Southern vs Northern Fishing

[PressuredFishing]

On 9/22/2021 at 4:30 AM, Koz said:

I haven't fished much in the past month because the fishing has been just lousy. Water temperatures were 90 degrees and even the local fishing guides were lamenting how poor the bass and striper fishing was. Then I come here on Bass Resource and see mostly northerners posting about all of the great summer fishing going on and frankly, I got a bit jealous.

 

But then I remembered - come December my lures won't bounce.

I am blessed to live on the west coast where bass fishing is amazing 9 months out of the year, and the 3 winter months are slower but fishable. The one thing the northerners have over me is that they don't have to pay 10 bucks to fish a lake lmao

[Alex from GA]

I live in the south and can't fish in the heat on a lake but rivers are different.  The water is about 15* cooler and if I'm too hot I get out of the kayak and dunk myself.  In the summer I'll go out @ dawn and quit when I get hot, usually about 11.  About December I go to central FL and usually stay until April.  BTW I'm retired.  

 

 

[J Francho]

Fishing all over the east coast, I've found there are similarities just about everywhere.  The only thing that really changes is that people talk funny the further south I go.

[TnRiver46]

7 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Fishing all over the east coast, I've there similarities just about everywhere.  The only thing that really changes is that people talk funny the further south I go.

I don’t gots no dadgum clue what Tom foolery you is referrin to 

[J Francho]

51 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I don’t gots no dadgum clue what Tom foolery you is referrin to 

you umpto?

 

[PressuredFishing]

4 hours ago, Alex from GA said:

I live in the south and can't fish in the heat on a lake but rivers are different.  The water is about 15* cooler and if I'm too hot I get out of the kayak and dunk myself.  In the summer I'll go out @ dawn and quit when I get hot, usually about 11.  About December I go to central FL and usually stay until April.  BTW I'm retired.  

 

 

Yeah early morning summer bite is great, afternoons are slow and heat isn't fun.

[Koz]

14 hours ago, J Francho said:

Fishing all over the east coast, I've found there are similarities just about everywhere.  The only thing that really changes is that people talk funny the further south I go.

I moved from SC to GA and sometimes it's like I moved to another country. One day I was waiting while my car was being fixed and an old timer sat near me and started talking. Friendly guy, but I think I understood only about 25% of what he was saying.

[LrgmouthShad]

On 9/24/2021 at 10:27 AM, J Francho said:

The only thing that really changes is that people talk funny the further south I go.

Thats funny. Cuz seems to me when I went North, people talked more funny. Just messing with you. People here think I'm a redneck. I tell them no, I just happen to fish, drink sweet tea, have a little accent, and listen to Whiskey Myers. 

 

Northern fish have always seemed so much more aggressive to me. Regardless of talking about the actual northern/florida strains. I also have a strong dislike for clear water

[Sam]

Koz, the biggest difference between northern and southern fishermen is that us southern guys speak normal English and are easy to understand.

[desmobob]

In the north, you need something like this for several months and a vertical presentation is pretty much your only option...  topwater action gets really, really slow.

...and it's handy to have something like this on a trailer after you put up your bass boat for the winter:

 

[Mr. Aquarium]

I think the northern bass will feed better in super cold water.   I’ve had awesome days on kayak when the pond was 3/4 frozen or catchin topwater fish when water was in the low 40s 

[gim]

4 hours ago, desmobob said:

In the north, you need something like this for several months and a vertical presentation is pretty much your only option

Pretty much?  It IS your only option to fish vertical.

 

Ice fishing has turned into something for most people here that is not about the fishing anymore.  I know people that go out there and rarely fish.  They just sit in their permanent $25k ice castle, drink beer, socialize, watch satellite TV, and play cards.  Twice a weekend one of their rattle reels will go off and they call it "fishing."  Most of the modern fish houses double now as a small camper or RV with air conditioning though, so they at least have a dual purpose.

 

One positive about climate change is that our winters are becoming shorter and milder.  It takes some very thick ice to drive out with a 1/2 ton truck pulling a 15 foot ice shack, and the window of opportunity to do that is down to about a solid month or more now.  Ice fishing has become so popular here too that some of our panfish and walleye populations are in serious trouble.  Reduced bag limits are being implemented.  There are some that would rape and pillage a lake for every crappie available until there were none left and then blame the state game & fish agency for not managing it properly.

