Weather and the weekend

[BackOnTheWater]

What's this front moving through over the next few days going to do to the fish for the weekend? I'm going out Sunday...think they will recover by then?

Most of the fish I saw (blips on my depthfinder, not caughtemoConfused ) were at 12-15 feet Monday afternoon.

Any guidance and wisdom-sharing would be appreciated!emoScratch

 

[TennesseeTalker]

I just planted tomato plants and bell peppers ... geraniums, coral bells and rhubarb!!!! Guess I'll be covering all that stuff up before Friday.

Sheez ....

TT

 

[Guest]

If the temp gets down to 29 like they say the fish will most likely be real tight to cover and not real hungry. It will take several days of pretty warm weather to get them back to where they are now.

Cheez

 

[Jmax]

Gang, keep in mind that it is not our weather that will matter. It will be the water temp and water ah....weather that makes the difference. I went this morning and caught about 30 to 35 bass and I had a limit by 9:30. If it does not stay cold and the water temp does not drop too bad it may have little effect on them. If it stays cold a while that is another story. You are right in saying they will get closer to cover and may retreat to the first drops if the temp does go down in the shallows. Just my two cents worth.emoCool Jmax

 

[BackOnTheWater]

Now that's not good news. Is the water below 20 ft or so warm enough to take them deep or will they soak up the sunshine in the shallows? Any idea at what depth I should look for them? Sounds like a dead-sticking sloooooooow presentation on channel ledges kind of day, eh?

Thanks for sharing, Cheez...

 

[BackOnTheWater]

Dang, Jmax, I need to go fishing with you! Man, I gotta upgrade my 'tronics! It takes me a month to catch 30 bass!emoWorthy

Thanks for the insight...what about barometric pressure and it's effect on "the bite"?

With highs in the 50's and lows around freezing for a few days, how much would you think the water temp will drop and how deep with the effect be?

 

[Bassin' Machine]

Bass prefer 78 - 85 degree water. In my experience, bass have loved 75 to 85 degree water and will stay in that water as much and as long as they can. If the front doesn't really lower the water temp. that much, I would say the bass will more or less stay where they are at, but may be less likely to bite because of barometric pressure, holding closer to cover, and things of that nature. My .02

 

[Bassin' Machine]

I also think they are trying to soak up as much sunshine as possible right now, too. Red clay banks should be good. emoHoppingmad

 

[beetlespin]

They will go deep and get lockjaw. It is going to be windy so the shallow water will cool rather quickly. I think 69 is the optimal temp for largemouths.

 

[Jmax]

BackOnTheWater - 4/3/2007 2:22 PM

Dang, Jmax, I need to go fishing with you! Man, I gotta upgrade my 'tronics! It takes me a month to catch 30 bass!emoWorthy

Thanks for the insight...what about barometric pressure and it's effect on "the bite"?

With highs in the 50's and lows around freezing for a few days, how much would you think the water temp will drop and how deep with the effect be?

I may start guiding a little on the side. I got a trip this weekend with MrWiskers and maybe Alvin. I was coming up behind two fella's today and where they had just been I had four blow-ups and two bass boated. The guy in the front asked if I had a card and said he would be interested in a trip. I am just going to have to look into this. emoScratch I love to fish and take folks to fish, it would be nice to make a little on the side to do what I love. Right now it is very easy to find and locate them. I do very well in the spring, early summer and fall. Hot summer and winter I struggle a bit.emoMad Right now there is a ton of buck bass shallow and the trick is getting the females to hit since they have so much more weight most of the time. Today I caught 95% of them on a spook with a couple on a sinko and rattle trap. I was making four or five cast at one place to get a hook up. I bet I had 100 boils and bumps where they were just trying to scare the bait away. Same pattern I have been on for the past couple of weeks. Shallow wood and rock with a few coming off points.emoSun When the sun broke out the bite was cut way down. Prior to that it was a great day.emoBigsmileJmax

I think the B has a lot to do with a good bite vrs. a great bite but if they are bedding or are about to they will hit often no matter what if you "P" them off.emoLaugh

 

[polo-dog]

I think that with the really cold night time temps that the water will really cool off in the next few days. I would expect that the water in the mornings will be in the mid to upper 60's and maybe even the low 60's by Monday morning. The sun will be out most days and that may help keep the water warmer and the torrential rain that we had last night will put a stain in the water that will help it warm up in the shallows because of that sunshine. If TVA lets the water come up then the creeks will warm up a lot faster than the main lake next week because the muddy water will stay in the creeks and not make it out to the main lake. If they spill the water out the dams then most of the water will get a stain and the sun during the day may warm things up a bit. I would expect first that the fish will get close to cover, then as it really cools off to drop back to the first drop. The kicker in all of this is the spawn, the full moon being just past and the water being so warm there may have been a significant spawn in the last week or so. The male bass for those fry should stay with the fry no matter what happens to the temp. I hope that the timing of this cool down will not hamper this year's fry. It is my impression from what I have seen on the posts that not many big females have been caught shallow which in my mind means that there is a good chance that most of the females will spawn on the next full moon phase which is more common from year to year. The crappies usually spawn in late March and the bass usually don't spawn until April in my exerience here on Chickamauga. Both the water temp and the number of hours of light in the day seem to affect the spawning activity of fish in the articles that I have read and from what I remember from school. I am hoping that in this year's case the spawn will be next month, missing this cool down of the water that will happen in the next few days. I am encouraged however by an article that I just read at this website: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/OAS/oas_pdf/v58/p35_43.pdf
It was an article that tried to figure out what variables were most important in bass fry survival and it seems to show that the water temp isn't as important as other factors. The most important factor seems to be slowly rising water levels and I would expect a rise in the next few days. As long as TVA doesn't decide to drop the bottom out of the lake in the next few weeks, spawned fry hopefully will do well. The next two weeks is usually when TVA brings the water up the most and so that could be really good for this year's spawning class. Let's hope so.

 

[BackOnTheWater]

EXCELLENT, PD! Way good info! If you're right, Sunday might not be a skunker! Thanks to all for the opinions!