Is February too early to fish in the south?

[Skunkmaster-k]

February and March are the months I’ve caught my heaviest fish. That being said , it’s one or two bites a day ( maybe). 

[BassKat]

I love February for big bass in MS, but we often have water in the 55-60+ range. For me, warm winds are a big key in February. On 2/8-9, we had muddy water with 20mph warm winds and slayed them on spinnerbaits. We started out fishing mid-lake points and points at the mouths of creek arms, nothing. As we moved up the creeks, the bite picked up with the apex surprisingly occurring in shallow water in the 2-3' range. We also caught them on small shallow mainlake flats close to deep water. When the warm winds are howling, get on the water. Btw, although sizes were generally small with this pattern, my buddy caught an 8-15 on a small shallow flat near the deepest water in the lake.

[F14A-B]

2 hours ago, Catt said:

Is February too early to fish in the south?

 

ROTFLMAO 

 

Frontal conditions 😉

Yup. They were crushing them on Guntersville a couple weeks ago and I’m certain that isn’t the case at this moment.. but hang on, just a few days of warmer weather and sunshine and it’s back on. Every year over and over. 
With FFS, guys could find those fish and probably catch. But it’s gonna be tougher, way tougher. I know you know this and more, this is directed at the younger generation of fisherman as well as the OP. 😁✝️

[WRB]

Where 10 degree water temp drop in 24 hours is the limit for NLMB to survive the same 10 degree water temp drop drop is fatal FLMB that must find warmer water.

Air temps don’t impact core water temps fast unless accompanied with wind to mix up the deeper water. Florida being mostly shallow water the FLMB reacts to cold water temps by becoming very inactive.

Tom

[Smirak]

8 hours ago, F14A-B said:

Yup. They were crushing them on Guntersville a couple weeks ago and I’m certain that isn’t the case at this moment.. but hang on, just a few days of warmer weather and sunshine and it’s back on. Every year over and over. 
With FFS, guys could find those fish and probably catch. But it’s gonna be tougher, way tougher. I know you know this and more, this is directed at the younger generation of fisherman as well as the OP. 😁✝️

You know exactly where on GVille? I don’t have to work until 4 tomorrow afternoon… 😏

[BassKat]

I just thought of something else.  On 2/8-9, because they were hitting the spinnerbait in such shallow water so well, I threw on a buzzbait for what was likely only a little over 10 minutes, but I did catch one. Since the switch caused a slowdown in action, I went back to the spinnerbait. However, the point remains that not only is February not too early to fish in the south, but with optimal conditions, it's not even necessarily too early for topwater!

[txchaser]

First 13+ in Texas for the year is usually caught in the first few days of Jan. IMO big fish prespawn starts mid-feb at the latest. But the weather is comically volatile week to week. 

 

4746	Strike King Elite	01/03/2025	Brandon Burks	Stephenville TX	11.37	24.00	J. B. Thomas	Brandon Burks's fish
4727	Legacy #670	01/02/2025	Brady Stanford	Millersview TX	13.13	27.00	O. H. Ivie	Brady Stanford's fish
4726	Strike King Elite	01/02/2025	Steve Eldred	Yantis TX	10.08	24.75	Lake Fork	Steve Eldred's fish
4722	Bass Pro Shops Lunker	01/01/2025	Max Nwanebu	Fairview TX	9.63	24.50	Lake Fork

[geo g]

On 2/21/2025 at 6:59 AM, VolFan said:

‘The South’ is a big place. I regularly visit my in-laws near Fort Myers, Florida in December/January and again in March. I’ve never had a big problem catching fishing. If a cold cold front comes through they will go off the feed and sit very tight to cover, sunny cover if possible. The waters just aren’t deep so big cold fronts can and do affect them more, but it warms up just as quickly. Here in NC I don’t bother unless the water is over 45 and rising.

  As a life long Florida fisherman you Sir are spot on with your summation of Florida fishing in winter!!!!!

[Swamp Girl]

@The Baron, given that I'm north of you, you're "the South" to me, so you can answer the question whether February is too soon to catch bass in Kingston, Ontario, aka Maine's South.

[The Baron]

Compass directions are a relative term, eh @Swamp Girl 😆

 

I’ve decided we’re going to head to Lake Murray, SC next March break.  Florida is too far to drive and roll the dice on it being not much warmer than home.  Going a bit later ups the odds it will be “warm”, and also means my son can come on his March break. ❤️  About a 15 hour drive, so a big chunk but I’ll just hammer that out in one day so we gain 2 extra days fishing vs. a 20+ hour drive to Florida that needs two days. 👍🏻

[Brian11719]

This was in a recent email from a plumbing company that I use and I think it sums up the situation down here pretty well:

 

 

In my case I've found they can shut down if it gets to 40 degrees or below for a bit (and especially if there was some rain and the water is dirty) but then as soon as it starts to warm back up the bite seems to come back with a vengeance...nabbed a couple last week before the last front came in so definitely not too early here, but YMMV depending on where the temperature has been recently.