions.  I have fished on a Northern river by the Great Lakes while it was snowing, have fished in flooded rivers, rivers with drought where the water level was well below average. Everyone is different but my determination to fish forces me to adapt and for that I am grateful for since it has helped me catch lots of nice bass.

[Boomstick]

I generally fish April to November. Once it gets below about 45 degrees, that's just too cold for my liking.

[roadwarrior]

20 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 I feel like it hits triple digits a lot of places more often than Florida. 

The Midwest is just as hot and humid as the Mid South and most of the
Deep South. I moved from Kansas City in 1980. That summer we has a

two moth drought and over ten days of 100+ temperatures, not to mention

the oppressive humidity.  Memphis is the same in summer, but generally

more pleasant in the winter. 

[gim]

5 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

The Midwest is just as hot and humid as the Mid South and most of the
Deep South.

 

Yes, we do usually get about a dozen days of nastiness jungle type weather in the summer here too.  But what don't usually get is sustained weather like that for days or even weeks on end.  This past summer was unusually warmer with less rain than a typical summer.

[TnRiver46]

22 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

The Midwest is just as hot and humid as the Mid South and most of the
Deep South. I moved from Kansas City in 1980. That summer we has a

two moth drought and over ten days of 100+ temperatures, not to mention

the oppressive humidity.  Memphis is the same in summer, but generally

more pleasant in the winter. 

Yikes! 

[Captain Phil]

Thanks for the replies.  Here in Florida there is no closed season for bass.   Our summers are long, hot and humid.  I prefer to stay in the air conditioning.  This wasn't always the case.  I can remember fishing tournaments when it was so hot we had guys in our bass club pass out from the heat.  Night fishing is great if you can stand the mosquitoes. Our good bass fishing starts in October with the first cool weather. By July, it's too hot for me.

 

Before Covid, I pretty much had the lakes to myself in the fall.  Now it seems everyone and his brother owns a bass boat.  There must be some big tournaments coming as my email box is full of advice requests?  I try to answer specific questions.  

 

 

[GreenPig]

I don't let my bunk carpet dry, year round. It does get tough in the winter with deer, hog, squirrel, and duck hunting.

[Bankc]

I fish year round.  But for a lot of people around me, this is hunting season.  That, and most of the locals don't know how to deal with cold weather.  So this is the time of year that I can have an entire lake to myself.  

[lo n slo]

i’ll knock it off after Christmas and pick it back up again sometime in February. 

[NYWayfarer]

It is seasonal to me. I can catch and release Bass, April through November.

 

December, January, February and most of March is dead to me as I don’t ice fish. If we have a streak of above freezing weather for a few days I will hit the open water of the rivers for some Perch action.
 

 

[king fisher]

Tim of year is definitely not the limiting factor for when I go fishing.  When I was young and single, I fished for work and play spring through summer, hunted all fall, then trapped until spring.  My friends used to say there should be a law against how many days a year I was hunting and fishing.  Then a got married and grew older.  Now I spend more time working than I do fishing.  Why do people say with age comes wisdom?  

[Log Catcher]

I usually start fishing in March or April depending on the weather. I try to fish in to November. When I am done The boat is unloaded and all my equipment is stored in the basement. The boat gets winterized. I don't want to have to bundle up in several layers in freezing weather just to go fishing.

[DitchPanda]

I live in ice country...fittingly I do ice fish a decent amount...mostly for bluegill and crappies. Several yellow perch trips mixed in as well. Otherwise I organize, spend way to much on gear and impatiently wait for ice out.

[WRB]

Yep: Winter, Pre spawn, Spawn, Post spawn, Summer and Fall seasonal periods.

Tom

PS, see my Cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar.

[ww2farmer]

It's seasonal for me. Usually from the first weekend the ice melts in March or April, till as long as the weather holds out on the weekends in November, but occasionally into December. After work trips are done when we turn the clocks back in early November. And there's been many years where weekend after weekend for most of the late fall the weather has been garbage. I'm sure the fish are biting on those garbage days, but below 40 days with wind and rain/snow/etc. are just not fun for me anymore.

[Nitrofreak]

Here in Va. some bodies of water ice over but not too many but, then again it really depends on the season and how long we have sub zero temps.

 

The river systems here rarely freeze over but do get relatively cold, in the 40’s, I like to experiment and work on cold water techniques, other places that have nuclear power plants rarely see those kind of temps although they will freeze in the upper portions, the lower portions still have warmer waters, mid to upper 50’s generally, I like to go scanning just to try and learn a few things about where they go, how many will be in groups if they are in groups and of course try to fish for them, not much success admittedly but it’s still educational to me.

[scaleface]

Its seasonal for me . .I went yesterday . It was cold and windy with the water temp 48 degrees. I had a coat on all day with the hood up . That may be my last trip of the year  . I managed to catch 22 bass with 5 over the 15 inch minimum , 1 foot deep . I was expecting to catch them 20 foot deep . Bass fishing can be crazy . I'll be out there again come March or April .

[Captain Phil]

The coldest I have ever been bass fishing in Florida was 17 degrees when our club had a tournament in Clermont.  My hands felt frozen and I couldn't turn the reel handles. It warmed up a little when the sun came up.  Here in Central Florida, it can drop into the thirties on rare occasion.  We even had a tiny dusting of snow once on my back porch.  It doesn't last long and warms back in the low seventies the next day.  The cool weather in Florida kicks off our good fishing.  All the bass I caught this week were fat and healthy.  Before that, they looked pretty skinny. 

 

 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Captain Phil said:

The coldest I have ever been bass fishing in Florida was 17 degrees 

 

I can not say that ~ 

Nice Bass btw and Sweet Hat ! 

A-Jay

 

 

[The Bassman]

I've managed to fish open water all winter in recent years. We get ice that comes and goes. Years ago we would get locked in for at least a month. Fishing can actually be quite good in winter here. I'll probably try to keep it to days above 40* this go around. I proved my point the past three winters. Guides icing up and cold hands are no fun for me any more.