Went out to one of the ponds today to fish. Temperature this whole week has been about 60° with water temperature about 52° Today was very cloudy here in NC. The center of the pond was about 10 feet deep and we tried every lure and got nothing. However all along the bank is about 2 to 3 feet deep. There are stumps and huge trees in the water all over the bank. I threw a swim bait minnow and we were getting fish!!!!! I thought in the winter time the bass went to the bottom. Were we seeing all these fish because they were trying to get warm near the trees? Joe

A good stretch of warm water will bring fish shallow because the water there warms fastest. I wouldn't really consider 52 degree water temps winter water temps either though.

52 has been the coldest so far. If January and February are colder than this I doubt the water temps will get below 42 or 43. Then come march the spawn fast approaches. :-)

Bass aren't always "normal", or doing what they're supposed to be doing. That being said, yeah, with water temps at 52, they're still being pretty active for at least a part of the day, and alot of times, that'll be during the warmest part of the day during the late fall/early winter.

I think that I read somewhere that if you start seeing turtles sunning on wood then the fish should be getting ready to move also.