Seasonal water temp. question

[babybooga]

Hi guys and gals. New to the forum. If most forums are anything like the current topic "Carolina Rigs", I'm glad I joined. I'm trying to expand my skills beyond being a "bank beater", to a more advanced fisherman. Anyway, my first questions are these: When you hear in bass instruction "when the water temp. reaches 66 degrees, the bass will begin moving to such and such", does that temperature hold true to anywhere in the country. My angle is this. I live in South louisiana so my water temps will get warmer faster than some fishing pro who may be talking water temps in tennessee. If lets say 66 degrees is the magic number for bass to move into the shallows in tennessee, is that the same magic number in louisiana, but it will just only happen sooner in the year. Also, when looking for structure in your boat using a depth finder, how deep does the water have to be when your passing over a ledge, that may be holding fish, to where your not spooking the fish with your boat?

[Matt Fly]

Welcome to the forum.

66 is the magical number plus or minus.

Matt

[Shad_Master]

You are right, it does happen earlier in the year in different parts of the country -- up here, Mid-west, we sometimes don't have ice-out until mid to late April which means the spawn may not get started until May or June (makes for a short season) :'(.  As to the issue of "spooking" the fish, I don't know that there is any real answer to this.  Obviously the shallower they are the more spooked they are likely to be, but my experience is that a good trolling motor doesn't bother them as much as banging hatches or dropping tackleboxes, etc. in the boat.  

[Craw]

Welcome to the site. There is absolutely a direct connection between seasonal movements and water temp. There is no magic degree mark to determine fish movements but general temp. ranges are a great place to start. As far as I know this works all over the country. Hence the old saying, "A bass is a bass is a bass."

[Randall]

I agree a bass is a bass everywhere but also bass break the rules everywhere as well so use temps as only a guideline of what they should be doing. My general rule of thumb in clear water I wont run over any fish shallower than twenty feet deep that I want to catch.