Thursday, June 16, 2011

Bass Fishing in Changing Water Temperatures

Fish are just like any other animal specie. They like to move more when they are comfortable and move less when not. What I mean is, temperature plays a big role in the movement and activity of a bass. Bass in the early spring start moving from the deep waters to the shallows because the waters up top are beginning to increase in temperature in relation to the air temp rising. This time of the year increases the aggressiveness and movement of bass.
Another big aspect of early spring, with rising temps, is their appetite. With their increase in movement also makes them hungrier than they were during the winter months. This makes using top water baits in the shallows a lot of fun. Bass also in the spring (when water temps hit in the 60's) begin setting up their beds for the spawn. This is the time of year that anglers love to fish for bass. The excitement of fishing top water baits and having a hog knock it almost out of the water is one of the great thrills of bass fishing. That is what makes anglers come back for more.
When water temps begin to creep into the ladder 70-degree mark, you will see the fish begin moving into deeper water. They still come to the shallows in the early morning and late afternoon when the waters begin to cool, but will move back to deeper water during the heat of the day. With this in mind you will have to change your tactics as the day progresses. During the morning time you will be able to fish top water baits, shallow running crank baits or spinner baits, but will have to change when the water temp begins to rise. Just the other day I started fishing in water temps of 78-degrees, but had to move to deeper water and deeper diving baits when the water temp rose to 84-degrees. The lake I was fishing was only of 9 feet depth on average, but I was able to continue catching fish since I followed them to deeper water while the water temp rose.
One thing to watch out for in the late summer is a lake that has mainly shallow water in average of 10 feet or less. The reason is that the lake is not able to have any deep cool locations for bass or any fish specie to reside. As I said in the beginning, "fish like to move more when they are comfortable and move less when not". Kind of like me in the hot summer days (Ha!). Hot water (waters of 85-degrees or more) will make fish sluggish just like real cold water (during winter months). One area to look for in a lake like this is run off water from a recent rain or spring on the side of the bank. These waters are much cooler and will attract fish to its surrounding area. Fishing hot summer days are better utilized in a lake with deep areas, which take much longer to warm from the sun's rays. Deep diving crank baits, worms, jigs, and any deep diving or crawling bait are best during these hot days. In the thirty plus years of bass fishing, I still enjoy most the spring and fall times of the year.

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