How would you handle this weather situation

[clemsondds]

I'm sure a lot of you are in this same situation, but I figured I would get your thoughts.  I'm on vacation at a new lake.  Been here for two days and it's been my 70's air temp with water temps from 59-64.  Tonight the air temp is dropping and tomorrow morning at sunrise it will be 43.  And then the next two days morning air temp will be mid 30's.  How would you fish this?  I assume up to today they were close to spawning.  I'm guessing they will back off a little...maybe to docks or secondary points?  I caught one this morning on a pop max and a few on a jerkbait.  I know water temps won't drop as quick as air, but would you guys even mess with topwater when the air temp drops that much?  Would you go straight to finesse all day when there's a 30-40 degree drop in air temp?  I know how to winter fish...but when they are so close to spawn and then get a 3 day drop this drastic...not sure what they will do.  Thank you all for your thoughts! 

[Koz]

Top water baits work all year round. With the shorter feeding windows in the winter it just seems like they don’t work.

 

For me, confidence baits for the conditions you describe would be jerk baits and spinnerbaits.

 

If the bass haven’t moved into the creek channels yet I would fish pockets and points mid lake on the main channel.

[Functional]

and hit areas with rock from like noon to late afternoon. You want to target areas that will warm up and hold heat. 

 

You live in NC so you know weve had those same conditions mixed with heavy rains on and off over the last few weeks. The above with spinners/chatterbaits/swimjigs and T-rigs has worked best for me. 

[clemsondds]

Update: went out this morning. Not much luck. No top water bite. Worked a popper slow and fast but nothing. Caught a small bass on a lipless. And then caught a 35lb catfish on a lv500 lol!  Went to a Texas rig slim paca craw and had a nice bass that broke me off. Not sure what happened…it was real shallow so maybe a rock cut it.  Tried two different jerkbaits and a Texas rig senko but no luck with those.  I pretty much only fish at first light. Rest of the day is with family. Thank you all for your tips! I will say that on the first day I caught an 8.2lb bass…soo I’m pretty happy even if I don’t catch another ha 

[gim]

12 minutes ago, Functional said:

noon to late afternoon. You want to target areas that will warm up and hold heat. 

 

This would be my suggestion too.  Just wait until it warms up later in the day rather than going so early when its colder out.

 

I encounter this scenario regularly in the north when its spring and fall.  The bite often picks up as the day progresses because it has warmed up.

[Pat Brown]

If you caught an 8 lber And a 35 lb catfish then you did have luck and a lot of it LOL!

 

Congratulations on the killer fish and figuring out what they were biting on.

 

What did you end up catching the 8-pounder on???

 

I agree that in general you're going to want to fish from middle of the day till sunset this time of year for the best luck. But there still is an early morning bite. Make no mistake.

[clemsondds]

11 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

If you caught an 8 lber And a 35 lb catfish then you did have luck and a lot of it LOL!

 

Congratulations on the killer fish and figuring out what they were biting on.

 

What did you end up catching the 8-pounder on???

 

I agree that in general you're going to want to fish from middle of the day till sunset this time of year for the best luck. But there still is an early morning bite. Make no mistake.

Thank you! MB 110+1 jr...my confidence bait...my last two PB's were on a jerkbait...I wish they were on a squarebill...but the big ones just seem to prefer the jb...at least in my experience.  I'm trying to fish a jig more...but still haven't gotten the results that the jb does. Here's a pic...sorry for poor image quality...max resolution for the site

[WRB]

Dropping air temps that radically indicates a cold front is passing and that usually is coupled with wind. Cold wind stirs up the water column and that changes the water temps impacting the bass. 
Cold air alone has a minor affect on the water column temps, only a few inches of surface water.

I would fish the 8’ breakline depth to start with if not windy, windy deeper.

Tom

[casts_by_fly]

I'd start where you think they were before the front and then keep backing off, one drop at a time, until you find them.  The cold will chill them and might slow them down, but that just changes lures and speed.  I'd wager you were probably right that some of the bass were starting to push up on beds, especially if its been that warm for a while.  Then again 59-64 indicates that maybe not the whole lake has warmed up to that level or that its 64 in the afternoon on the surface, but the bulk of the lake is 59.  That's still a little cold for true spawning.  The early big ones will come in though and I think that's what you found in the 8 lb fish.  I think you're right on the front edge of the spawning waves which means there should be plenty of fish backed off a little.  I'd back out to the next drop and start throwing jerkbaits.

[Brian11719]

Depending on where you are at the air might drop that much but there's a good chance the water temp won't fluctuate that drastically. If it were me I'd focus more on water temp instead of air temp. Aside from that I'd avoid topwater this early if the weather doing was that. I'm in central Texas and still not seeing much action on topwater TBH and the weather isn't event doing that...on the other hand a bladed jig and drop shot did well this week...

[clemsondds]

OK, so finished out the week. Air temps ranged from 35 to 63 for the rest of the week. Water temp dropped to around 57 to 60. Whoever mentioned Texas rig is the winner. I started flipping the small creature pegged, and found they were about, 5 feet off the bank under laydowns. Friday morning, I finished one Cove for about an hour and caught five, all 2.5-4lbs. I did catch a couple on squareBill later in the afternoon. it’s amazing how dialed and you can get after fishing a few days. I never get to fish more than three or four hours at a time and it’s always tough. Saturday evening I went out with my kids for a boat ride and my daughter said I could cast five times, caught a 3 pound bass on the second cast. And then next morning while taking the boat to the boat ramp, I fished for another five minutes while waiting for my wife and caught another 2.5lb. I now have a lot more confidence now in Texas rigged baits. The right rod helped as well…switched to an nrx+ 873 and it was amazing!  I always used it for football jigs, but now it’s my dedicated tr rod. Thanks again everyone for your help! I tried a lot of other stuff…tried drop shot a good bit but just couldn’t get them to commit…and the 20mph+ winds didn’t help.  Also tried an underpin, a-rig, lipless, chatterbait…and a few others.  But the Texas rig was the deal that week.