Weather and bass

[ocf]

Well here it is deitz-

Weather and Bass

I remember a few years back, my grandfather said, “What are you waiting for? It’s just raining.” I replied “No way, the fish won’t bite in the rain and anyways it’s raining cats and dogs.” This goes to show that some people don’t know enough about fish and their patterns during certain weather conditions and then don’t want to go out fishing because of their uncertainty during some weather conditions and who wants to go out and not catch a fish. Hopefully this article will clear up some of your questions about fishing in different weather conditions

We’ll start off by talking about cold fronts, which in my opinion is pretty hard to understand at first but once you get it you can become an excellent fisherman. First off all you need to know that a bass’s main instinct in the summer is to eat. When a cold front is about to come in, fish go on a feeding frenzy and gorge themselves on food. This is a great time to catch fish and it is also fun because you can speed up your retrieve and power fish. For this situation I would use a baitcasting casting combo with either a x-rap or any other slashbait or I would use a swim bait such as a storm wild eye.

When the cold front has moved in bass stick close to cover (rocks, weed beds, or logs). Bass tend to go out a little bit deeper (8-25 feet). Also, the fish are more cautious when eating. My choice for a presentation would be a spinning reel and I would either with a buoyant plastic or I would use a lure you can slowly drag across the bottom.

Once the cold front has passed the fish return to their normal feeding habits. If you keep this in mind while you are fishing you will have a better chance when fishing during cold fronts.

Many people wonder where the bass are when it’s cloudy or when it’s sunny outside. Let me start with saying their will always be some bass in deeper water and some bass in shallow water but one of them can be more productive than the other one. In my opinion when it’s sunny the schools move out to deeper water but you still get the occasional pig cruising the shallows. When it’s cloudy the schools move back to the shallows but normally I head out to deeper water to get better quality bass. The ways to catch these fish are endless, use the technique that would work that you are most comfortable with.

I think wind is where most anglers make mistakes. They either go to calmer water or go to the shore where the wind is blowing towards. These locations can be okay if they hold baitfish. The main thing in windy conditions is to locate the baitfish. I can think of an example: at the 2006 Blue Grass Brawl it was windy outside. The top three finishers were fishing open water targeting baitfish. Winner Morizo Shimizu said the key to his victory was locating the baitfish. For presentation I would definitely dropshot in deeper water and in shallower water I would use a slowly retrieved plastic such as a sluggo.

Many anglers overlook barometric pressure, but it can be a very important figure in catching fish. First you should know an average barometric reading-29. Below the fishing will be pretty easy because the fish will eat freely, but if the reading is higher than normal the fish will be tougher to catch. When this happens you need to drop something in their face and let it stay there. To do this I would use a slip bobber with a weight 7-8 inches up and then put on a floating or buoyant plastic on. Keeping an eye on barometric pressure can make a day on the lake a lot more productive.

I hope this article helped clear up some questions you might have had about weather and bass. You will have to keep an eye on these things as there can be 3 or more in action at a time and choose your presentation wisely. Keeping these things in mind has made me a better angler and it can make you one to. Remember to be safe on the water and respect the fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

nice job!!!!

[ocf]

It chases the blues away!!!

[st.crioxfishin]

Im impressed! For a younger fisherman like you, it seems you are already ahead of the learning curve, keep it up!

[Ihateriversnags]

Don't think it will be long and Deitz will have a partner for some of his fishing lectures! Nice write!!

[Fishin4Life]

Very nice article

[Wayne Ek]

Good job on the article. Keep at it.

[Deitz Dittrich]

riv snags- you bring up a very good point!!! I am not 100% sure, but I thought that I remeber right that ocf is 13... at that age, I was just getting into fishing! Would not have had the guts to write anything!!!!

seriously- ocf, you write well for your age, if you are any teen... let alone 13..

Tell you what.. if you are 13, I owe you a fishing trip for such a great article.. any way you can meet me half way anywhere? For legal reasons I will need your parent to drive you wherever and sign something, as you are not an adult...

[delmuts]

and his spelling was good too!!!

yes a very good article! it is great to see how educated, and dedicated some of the young guns are!

