recent cold front

[Ole the Guide]

So what does everyone think about this August weather change? How will it effect the Bass and how will it effect your fishing strategy (besides,of course, staying in)?

With all this rain the water temp must have dropped a few degrees.

I'll bet they'll be out deep and not cruising the shoreline but I sure could be wrong. I don't remember an August like this where it got this cool so fast.

Any thoughts?

Ole

[Craigums]

Its hard to say, I was wondering the same thing. But I'd be willing to say this cool weather will not stay and it may have cooled the shallows just enough to keep them hanging around since we havent had a turnover yet. I was fishing from a pier yesterday and pulled 4 little guys in within an hour so as of right now there are still some in the shallows. What I did notice though was all of them took my 7'' power worm right off the bottom of the lake while it was just sitting there with no action to it. this tells me that maybe they are still in the shallows just a little less active????

[ocf1]

I fished this weekend and didnt catch a thing past saturday. The water temps dropped 15 degrees in a week! Thats gotta do something to the fish and cant figureout what. I havent been fishing when its this cold(soft water)!

[Andrew Erickson]

since i dont have a boat im stuck from shore and my lake i fish isnt caughin up anything right now

[EBass]

Fished in the rain on Tonka for Ski's and bass. Tonkaboy was going for ski's. Anywho - caught pike and more pike. Anywhere from 15' dragging a bass jig to spinnerbaits in 4' with milfoil. Dunno bout dem bass, but fishin' in the rain with frogg toggs - suck

[st.crioxfishin]

I was out yesterday from about 12-6pm. It's quite peaceful out on the lake when you have it to yourself! I was on the same lake this past Thursday with water temps at 80 degrees, yesterday in some areas it had dropped all the way to 62 degrees! Some of the fish I caught were actually cold, like they are in the spring and fall. I thought it would be tough but it turned out to be a decent day. The frog and spinnerbait bite was good around the pads, and I also caught a few throwing buzzbaits along the bank. It rained all 6 hours I was out there, but my rain gear stood up to the test.

[RK]

Hiya -

Surface temps have for sure dropped some, but I don't think there's been much of a change other than in the extreme shallows. Lakes carry a lot of heat, and it takes quite a bit of sustained cool weather to cool them down more than a couple degrees. An example - the bay where I launch on one lake I fished this weekend had 65 degree water, but the main lake was still 72-73 degrees.

I thought fishing this past weekend was actually pretty good. Fished largemouths Saturday AM. Started out with deep cranks, and missed a couple fish, so kind of got the feeling they weren't chasing. Switched to a carolina rig or drop-shot, and ended up catching quite a few. They were, though, sticking very close to cover. Had to park the DS rig or C-rig right next to clumps of deep coontail. Went down one pretty long weedline, and it seemed like every little coontail point on the weedline had a fish or two parked on it. So I'd find the points by casting parallel to the weedline with a DT-16, then fish them with either a carolina rigged tube or drop-shot rig. Usually didn't have to fish a point long to get bit. Fish wouldn't chase, but would definitely bite if you got something in front of them. Also interesting that they were still on the ends of the little points, not tucked into the inside turns where I'd expect to find them if things had really gone sour. I'm sure I could have caught fish on a jigworm too, but it was windy enough to make fishing a jig a pain.

So the deep fish were at least catchable. However: As I was leaving the lake I talked to a couple other guys who'd been fishing shallow all morning and had only caught a couple small fish. So apparently the shallow bite was definitely off.

Sat evening I went to a smallie lake, and was frankly sort of expecting tough fishing. Turned out just the opposite. Small groups of smallies were roaming the edge of a couple of rock reefs, and they were definitely biting. You'd catch 3 or 4 out of each school before they'd move on, and most of the hooked fish had another one chasing it on the way in. Caught most of them in 6-9 feet on jigworms. Fished a couple deeper (16-18') rock piles with a drop shot and caught fish there too. Ended up with 16 or 18 smallies in 3 hours, the biggest a 19-incher.

I do hate fishing in the rain though...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[MNBassGuy]

Fished Tonka in the Denny's Wed Nighters last week and it was tough. We got 4th, but weighed just under 15 pounds, which usually is good for a 20th place finish on that lake! I heard a lot of guys...good fishermen...who said it was one of the worst nights they had ever had on Tonka.

That said, I hit Tonka yesterday and got a pretty good amount of fish using a number of techniques. I hit some early on topwater while it was cloudy, then I went deeper and got some nice fish finese fishing deep.

I lost two lures to Muskies early on as well. One hit a topwater about 4 feet from the boat and almost stopped my heart. I also saw a GIANT ski sitting in about 3 feet of water at the mough of a little inlet. I bounced a bass jig off his nose a few times for fun, but he woulnd't take it. Figured I'd give it a shot since the two I've caught this year were both on the same jig. I'm not kidding you, this thing was all of 50-55" and was bigger around than my leg!

Long story short, I think the fish were in an adjustment period, but I think they are getting there. This could put us on an early fall pattern, which is always a fun time of the year!

[EBass]

Yup temps on Sat the 18th were 72-74. Then the following Sun (26th) the temps are 69-70. Hopefully we'll get a nice long fall bite going.