Window of opportunity in cold water

[Spoonminnow]

The water temperature has dropped in the northeast to the low 40's and the fish bite is way off from a few weeks ago. Yesterday I figured the day was one of the last warm days and I should get out.

I have a pond in my backyard stocked with bass and panfish. I didn't really expect to catch a bass so I wanted to try a very large swimbait I poured last winter. Before casting it I noticed small fish in the shallows which I hadn't seen in a week. My second cast and a [B]3 lb. bass hooked itself fast - the fish came out of no where close to where I was standing! Time to go to my local bass lake!

The day before, the bite was the worst this year - two fish in three hours. Some fish were in the shallows but not biting and spooky but my buddy's last cast in 2' got him a [B]6 lb bass on a jig and I missed a decent bass with a poor hookset. I didn't expect much today but had to go out before the cold front moved in and the 60 degree air temperature dropped to 45.

For hours the bite was dead. I switched to panfish lures and caught a few panfish and small bass (not that panfish lures can't catch large largemouth). At least things started picking up in the last hours of daylight plus the 15 mph wind died to a breeze and I wasn't constantly distracted with boat position.

Panfish and small bass started biting in shallow water. Within a few hours I had 15 in the livewell. (I stock panfish in the pond for winter bass consumption.) The strike was very different than in water 10 degrees warmer. Though the bite was softer, you still knew you had a fish on. The fight was sluggish and the fish were cold, reminding me that fighting a cold fish doesn't last long even though the few surges are powerful. At least the crappie averaged over 10.5".

All of this makes me wonder about the bite opportunity in cold water.
1. Regardless of water temperature (the water temp never rose much), fish turn on for no predictable reason and then shut down.
2. When a cold fish bites once, the opportunity is gone for a rematch on a second cast.
3. The strike zone is much smaller and fish will not chase a lure beyond a foot, meaning that if it doesn't land near it's head, the lure comes and goes without a whiff. You can usually tell the difference between running-lure strikes of crankbaits and spinnerbaits versus the off-the-bottom hit of a jig or worm. The strikes yesterday were [I]plop-hit-hookset.

One thing though still amazes me - the fast and furious hits in cold water of active schooled fish. Five years ago I was ice fishing in 5' of water after my partner and I drilled holes in a large circle. The crappie bite was amazing and fish were chasing my tube to the surface! I caught 4 or 5 crappie per hole and kept doing so for an hour. Fish followed the lure to the surface vertically in 38 degree water or hit a few feet down from the hole. We kept 30 lbs of fish before the sun went down. Late afternoon showed, again, the best activity and the only good window of opportunity.

Lessons I derived: you can't give up on a body of water just because the bite is dead in the first few hours.

Lure size drops with water temperature as does presentation. (Should have tried the dropshot rig.)

[DroptineJoe]

Good info! I have found that the bite is on for a few minures and then nothing for a about an hour and then they turn on for 5-10 minutes and this seems to go on all day here on Kansas.