florida spring post front bass

[warmer]

everyone knows that the post front florida bass are tough to catch, but i was just wondering if any of you folks have ever felt like you really had them dialed in post front.

im looking for a little of the why as much as the how.

as for me, my best success has been fishing tight to cover slowly, but that seems to require a HIGH degree of confidence that the cover im fishing is where they are.

[gatrboy53]

everybody has their opinions and i have mine.pfc, usually mean a rise in pressure which in fla. lakes puts bass in a neutral or negative mode.meaning they arent actively feeding or chasing.for the most part they do move tight to cover or structure and hunker down,BUT, bass are instictive and will react as such.put a bait close enough and in front of him and he will strike it.reaction bite,it doesnt necessarily mean slow presentation just slow down working an area and pick it apart.if your working cover dont blow thru it pitch to a spot numerous times to aggravate him into striking.this could be w/ a plastic,jig or even a sb or some other fast moving bait.in fla. there is always bass shallow even when its freezing,but there are bass on your drops as well.pfc,may make a bass go from the first drop from 3' down to the next drop which may only be 4'.dont overlook these spots w/ lipless and lipped cranks

[alger319]

gatrboy is right, i've found that unlike hunting, really any sudden change in pressure will neutralize the bass. reaction baits are a good bet other than pissin one off on the bed.

[George Welcome]

Fish tight to the cover: most often slooooooow down.

Sometimes a reaction bait will work in this situation so be sure to try.

[bocabasser]

everybody has their opinions and i have mine.pfc, usually mean a rise in pressure which in fla. lakes puts bass in a neutral or negative mode.meaning they arent actively feeding or chasing.for the most part they do move tight to cover or structure and hunker down,BUT, bass are instictive and will react as such.put a bait close enough and in front of him and he will strike it.reaction bite,it doesnt necessarily mean slow presentation just slow down working an area and pick it apart.if your working cover dont blow thru it pitch to a spot numerous times to aggravate him into striking.this could be w/ a plastic,jig or even a sb or some other fast moving bait.in fla. there is always bass shallow even when its freezing,but there are bass on your drops as well.pfc,may make a bass go from the first drop from 3' down to the next drop which may only be 4'.dont overlook these spots w/ lipless and lipped cranks

that is great advice gator. my problem is that i don't make a ton of casts to a specific area. after reading your advice, that is exactly what i will do. i always fish super slow pfc, but it is tough for me because i consider myself a power fisherman. i have a tourney on sunday and the weatherman says it should warm up to the high 70's low 80's, but right now ot is freezing at 55 degrees. i will definitely work an area longer than i normally do. thanks for the tip. great thread warmer.

[surfer]

but right now ot is freezing at 55 degrees.

I an in Orlando and i finaly get to say...

You wimpy southerner. It's 40* up here. ;D

Thanks for the cold front tips everyone. I enjoyed reading them.

[CFFF 1.5]

thanks for the cold front tips. I also have a tournament on saturday and hopefully the water and weather will be stable enough by then that I won't have to resort to post cold front tactics.

[CFFF 1.5]

Not to steal the thread but how long after a front do you consider it to not be post front conditions?

[gatrboy53]

i can only respond by own personal experiences,but ive always went on the 3 day theory.i would think it takes them a day or two to stabilize the pressure and usually a warming trend follows a pfc and a slight rise in water temp triggers another response in bass.

boca, i consider myself a power fisherman also,mainly from tx. fishin.even in post front conditions i go for a reaction bite more than the slow down approach.so im coverin alot of water but makin repeated cast to likely spots.i have found from day to day that bass might want a reaction bait one day but only baits dropped on their head the next,so if the reaction bite is not producin i'll go and try to eak out a bite w/ a jig or plastic.still i'll be throwin to cover repeatedly.

i dont want to come off like i catch alot of fish during pfc's.cause i struggle like most other bassers in fla. during these times,but in tx. you got 8 hrs. to get 5 bites no matter the conditions.

[littlefisher]

I agree that the best solution is picking an area apart.  They are going to hold to cover more, at least I think, because that's where the most warmth is.  Or they will move to deeper water where the temperature isn't affected as much and hold to structure.  I like to fish shallow cover that is adjacent to deeper water so I don't have to move as much to find out what the fish are holding too.  

[Guest Steve_P.]

The only thing I can add, is if your lake has Mats, get out your 1.5 OZ Tungstens and punch through those mats. A front can actually push a good number of fish under these mats during adverse conditions.

[FD.]

I'm not an expert, but I have caught or located fish every trip this year (19+ times) with a frog.  I have been targeting staging fish all year in the 4-6' depth range in sparse/mixed vegetation.  So far it is 19 for 19 on catching or at least getting strikes and then slowing down with a worm.  It has not mattered what the pressure was doing.  The worst case was having to wait until lunch for the temps to warm before the action got heavy.....

[warmer]

thanks all for the responses.  i suspect based on the flw kissimmee, that everyone has similar trouble - although it looks like hite hit it with the reaction bait approach.

steve p,

when you say mats what do you mean... i suspect you mean get near the fish you had located and find the thickest most clogged up mess you can find and punch it w/ a fat weight.

e.g. in pads, find the uprooted clumps that bind to floating islands and gator vine, etc.  in hydrilla, find the chocked out topped out stuff.  in k grass find the sticks gator vine... and on...

i have not really had the patience in the past to punch mats, i could use a day of success doing this... something tells me ill have to wait for summer for a good day of that.