Interesting question...
With all this artic weather upon the south, I am concerned about something. I remember we had cold weather like this few years ago and it killed a bunch of fish @ the coast where I fish @ (Savannah area). Mostly trout, drum, flounder, etc. I was wondering if this big chill down will have any effect on these fish and the over wintering shrimp too. Does it have to be brlow freezing for a while for this to happen or can it be a few cold nites process?
Oh I could wrestle a monster fish
Interesting question...
The only thing I have seen killed by Cold is Mullet ... Takes a several days of cold weather to get the water temp down ... People use long handle crab & Shad nets to dip them.
JSC
JSC On The Choctawhatchee
Down where I live (south west Louisiana), the only time I have seen a fish kill from cold weather was when we had an ice storm for about a week. I don't think a couple of days of cold weather will hurt them. It will probably make them move to deeper water though.
Dwyane
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary!
SMILE- A curve that can set a lot of things straight!
I concur with Dwyane. It takes an extended period of very cold weather to kill reds, specks, etc. I recall Louisiana's "Great Christmas Freeze of 1989" - over 70 consecutive hours of sub-freezing weather. That killed the hell out of them!
On the other hand, extended periods of less severe weather will cause fish to seek warmer water - deeper, more current, whatever, and some fish like specks are more prone than, say, redfish to move. If they don't, then they can go into a coma from shock (Like hypothermia) and subsequently die. However, with water temperatures rising daily to the mid-40's or above, that isn't likely.
At least, it hasn't been in my experiences during over 40 years on the Gulf coast.
Pete