If you can get a straight answer on that i want to hear it.
when a cold front comes thru (like this past week and weekend, here in the SOUTHEAST), how long does it "shock" the crappie??? How long does it normally take for them to start heading back to shallow water??? may be a idiotic question, but u never know til you ask...
If you can get a straight answer on that i want to hear it.
How much the water temp. drops has a lot to do with it as well as the weather after the front. Here in north Ga. if it is clear and sunny they will start the 1 st. day you just have to look for them.
Allatoona Bandit
I, too, have always figured the 3d day early in the spring or before the water has warmed up. They might do it quicker though the later in the spring it gets and the warmer the water is.
With this past cold front that came through I found that the fish were feeding heavily before and during the passing of the front. However, one day after the front had passed through the fishing was lousy. Round here it was cloudy and drizzling for three days and the fish have been off. So I think that there is no hard and fast rule but the fish will turn back on quicker when the weather stablizes so that there is a consistent pattern. Same temp with same cloud cover over about 3 days and fish will start to bite.
Some of the fish will remain shallow, despite the front. They will just tuck in tighter into the cover. This has been my experience anyway. Fish slower, tighter to the cover. Maybe use live bait. Add nibbles. Whatever it takes, but I can usually find some fish in the same areas they were in before the front. And they can usually be caught. Of course, no rule is always true in fishing, but I'd rather work an area I know was holding fish than to try to figure out where they went.
Bob's Jigs Prostaff
www.bobsjigs.com