Hey everyone, I went fishing for the first time this year and it was a beautiful day out but the water was very cold, ranging from 39-45 degrees. I had no luck at all. I was using a drop shot, jerk bait, my buddy was using a crank bait really slow and his gf was using a Mr.twister  . By law we can't keep any bass so we were going for perch and if we happen to catch a bass we just throw it back but we had no luck with anything. Not even a bite. What is to cold and when do fish start to move and get out of that dormant state.

 

Jeff

The more you fish, the more you'll realize there is no such thing as too cold, especially for northern bass acclimated to cold winters and water. If the water is open, they'll bite. When it starts to freeze over, pull your bait off the ice into open water, let it drop, and they'll bite. Once it completely freezes over, drill a hole and drop your bait through it and they'll still bite. Seriously. Just use a bait appropriate to the activity level of the fish, and keep in mind that in very cold weather/water, they're usually not everywhere. Very easy to fish past a school.

 

-T9

Your temperature range isn't too cold to catch fish, but it will be slow, and don't expect to go limit out in an hour in those conditions. Fish slower and deeper when facing those conditions. 

 

On a side note, thanks for the water temperature update. I'll be up in zone 18 here next month and I've been trying to gauge what the water temperature will be for my trip. 

Perch generally prefer smaller presentations - live bait is especially effective.

 

A drop shot, jerk baits & all but the smallest of crank baits are usually too large for Perch.

 

Perch can often be convinced to bite regardless of the water temp, finding them is sometimes more than half the battle. 

 

btw - targeting an out of season species is illegal in this country.

 

A-Jay

Temps in that range I would be throwing blade baits.

Be careful what equipment you are using. I call to find out what the law is about catching bass when targeting other species since bass season only starts in June. They said that if they look at your gear and determine you are using gear that isn't appropriate for the fish that are in season, you will receive an infraction. So yeah if you are throwing a spinner bait for pike after the 15th of May (in Qc), and you happen to catch a bass, then you can just release it and you'll be fine. But if you're throwing a jig on a medium heavy rod and claim you were going for perch you might run into some trouble.

Perch generally prefer smaller presentations - live bait is especially effective.

 

A drop shot, jerk baits & all but the smallest of crank baits are usually too large for Perch.

 

Perch can often be convinced to bite regardless of the water temp, finding them is sometimes more than half the battle. 

 

btw - targeting an out of season species is illegal in this country.

 

A-Jay

 

I'm very aware that targeting species outside of season is illegal thats why were going for perch. Just more or less about water temps for bass as I have a fishing tournament in June and don't know how much high the water temps will be going.

Be careful what equipment you are using. I call to find out what the law is about catching bass when targeting other species since bass season only starts in June. They said that if they look at your gear and determine you are using gear that isn't appropriate for the fish that are in season, you will receive an infraction. So yeah if you are throwing a spinner bait for pike after the 15th of May (in Qc), and you happen to catch a bass, then you can just release it and you'll be fine. But if you're throwing a jig on a medium heavy rod and claim you were going for perch you might run into some trouble.

We were using Light to medium rods as we were going for perch first. and 1/8th with a small grub. and small crank bait/jerkbait

I'm very aware that targeting species outside of season is illegal thats why were going for perch. Just more or less about water temps for bass as I have a fishing tournament in June and don't know how much high the water temps will be going.

 

Excellent.

 

A-Jay

Perch generally prefer smaller presentations - live bait is especially effective.

 

A drop shot, jerk baits & all but the smallest of crank baits are usually too large for Perch.

 

Perch can often be convinced to bite regardless of the water temp, finding them is sometimes more than half the battle. 

 

btw - targeting an out of season species is illegal in this country.

 

A-Jay

I target perch, crappie, bluegill, etc. with a dropshot quite a bit. Just downsize the line to 2lb or so, hook to 6-8-10 and bait to 1" or less. Killer for lethargic smallies too.

Remember, people have great success ice-fishing where the water temp is dancing just outside that 32 mark. Cold water can seem like a baron wasteland, which at times is very true because the fish can group really tightly. That is the challenge: Find one fish, find them all.