I used to fish steelhead throughout the year and since I lived in Cleveland i was a 2 minute jaunt to the nearest fishing holes. Temps were all over the map but the wildest was a cold winter day in the single digit range but we'd just had 3' of snow so the stream went up a foot and dirtied. That also lifted the ice sheets from the bank. So it was a foot high, dirty enough to not see the bottom and where you were stepping, single digit air temps, with sheets of ice the size of a car floating down the river. And I'm out in it drifting egg sacs on a baitcaster float rod for fresh run steelhead. Stupid.

Snow, hail, rain, lightning, big waves...I've done it all.

4 hours ago, BassinBrett said:

If I go fishing on Friday I could be an extreme angler too. It is going to be -22 degrees here. I normally don’t go when it is much below freezing. It is not worth the trouble.

I did go fishing once in AZ when it was 114 out. I got to the lake at 3 or 4 in the afternoon and fishing to midnight. It never really cooled off. I also found out lake humidity makes it feel worse.

I've been out on the ice a few times in the -10 to -20*f range, and it just isn't worth it.

25* the day after Christmas one year while walleye fishing on a river on the east side of the state. There were salt buckets at the boat launch for everyone to use. Battled frozen guides all day and managed to catch a few fish too.

5 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Do you not ice up over there?

Seems like you do a lot more fishing in KS than what we can in IA.

Maybe I'm geographically challenged but I figured your weather would be somewhat similar. Must not be.

In a lightning storm with somebody who told me I was overreacting when told him we gotta head back to the dock 20 minutes ago. Thick bolts were peppering the ground every 5 seconds. Obviously I don’t fish with him anymore.

45 minutes ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Do you not ice up over there?

Seems like you do a lot more fishing in KS than what we can in IA.

Clayton fishes a BIG hot tub, aka a power plant lake.

Back in the day my old army buddy and I were shrimping off the coast of Louisiana. There was a huge storm coming in. All the other boats were headed back to safety, but my old commander seemed to have something to get off his chest. He wouldn't let us go in, even as the wind and waves picked up. I'd long since abandoned shrimping and was just focused on keeping the bow into the wind.

While I'm doing my best to keep us afloat, the lieutenant had climbed up the mast and was sitting on the jib shouting at the storm! It seemed like he was up there forever. I kept expecting him to lose his grip and go flying -- he doesn't even have legs.

I remember him screaming "You'll never sink this boat!" And, sure enough, he was right.

Afterthe storm had passed, we headed back to port. We ran our nets to see if Hurricane Carmen had brought any shrimp with her. In that one pass, we caught more shrimp than I've ever seen. We had barely enough gas to make it home, and when we pulled into the breakwater, we saw every other shrimping boat smashed and tossed onto the shore.

That was the beginning of the big times for he and me. We were the only shrimper left and had one of the biggest hauls in history. We decided to go into business and name it after our buddy who had died in the war -- The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.

9 hours ago, GreenPig said:

I fished 7am - 2pm in a Gale Warning with some rain in my 1448 jon. I was fishing against a couple friends for $5 each for the best 5 fish. I took off at 7 on the dot, figured they were running late. I called them at 9am just to check in and they were sitting at Denny's eating and forfeited their money. Sissys.😁

I won't blink at fishing in Small Craft Advisories. It's a very wet surfing trip in my little boat but the bass don't care. I usually wind up standing a fishing from the middle seat to lessen the waves rolling over the bow. It's one of the reasons I run a 80lb Terrova on such a little boat.

If the waters not hard, cold will never stop me from fishing.

You must be very young.

If ice fishing counts, I’ve been out there when it was -30 air temps.

I hate ice fishing with a passion now and have no intention of ever doing it again, but there was a time in my life when I used to participate somewhat frequently.

@Tackleholic Yes sir. 50😀

I've stood in a river in northern New Hampshire in March fly fishing for trout. Had to fish between the ice flows.

One weekend at Okeechobee, 8 of us rented a house, fished three days, and we caught one suicidal bass total. It was 23* in the mornings, with an inch of ice on the boat decks. The only positive thing was the nightly card games and good food.

20 degrees with a good amount of wind on a Texas lake. I was in my kayak at the time and thought it was a brilliant idea to try and stand up in it. Ended up falling in the water and thankfully was close to the shore. Took a minute to get warm lol

Learned my lesson from that one

17 hours ago, Rockhopper said:

Snow, hail, rain, lightning, big waves...I've done it all.

So have I, but now I'm older and wiser.

13 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

In a lightning storm with somebody who told me I was overreacting when told him we gotta head back to the dock 20 minutes ago. Thick bolts were peppering the ground every 5 seconds. Obviously I don’t fish with him anymore.

I can remember wade fishing and being caught in a lightning storm like that, about 2 miles from my car; I probably set an unofficial record for how fast someone can run that distance in waders. Scary as H_LL!

14 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Do you not ice up over there?

Seems like you do a lot more fishing in KS than what we can in IA.

Maybe I'm geographically challenged but I figured your weather would be somewhat similar. Must not be.

We do usually get a brief period of being iced over but for the most part the last several years the lakes here have remained pretty ice free. I do have the power plant lakes that are pretty sure things to be open, although the ramps are far enough from the discharge that occasionally they will freeze over during extreme cold snaps. The water temps vary greatly on those lakes depending on wind direction and amount of generation and knowing how it affects the fish is a huge factor in a productive day on the water.

I took my wife fishing once.....

Twenties and blowing 15-25 comes to mind as does high 30's and pouring rain. Both are pretty miserable, but I'll take freezing over wet and freezing every time. Sometimes the juice is worth the squeeze though.

I don't go on a trip if the high temperature is not going above freezing. It is too much of a pain to deal with frozen guides and frozen level winds.

The week-end of April 12-13, 2016. Muskegon MIchigan. Temp. at launch time was 29 wind was steady at 23mph and it started snowing just after we put in. To say we froze is an understatement, even with the snowmobile suits we had on. First day, my son-in-law and I boated five walleye over 30in.

The second day temps. were identical, but the wind died down to 15-18mph. The only thing we caught was a cold.

We've been back a few times since. Every other time the weather was about normal for April, but only once did we get anything over 30in.

I cant imagine any of you hardcore anglers in the midwest fishing the next few days but I wouldnt bet against it.

Depending on the depth of snow it is supposed to be low 30$ by Wednesday. I won’t take a chance on pulling the boat as I once had to get a wrecker to pull my truck and boat out of a ravine because I couldn’t make it up an icy hill. We took a ride through the trees and luckily I only lost a tail light.

So if we don’t get a bunch of snow I am thinking I might get some fish from the bank at Hawker campground. We will see.

I think the most extreme conditions I have fished in was during a hurricane. Hurricane ( I don't remember the name) was coming ashore and we were fishing at night under the lights behind a restaurant wearing trash bags. Reminded me of Captain Dan in Forrest Gump.

FM

14' Jon boat with only TM in high wind and 3' swells, in the winter. It was the sketchiest fishing day ever. I couldn't even launch (shore launch no dock) without timing the waves and jumping in and hammering the TM to get some momentum and not get blasted back into the shore.

I think as soon as I got a pattern I headed home. No exciting fish, but certainly an exciting day.

Oh and first DD was on a day so windy it ran three batteries (36v) trolling motor completely dry by 1pm. Was difficult to even stand, had to grab the pedestal a bunch to not get swept off the deck.

Submarined my 21' bass boat by not hitting the throttle soon enough coming over some big swells when running downwind in, yet again, high winds. Noobie move, but it sure was refreshing. Scared the bejeezus out of me.

It's windy in Texas!