[desmobob]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

Pretty much?  It IS your only option to fish vertical.

 

I guess you didn't see my attempt at humor there.  ?

 

Although you could use other presentations if you had a good chainsaw to use along with the power auger.  Even trolling would be an option by adding the snowmobile...

 

 

Anyway, our bass season closes in the winter.  Most bass guys target other species then.  

 

 

[J Francho]

You *have* to drill holes.....

 

[TnRiver46]

Woopsie

[desmobob]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

You *have* to drill holes.....

 

 

Forgot about that... even after doing some winter steel head fishing last year...

[Koz]

13 hours ago, Sam said:

Koz, the biggest difference between northern and southern fishermen is that us southern guys speak normal English and are easy to understand.

I'm a transplanted Yankee ?

 

True story - one day I was sitting in the waiting area while getting repairs done on my car. An old timer walked in and sat down while waiting for his own car to be serviced. He carried on a conversation with me for about 30 minutes, and with that heavy drawl of his I only understood about 20% of what he was saying. But I smiled and nodded a lot.

[TnRiver46]

11 hours ago, Koz said:

I'm a transplanted Yankee ?

 

True story - one day I was sitting in the waiting area while getting repairs done on my car. An old timer walked in and sat down while waiting for his own car to be serviced. He carried on a conversation with me for about 30 minutes, and with that heavy drawl of his I only understood about 20% of what he was saying. But I smiled and nodded a lot.

Poor guy is probably still sitting there waiting on you to answer his riddle 

[J Francho]

11 hours ago, Koz said:

I'm a transplanted Yankee ?

 

True story - one day I was sitting in the waiting area while getting repairs done on my car. An old timer walked in and sat down while waiting for his own car to be serviced. He carried on a conversation with me for about 30 minutes, and with that heavy drawl of his I only understood about 20% of what he was saying. But I smiled and nodded a lot.

[Troy85]

Down here in the shallow marshes I fish, the dog days are all about frogs/buzzbaits and thick grass.  You will see a lot of tournament guys just throwing a frog or buzzbait from start to finish.  I prefer winter, since the water rarely gets below 50, the bass stay pretty active thru winter.  The hardest days are after a big front when the north wind will blow a lot of the water out of the marsh and muddy everything up.  The marsh where I fish water clarity is the trump card, even on a post frontal day you can usually get a good bit of bites if you have clean water. 

[Bankc]

I was reading an article by Tommy Biffle the other day.  He's from my area and was saying that fishing in September was the hardest time to fish.  He said you have to really downsize and take what you can get that month.  He also said that by mid October, things start to turn around.  

 

Looking back, that jives with my experience.  Though I often read online about how August is the hard time to catch fish, yet I seem to do okay in August (not great) and how people are chasing the shad in the shallows and other fall patterns in September.  That's only just started to happen this week at some of the shallower lakes where I live.  Last week, the highs were in the 90's.  But in two weeks the fall patterns should be gearing up everywhere near me.  

 

I think it's the case of we all get the same patterns, it's just that it happens at different times at different latitudes.  Kind of like the fall leaves.  I'm sure the leaves are changing colors in a lot of places up north right now.  It'll be near Halloween before that happens here.   

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, Bankc said:

I was reading an article by Tommy Biffle the other day.  He's from my area and was saying that fishing in September was the hardest time to fish.  He said you have to really downsize and take what you can get that month.  He also said that by mid October, things start to turn around.  

 

Looking back, that jives with my experience.  Though I often read online about how August is the hard time to catch fish, yet I seem to do okay in August (not great) and how people are chasing the shad in the shallows and other fall patterns in September.  That's only just started to happen this week at some of the shallower lakes where I live.  Last week, the highs were in the 90's.  But in two weeks the fall patterns should be gearing up everywhere near me.  

 

I think it's the case of we all get the same patterns, it's just that it happens at different times at different latitudes.  Kind of like the fall leaves.  I'm sure the leaves are changing colors in a lot of places up north right now.  It'll be near Halloween before that happens here.   

September is a great month of fishing for me year after year. Not by Tommy biffle standards but I sure enjoy it 

[Catt]

[J Francho]

We definitely have rednecks up here...

[Way north bass guy]

I’m 1/4 redneck from my mother’s side. Or was it my fathers side? Well, maybe a bit of both…