And The Weather Warms Up!

[JustinPlog]

here in wisconsin it looks like its warming up for a while. the snows melting and if i have time i would like to go down to the fox river and fish from shore. does anybody know if these fish will be in winter mode still or will they start becoming more active. it looks like the temp. will be hovering around 40 degrees for the rest of the week. im going to be targeting small mouth. thanks for the help.

[waskeyc]

What's the water temperature? That is the temperature that the fish feel, rather than the air temperature. In my experience, the fish don't really become active until the water reaches about 50F, and that is certainly months away.

However, many articles are available that provide evidence that smallmouth can be caught year round if open water is available. Studies have shown that, even in Wisconsin, wintering SMB still make daily movements, presumably to feed. The trick, I think, is finding them, with a little bit of luck on the timing. But if you find a big concentration, there should be at least some of them feeding almost anytime.

My advice (and I have been unsuccessful at catching winter bass so far) is to keep moving until you find fish. Chances are, the fish are congregated in only a few wintering locations, and the rest of the river will just be empty water. If the river freezes, they may even have migrated out of the river altogether, to a bigger river downstream.

Good Luck! And let us know how you do.

(http://archives.in-f...ver-smalljaws/3)

[Bluebasser86]

I'm sure they will still be in winter mode in your area. We have had very warm temps in Kansas with air temps in the 50's and 60's for several days in a row now but they are still very sluggish because the water temps are only in the high 30's/low 40's. Jerkbaits and slow moving finesse plastics have been the deal for us. Just caught bass number 100 for the year today in fact.

[slonezp]

Don't you have a couple warm water discharges up that way?

[Kelly J]

today i went and fished little butte in appleton for a while for smallies on the friendship tral and picked up 6 in a couple hours but i had to fish tubes really slow. not sure on the water temps though

[Bassn Blvd]

Don't you have a couple warm water discharges up that way?

Only during flu season.

[bassh8er]

Float and fly is another good option for smallies in coooooold water.