Cold Fronts

[Guest]

hi all, i'm fairly new to the site and am thus far very impressed with it and all its contents!!! thanks to "seadog" for recomending the site!!!

i would just like to know more bout cold fronts - how the bass react to this and tactics used before, during and after cold fronts. its been mentioned a few times in magazines, tv etc., but wud like someone to explain in plain english!!

i'm a firm believer of being in the water no matter the condition but i wudnt mind having a little more knowledge on how to fish better during different conditions......

to those fishing the classic this w-end - good luck!!!

[bassmaster]

Hi Ricky

Welcome to the site, I am glad you find it helpful.

Cold fronts, where do I start. Well I have the same approach as you, no matter what the conditions you can still catch fish. Cold fronts do however have an effect on the bass. Most people belive that the fish will automatically go deep when it gets cold. Bullsh..!!

There have been many studies on bass behaviour and how cold fronts effect them. The most recent one I read made a few good points. They said that you get 2 different types of bass behavious, some bass live in deep water and some in shallow water. They do however explore both from time to time. If you take note of what people catch and where they catch it you would see that this is very true. Many anglers catch bass from the bank during cold fronts, it may be the only bass of the day but it was still shallow! Guys with boats catch fish at deeper depths because that is where they belive all the fish are and yes they are deep but they are shallow as well. In the book Big Bass Zone the guys who wrote the book also tell you how they target big bass in shallow waters nine times out of ten and guess what, they catch! No matter what the weather.

Recently I had a clip on the site that show a guy catch a 18 pound bass with a swimbait, the spot he was fishing was no deeper than a few feet, I could be wrong but after studing the vid I am sure it was fairly shallow. Ok, so that covers the where are the bass during a cold front, they are everywhere.

What will happen is that as the water gets colder they reserve their energy and will only hit your lure if it is clsoe enough to them or they think they can catch it easily enough. That is why a slow retrive is essential during a cold front. Bass also recognise which foods are higher in protein for them, for instance a bass will probably eat a fish rather than a crab during the cold front as it is better food for them. I'm not saying they won't eat the crab but the fish is better. The bigger the better. If you think that they are not hungry and you start throwing small finesse worms at them they are not going to bother that much, they want value for money. It's like a spur burger compare to a mac cheese burger. Am I making sence here? South Africans do not throw enough big swimbaits period! Especially in winter.

As for what time is best around a cold front to fish, these are my observations. The day before the cold front normally cooks, as does the day straight after the front. Don't wait a day for the water to warm, the fish are eating already. The fish know when the cold front is coming and going... it's a built into them like a radar.

After all is said and done it does differ slightly from water to water but the basic principals are the same. At the end of the day I believe that fish need to eat no matter what the weather, the influencing factors are what is it and how hard is it to catch it. Cold fronts are not plesant to fish in but there is no reason that you should not catch during a front. Just chnge your patter often and keep trying. Never give up!!!

Hope it helps. Later dude.....

[Roy]

I aggree woth bassmaster and could not have put it better.Great topic and even better reply.Whos the master bassmaster!

[Guest]

thanks bm for that!! really makes sense now on the reactions of bass and tactics to use during cold fronts!! like all said, i'll still be out there no matter!!

cheers