[ocf]

Well i had to use spell check and a rough draft but hey its not that hard. o and i just got into fishin last july but ive studied up.

and deitz i might be able to just cause ur a teacher and such i think my parents might be ok with it and i cant go fishing because i need to get a replacement eye for my top rod eye. Plus im horrible at bass fishing, my biggest being 2.5 lbs

[Fishin4Life]

OCF -

I have a rod in the garage that isn't being used. Now it is made from two different rods, but should still work just the same... I had the tip break on one, and the base break on the other. Do you want it? I could drop it off for you somewhere if you do, its a spinning rod. It would at least get you fishing again! I just have it laying around as a spare. Let me know. If you within 20 minutes of White Bear Lake, I don't mind. Drop me a line william (dot) titus (at) mnsu (dot) edu

Oh and if you go out with Deitz, I am sure he will have an extra pole or two, correct me if I am wrong Deitz

[ocf]

im goin to gander soon to get a new rod, it will have to be cheap cuz im tryin to get a 200$ gloomis and an sol so thats my budjet, a few lures in between but that will be bout it

[Fishin4Life]

Sounds good, just thought I would shoot the offer out.

[ocf]

ya thanks

Deitz shoot me an email at [email protected]

[ikeslayer]

although i don't want to hijack this post. I dont' think you need to spend 200 bucks on a loomis for quality. I would say that you can get the same rod for half and not spend another 100 on a name. Just my opinion good luck gettting a rod though tough break. ike

[ocf]

Is there anything that you guys dont agree with in this article???

[Deitz Dittrich]

ocf- its a good article.. if one disagrees, its opinion..

If I had an opinion on any of it.. You talk about cold fronts and such... I agree to some points with you, but disagree with others, You bring up a few baits to use during a cold front comming in.. and it in my opinion has more to do with pressure than the front its self.. But the lure you throw should best cover the water you are fishing. Which may or may not be a jerkbait as you state... I have a lot of areas I fish when pressure is dropping that there is no way I could fish a jerkbait in.

lastly, the rod should match the presentation. A carolina rig on a spinning rod is not the best way of doing things.

With all that said... What is most important is......you do what works for you!... that is what I stick with.. What works for me, may or may not work for someone else. And what works well for you may or may not work for me!

I stick with what I said.. You wrote a good article, and I cant take anything from that.

My opinion is that when pressure is low or falling, the fish roam a lot more and are on the feed. Horizontle or fast moving lures are the best to catch them. When pressure is high or on the rise fish tend to move a lot tighter to cover and the strike zone is much smaller. Verticle lures are some of your only options. Deep water fish are least affected by weather changes.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Its a good article but if you ask, I think the part about fishing a drop shot or sluggo (any fluke/soft jerkbait) on the windswept side of a lake can be somewhat difficult. When its windy I like to go with shallow cranks or spinners and fish the shallow water keying in on any mudline that may be forming but Ill also go to jigs for fishing cover in wind. Also, finding baitfish can be key to locating bass at anytime. A tip Ive picked up is when you locate a school of baitfish on your electronics remember the depth they are at and if their is any dropoffs or cover near their location fish that same depth.

[ocf]

Quote:

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I think the part about fishing a drop shot or sluggo (any fluke/soft jerkbait) on the windswept side of a lake can be somewhat difficult.

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Sorry i forgot to mention to use a baitcasting combo with a wind setting it will allow you to make long casts into the wind

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Its not really the casting thats difficult, Im pretty proficient with baitcasters. I find difficult to effectively fish a weightless plastic jerkbait in the wind. I find the wind makes it hard to detect bites and slows the drop speed. I guess I cant say much about drop shots though since I havnt actually used one. I always thought they were more of a finesse presentation best suited for clear water or tough bite situations. They would probably work good for high pressure days. Those days like you pointed out, when the fish want something put infront of them and left hanging there longer than they can stand.

[Trucker Jim]

ocf, Congrats on a good article. When I read it, it did not occur to me that you are as young as you are. Keep it up!

Concerning barometric pressure, does someone know of a good HSOforum for monitoring it, and exactly what info should a person be looking at? What is considered a rising trend and a lowering? From what I've seen, it can go up or down in about any hour which may be different when looking at it by the day.

[ocf]

www.weather.com is where i go or local on the eights on the weather channel