I would recommend using slightly bigger lures than usual, because with the temps that low, the fish are eating a bit more to get ready for the winter, when food will be less plentiful. I'd recommend minnows and minnow imitations.

actually with the weather change and cooler water temps .. the fishes sight becomes better and that means more easy to see food .. try many methods to catch them fish, also try tipping the hook with some powerbait it will improve your odds!!!

Thanks guys i will give this a shot and hope for the best JOHN

Depending on acre-feet of the reservoir, it might be big enough that a sudden temp drop would have practically no effect on water temp for weeks to come. It takes time to cool water down, cold streams shortening the cool down period. Most fish could not be concerned what the air temp is, but that does impact angler skin. If your lake is 10 feet deep on average the water temp might drop a degree every few days, but not a deeper lake that might take weeks to respond to a 20 degree air temp drop. Once the water temp begins to drop it takes far more time to warm it back up a degree since the sun is lower, so even if the air temp rises for days or even weeks, that too might have no effect on the water temp.

Jim

Thanks jim the lake is about 12,500 Acres. In some spots is can be upwards of 280 to 325 feet deep it dose have about 10 little streams that dump in and two major rivers that fill it all from snow and rain up in the mt. thanks guys JOHN

thanks guys the fishing trip was alot of fun even in the cold weather we did catch a few nothing of any real big in size..couple were in the 3 to 3 1/2 pound size...got a couple on crankbaits and some on rubber worms, jigs, and grubs..... had a great time with my sons...Thanks John

Posted By skewl on 24 Nov 2010 09:34 AM
I would recommend using slightly bigger lures than usual, because with the temps that low, the fish are eating a bit more to get ready for the winter, when food will be less plentiful. I'd recommend minnows and minnow imitations.

Did you get the latest NAFC magazine.  It said that fish don't hibernate, so they really don't need to stock up for the winter.  

Just a minor correction!

Also, I am taking a break from the forums and I probably won't be back until March.

Bye everyone!

Thanks fisherfanatic, no i have yet to get my magazine this month for some reason i'm always a week or too behind everybody when it comes to getting anything from the club.....Thanks JOHN

northeastbass, thanks for the video those were some nice fish...JOHN

Fisherfanatic,  You and the magazine are right that fish don't hibernate, i.e. bass. What does happen is that the cold water winters, especially in the northern states, reduces the bass' metabolism and they rely on stored fat reserves in their bodies to nourish them. Bass do sense that the winter is coming and they will seek out larger prey during this transitional period. It is less energy spent chasing down a few large minnows or small fish than chasing down many very small fish. During this time of transition, bass will more often strike larger profile baits over the smaller profile baits......Tight Lines.....TheFishman

Posted By fisherfanatic on 01 Dec 2010 04:07 PM

Posted By skewl on 24 Nov 2010 09:34 AM
I would recommend using slightly bigger lures than usual, because with the temps that low, the fish are eating a bit more to get ready for the winter, when food will be less plentiful. I'd recommend minnows and minnow imitations.

Did you get the latest NAFC magazine.  It said that fish don't hibernate, so they really don't need to stock up for the winter.  

Just a minor correction!

Also, I am taking a break from the forums and I probably won't be back until March.

Bye everyone!

Thanks for the info, fishman!

Contrary to what I said yesterday, I have decided against leaving the forums.

Here's an example of how to figure fishing conditions out before arriving at the lake. We've had lows in the upper 20's too here, in central Arkansas. The days have been warming back into the 60's, and we've had lots of brisk wind. The lake surface is often choppy and feels to cold to catch fish. But, I went to the local fishing report as of Dec 2, confirming what we found out there this morning.
From Click Here I found "Mountain Harbor Resort said the water is clear and is 60-64 degrees. Largemouth bass are biting well on top-water baits and jigs. Try Zara spooks, Pop-R’s and buzzbaits over main lake and secondary points. Football jigs are woking well in water 15 to 25 feet deep. Walleye are biting well on spoons 20-25 feet deep around brush. Stripers are fair on live bait and down-rigged hair jigs. Bream are still slow on worms or crickets in water 15 to 25 feet deep. Crappie are excellent near brush in water 20 to 30 feet deep on minnows or Tennessee shad colored crappie grubs. Catfish are very good and being caught on cut bait and live bait hung from jug lines and trotlines."

You should have similar information available near you. The above guidance didn't at all follow textbook or magazine advice which might put you trying to fish deep. It's early December, but we're still in a classic Fall season pattern, and the bass are not deep. My partner caught some nice bass while I hauled in crappie to fill my wife's order. We fished a South-facing rock bluff where the surface temp was 67, not 60-64 degrees, where the sun hits the shore all day. Bass were feeding on minnows there, so were crappie and bluegills. I used one bait, a Mepps spinner, and got all my bites at the surface. My partner got his bass about 3 feet down, so we dropped the old thermometer on a string just to figure that out. The water was 70 down there. In the boat it was about 49 degrees, and the lake was "steamy" when we got on the water.

Later on maybe after Christmas the bass fishing will in fact slow way down, but they feed every few days apart all winter no matter how cold the air gets. We'll catch bass every month through winter. Instead of feeding every 4-7 hours they will slow to once every 18 hours, as it takes longer to digest whatever they eat until they warm up enough to go into pre-spawn in the spring.

OK, so some of you have colder water than that already. Adapt. If the water is even colder down deep then try fishing places that have dark rocks that give off heat from sun exposure.

Study it out before launching.

Jim

Thanks jim , were i'm fishing it is a big res. almost 13,000 acres and there is alot of steep rocky points that go all the way down to the water and we usually fish those like you said the water is warmer there because of the rocks being in the sun...its really deep water there also so it dose take alot to warm the water up... I would like to thank all of you for your help and advise....JOHN