I went out yesterday and was greeted with the coldest water temperatures our lake has had in a few years at 52 degrees.  I know that isn't cold for many parts of the country, but these So Cal bass don't experience it much colder in their lives.  So my expectation was to keep it slow, put baits right in front of their noses and grind out a dozen bites or so.  As we all know, cold water bass don't eat much and we are looking for a few who are.

 

So everything is unfolding as planned and 20 minutes in, I get a subtle bite on a TRD.  A keeper, about a pound and a half, with a surprise as I go to unhook him.  In his throat is a crayfish claw, still opening and closing as the bass is swallowing him.  This little largemouth had barely finished gulping down a decent sized crawdad when he chose my TRD as a dessert to finish his meal.  I wouldn't be surprised if he went back to his feeding grounds and gorged himself on little sunfish for the rest of the morning.

52° is October temps around here, primetime fall fishing. Cool photo!

Most of SoCal lakes should be beginning pre spawn about now.

little bass on the way to being a big bass with that appetite.

Tom

Tom, on my lake, I tend to see the first prespawn females around the 2nd week of January (give or take a week based on water temps and weather patterns).  I base that on the shape of the females, where they are located and how they react to moving baits.  I may be missing some prior to that or misidentifying fish I catch earlier than that, but it is pretty consistent here.

 

This guy may just be an overachiever...

Fishing 44° water here in VA and caught a 4.5lb on ned rig yesterday, had the tail of about an 8” crappie sticking out of its throat, and still hungry. If it looks tasty they’ll eat it, even if you don’t think they can squeeze anything else in there!