The highs have been mostly in the 40's and 50's recently, but today we're getting 71 degrees for the high. Should the fishing (medium sized pond) be good today because of that big weather change?

Any soft water fishing in late December is good, in my book

Just now, Choporoz said:

Any soft water fishing in late December is good, in my book

Because they're active right now, or because the water isn't iced yet?

Because fishing is better than 'not fishing'. 

 

 

There's a rare occasion when I might make an extra effort to rearrange my life in order to fish on a remarkable weather day....and just maybe a slight consideration of season/moon/rain/frontal patterns could enter my thought process.  But really, I fish when the opportunity presents itself and won't ever turn down that opportunity because the fishing might be slow. 

I guess I'm just taking the long way to saying that I don't understand the question....or at least the reason behind the question.

The water temperature is what matters. It takes several days of warm weather to affect the core water temps, surface water will warm as long as it isn't windy mixing the water column. 

Go fish, should be very comfortable for you and can't catch bass sitting on the couch!

Tom

Generally the warm days are just before a front moves in. They will be more active until the temp starts dropping rapidly as the front moves through. The blue sky days following the front are usually tough for me

13 minutes ago, WRB said:

The water temperature is what matters. It takes several days of warm weather to affect the core water temps, surface water will warm as long as it isn't windy mixing the water column. 

Go fish, should be very comfortable for you and can't catch bass sitting on the couch!

Tom

Thanks. I've got a new rod, reel, and grubs/jigheads to try out so I think I'll go.

Warm trends during the winter can be great but I'd go any chance I could if you have soft water on a pond. Those fish will bite right until ice up.

Not lately. We've had daytime temps in the 60's and low temps at night in the mid 50's and the bank fishing has still been lousy. I fished a few hours on Saturday and a few more today and caught one dink bass and a 2 pound crappie. Those were the only bites I got those days.

 

I'm going to take the next 3 or 4 weeks off from fishing. The pre-spawn down here usually starts late February but with the mild winter I'll give it a go a few weeks early this year.

Didn't realize your location at first. Your "winter" weather is our t-shirt weather ? 

2 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Didn't realize your location at first. Your "winter" weather is our t-shirt weather ? 

 

I think that with bass their habits and patterns are relative to their location. For example, when the water temperature dips into the mid to low 60's here the bass all but disappear from the shallows whereas up north they are still very active at that same temperature.

 

Fishing the lagoons here can be frustrating. By late summer the water is so warm that morning, afternoon, or early evening fishing is slow (I don't bank fish at night because that's also feeding time for the reptiles). Then we have a decent 3 or 4 week stretch of fishing beginning in late October, then it's dead until March.

 

There might as well be ice on our lagoons with fishing like that

I don't care what the ambient temperature is give me 3-4 days of stable weather & it's on!

generally speaking, yes. Fish some shallow water near deeper breaks in the afternoon. Skinny water will warm quicker. But if you get a warming trend that lasts for days, the fishing could get very good. The fish start thinking "spawn" and they'll start to move shallow and feed up. But then the weather will turn nasty and they'll run back deep. If you see three days of 70's in the forecast and can only choose one day, choose the third day.

Or just go every one of them.

Yes and the pattern that has worked best for me is to find steep  south facing banks with the sun beating down on them . Any cover might hold fish . I like to parallel cast crankbaits and retrieve them agonizingly slow . A crawfish colored Arbogast Mudbug has caught some lunkers for me and it is not a slim tight action bait .

21 hours ago, WRB said:

The water temperature is what matters. It takes several days of warm weather to affect the core water temps, surface water will warm as long as it isn't windy mixing the water column. 

Go fish, should be very comfortable for you and can't catch bass sitting on the couch!

Tom

Yes! What Tom says.

 

Don't forget that you will be entering the world of the fish where the environment is much different than our "out of water" environment.

 

Warm weather for us means comfortable fishing. Warm weather for the bass means nothing unless it lasts long enough to actually warm up the water to have a significant impact.

 

So go out there and have some fun and catch some nice bass for all of us.

 

 

I don't typically fish during the winter... if I have to wear a jacket then I'm uncomfortable, not as flexible, and not able to do things the way I'd like to do them. Finessing is more difficult when I'm all bundled up. With that said, when it warms up enough to wear a light coat or even no coat, then I find the bite is really slow. This scenario means the temp/pressure changed too quickly and leaves the fish non-committed when they strike. So usually this time of year I take time off, get my gear ready, maybe pick up some new lures or tactics I'd like to try for when spring time rolls around.

As long as I'm not cold and the water isn't hard it's a good day to be on the water.

Better to go fishing and see if the bass are biting than stay at home reading about bass fishing.

Texas, here.

 

My favorite days are the rare cooler days in our hot summers. A close second would be warm days in winter, of which we get a lot  more of these here in Texas. 

 

Fishing can be great in either case but super for the angler!

 

Brad

There is only one way to find the answer to your question: go fishing 

 Water absorbs infrared light quickly .  Anything sticking out above the water in the sun might hold a bass because it absorbs heat .  So cast at anything breaking the surface . Shorelines might be slightly warmer too .  

I always catch more fish on the warmer days in winter, it seems to get the fish a little more active and they are willing to strike faster moving baits.