cold fronts/drops in temps

[Slow Jigger]

Anyone think big drops in temps hurt ice fishing? Drops of 15+ degrees or more is what I was thinking. Let say 20 down to 0 and then 3 or 4 days the temp starts climbing back to the 20s.

How long after a cold snap, would the fish start hitting again if indeed they stopped?

Just thinking out loud.

[kslipsinker]

Temperature change does have some play in the big scheme of ice fishing but not as much as when you are fishing soft water. The only time I have found that temerature drops have slowed fishing is only very cold snaps or a huge swing in temps, say 30 degrees.

[Crawlerman]

All I can say is we sure could use one of those "big drops" right now. Ice is starting to look ugly in the central and southern part of the state.

[Deitz Dittrich]

This may be a little long winded, read at your own risk... this is just an opinion of mine.

With any temperature change, comes a change in barometric pressure. I think this has the largest effect.

Minor barometric pressure changes affect fishing in that they affect the lowest end of the food chain. When we are stuck in a high pressure system, the zoo plankton are less buoyant. Thus they stay on the bottom and are unavailable for minnows and other bait fish to feed easily on them. If the barometric pressure falls, the little creatures become more buoyant. They float up off the weeds and bottom making them easy prey for the minnow and other creatures. When this happens, the fish follow. Fish are opportunistic feeders. They feed when its easy, whether they are hungry or not. When the minnows and other bait are not easily available during high pressure times, you can still get them to feed, but they are not out looking for food because they know the food is not out. So, this means you have to go find them. Conversely, when the pressure is falling and everything is on the feed, you can throw just about anything in your tackle box and as long as it ran near the proper depth and is in an area with fish, it would catch fish. When the pressure is rising, this is the worst time. The fish have ended their feed and are now like you and I are shortly after our Thanksgiving feast-- not in any mood to eat, that is for sure. But, like I said, they will still eat. A major weather change is something different--especially if its a cold front. Fish are cold blooded, they have no way of regulating body temperature. When we are hot, we sweat. It's not that easy for them. They need to adjust, so you might have to work a little harder than normal, but you can still get them to bite. During ice fishing seaoson, this temperature change isn't as big a change because of the ice and snow insulating the ice.

One of my favorite quotes of all times is From Kevin Van Damm "If it weren't for weather we would have nothing but ourselves to blame for a bad day fishing."

Dude

[This message has been edited by Exudedude (edited 12-18-2002).]

[Guest]

I heard the "farmers tale" that the fish can sense the varying pressure in their air bladder's which triggers feeding. I don't know where you guys are from but the rain in central MN is gonna cause some damage on the ice.