Winter Locations - Same as Hot Summer Spots?

[Bartableman7]

I'm reading that the "winter" bass will seek deep water to lessen the effects of cold water changes during the winter months.  Will these be the exact same locations that they retreat to in the dog days of hot summer? Or are the locations different in some way?

[BoatSquirrel]

50 minutes ago, Bartableman7 said:

Will these be the exact same locations

For the most part, yes.  That deep post spawn water, especially when the water dips below 50.

[WRB]

No, the warm water period is full of aquatic life, insects, young of the fish, frogs and terrestrial critters for bass to feed on.

The cold water period all the above is gone so the bass move to where they are comfortable and being cold blooded their metabolism slows way down.

Deep water is warmer because the earth warms it and spring water is always a constant 50- 60 degrees. Bass are seeking crawdads and baitfish, locate the bait the bass will be nearby.

Tom

[Bankbeater]

In deep grassy lakes I look for the deep grass that is still green. If the lakes not frozen over that is. 

[Smokinal]

I can't speak for the reast of the country, but in Maine, where this whole "bass go deep in the winter" thing should ring true, it just isn't the case.

I catch bass in 34* water in the same locations/depth as I do in 74* water.

I'm going out for one of the last times this weekend and I expect to catch fish in 5-8' and 25-40' and I'm guessing water will be ~39*

 

There's always shallow fish and there's always deep fish; fish where your confidence/experience is.

[Bluebasser86]

90% of the fish live in 10% of the lake in most of the lakes here during the winter. That's not the case during the summer months. 

[Catt]

Winter Locations - Same as Hot Summer Spots?

 

Depends on the body of water

 

Some bodies of water there isn't any deep water.

 

On some bodies of water there are bass that live shallow year round, some stay deep year round, & some move between the two.

[TnRiver46]

?I tried typing some things but I failed……

[LrgmouthShad]

48 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

?I tried typing some things but I failed……

You got a sentence out, that’s pretty good! Maybe try those typing exercises online. 
 

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/improve-typing-skills

[BoatSquirrel]

I offer this from one of my favorites:  https://www.bassmaster.com/greg-hackney/finding-winter-bass-part-1

and

https://www.bassmaster.com/greg-hackney/finding-winter-bass-part-2

 

[Bankc]

It depends on the lake.  In the summer, you'll have vegetation and a thermocline, and that will effect where the fish hold up.  In the winter, you usually don't have those, so it can change where the fish go.  However, sometimes things align so that the good spots in deep water in the summer are also good in the winter.  

 

On the local lake I most frequent, they are not the same.  In the summer, they'll all be at the same depth, right above the thermocline, all over the lake.  Anywhere there's good structure and deep water access at that depth.  In the winter, they'll almost always be near the dam because that's where the water is pumped in, and the water gets warmed up on it's way in (it travels about 100 miles through underground pipes to feed the reservoir).  That's for the deep water bass.  There are always some bass that hang out in the shallows all year long, so they don't count.  

[throttleplate]

where do the fish go when a very shallow small 100 acre lake in minnesota freezes over and then completely freezes, fish kill?

[LrgmouthShad]

10 minutes ago, throttleplate said:

where do the fish go when a very shallow small 100 acre lake in minnesota freezes over and then completely freezes, fish kill?

I'd kinda like to know too. There is a decent pond around here that is really tiny and super shallow but there are some pretty decent bass in there. Another slightly larger and deeper (~9ft max) I know has produced bass up to 6.5lbs. Don't even get me started about my favorite pond (~24ft max). 

[WRB]

Yes, fish kill. There is a reason LMB distribution is limited in northern lakes. Unless there is springs or some water source very cold water less then 39.4 degrees the dissolved oxygen gets too high. This is the reason water density is lighter weight as it gets colder then 39 and starts to move towards the surface it’s super saturated with DO. 

What usually off sets the high DO is green most vegetation dies using up DO. If the freezes with thick snow cover the sunlight can’t penetrate enough for deep green aquatic plants to produce DO, if the lake freezes sold all fish die.

Tom

[Black Hawk Basser]

Take this for what it is - I ice fish and typically I don't find nearly as many bass in the deep basin as I do in more shallow areas, or near the transition from shallow to deep.  Sometimes one has to fish in less than 3-4 feet of water under the ice for bass, in the remaining shallow weeds, whereas the panfish will be more plentiful in the basin area that is maybe 10-15 feet deep.

[Koz]

I don't think that this question can be properly answered without factoring in the water depth of the basin and the different climate regions.

[papajoe222]

Other than oxygen levels and the availability of forage nearby (that fact is relative to the fish's metabolism being much slower and what one considers nearby), in my neck of the woods predators also influence bass location in cold water. Not being the top predator in many of our northern, natural lakes, security plays a much more important role in where you will find winter bass here.

[cyclops2]

I have no idea which bars they go to.  But everybody loves to hang out at underwater springs. There are 2 in my bay. Baitfish school up a lot of the time there.  Morning, noon  and sundown.  The SMB are impossible to catch there. They want the real thing only.  I stopped fishing it decades ago. Too frustrating.

[scaleface]

I dont have a lot of experience winter bass fishing .It gets cold , I usually dont fish .Then one day  last December I went  and did not get  bite out on the points with blade baits and such but caught 10 shallow in brush using a jerkbait . 

[OldManLure]

36 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I dont have a lot of experience winter bass fishing .It gets cold , I usually dont fish .Then one day  last December I went  and did not get  bite out on the points with blade baits and such but caught 10 shallow in brush using a jerkbait . 

The bass will still visit shallower water to feed.  There is a window of opportunity there, and depending on where you are and the water you’re fishing, the window will vary in size.  

[Smokinal]

A sample of one in 37' and one in 8' today. Boy was I wrong about the expected temps though!  Very happy about it, but way off. Air was 30 when we got there at 6am but the sun came up and it got pretty darn nice for Nov 20th in Maine. We boated around 25 bass and around 20 crappie.

With those water temps, we should be able to fish for around 3 more weeks.

 

 

 

 

The crappie

[Chris Catignani]

On 11/17/2021 at 4:55 PM, Bartableman7 said:

I'm reading that the "winter" bass will seek deep water to lessen the effects of cold water changes during the winter months.  Will these be the exact same locations that they retreat to in the dog days of hot summer? Or are the locations different in some way?

Well...I'm reading a whole lot of information that for the most part is just not how it happens. What the fish do is the mystery of fishing...I find them in the same spots summer/winter at times and then in different spots.

 

But what the water does is science. In the fall the air temps make the surface water colder as it reaches the same temp as the deeper water..the lake turn over begins. (On one of my home lakes this is around 50 degees). The more the top levels cool (water is densist at 39.2) the more it turns over. The water temp is the same throughout the lake.

 

Excert from Clearing Up the Fall Turn Over by Dick Strenberg

Full artical can be found here Field and Stream

Quote

 

....according to University of Minnesota limnology professor Dr. Robert Megard. "The turnover lasts as long as the lake is cooling," Megard says. "For all practical purposes, turnover continues until freeze-up."

 

There is another annual turnover that occurs soon after ice-out that mirrors the fall turnover. It occurs in spring, when the surface warms to the same temperature as the depths. But the spring turnover is of short duration and has much less effect on fishing.

 

If your lake doesnt freeze over (or have surface temps below 39.2) then you wont have a spring turnover.