Was out fishing Monday night from 8-9:45.  Went to pond thinkin warmer water at 80, I should start with top water  pop r  & buzzbait, nothin. Then spinnerbait & chatter bait, nothin. The sun had just set, time to pull out the jitterbug! But still no action. There were some kids fishin with plastic worms & were catchin some fish.

Well, I'll give it a try. Tied on a senko threw it next to some pads, first cast WHAM! nice 1 1/2 lber. Got a few more bites but didn't land them.

Is a finesse approach  the way to fish if the water temps are up over 80? Or maybe just slowing down your presentation?

I know that you should fish the conditions, the fish will tell you what they want, blah, blah, blah. I'm just saying in general is slower better when it this hot?

Thats how I usually do it, and I fish at nights myself mostly, 5 to 9 pm. I've tried Jigs, jerks and some top water but the senko was catching at this time for me.

last 4 nights I fished senko style and slow, only way to tell if I got a hit was to slowly lift my rod tip up and feel, but whats hard about that is gut hooking them, ticks me off when i do that but man I couldn't feel or see the bite, seems to be bigger this year and Im guessing its do to the odd warmer temps

There just isn't a simple answer. I could blah blah blah about the physiology behind it but... all said and done each water and often, each  day, is different. Don't assume anything -fish and see what comes, or you can make happen.

In many waters, esp in the north, bass will reduce active activity when water temps break the lower 80s. If you are measuring surface temps though, they are not likely the whole story: It may be 77 say, at 10feet.

I've found any speed may work. Sorry to say, but you have to sort that out each day. I have seen times during high temps when a very fast erratic retrieve will trigger some fish that wouldn't take on a normal retrieve. I always try this under those conditions, and it's a fast way to find out. I tend to start faster, and slow down if I need to. If I'm not catching on faster or moderate retrieves, then I'll slow down -often going to plastics to do this.

Actually in warmer water the bass should be more active - I think the key to your scenario is that other people were fishing in that area, which may have caused the fish to be less aggressive due to the "pressure".  In that case, a finesse approach would definitely be more likely to get a response.

What is your defination of finesse fishing?

Finesse fishing to me is precission presentation of smaller lures on light tackle. If you are fishing a 6" Senko on 12 to 15 lbs line, is that finesse fishing or simply bass fishing? Matching the lure to the profile of the prey the bass are looking for is standard practice. Down sizing the lure to entice a strike from an inactive bass by getting the lure within a small strike zone is finesse fishing.

Low light period bass should be active bass and react to a wide verity of lure presentations, finding the best lure is called fishing. Sometimes it's a frog, a soft plastic creature or worm, a crank bait, spinnerbait, top water splasher or whatever.

I prefer to cover water at night in lieu of saturating a small area with finesse presentations. During the day, when the bass appear to be inative, I will finesse fish.

Try the Owner circle hook (#5114) wacky hook/ o-ring rig for the Senko rig, no gut hooking.

WRB

Actually in warmer water the bass should be more active - I think the key to your scenario is that other people were fishing in that area, which may have caused the fish to be less aggressive due to the "pressure". In that case, a finesse approach would definitely be more likely to get a response.

Yes, they are metabolically revved up, but at a certain temperature (approaching mid 80s), bass may not be able to find enough food for those revved up engines, and will decrease hunting activity.

Apparently this is most common in the north bc (even though Florida bass have similar upper temp peaks) northern waters do not crank out the food that southern waters do. While you may see southern bass in some waters ripping into bait in 90deg water temps, in the north, and many other waters around the country, you'll likely be night fishing to get onto a good shallow bite. The alternative is to fish deeper -if that's available.

This seeming paradox is something you can see -after really hot spells bass get thin in many waters. Watch for it. They simply cannot catch enough food to keep up with their racing metabolism.

Bob Lusk has said that the major difference between northern and southern bass (northern strain) in terms of growth potential lies in food production of their respective waters. According to Bob, both N and S actually have a similar number of potential growth days -those between 60F and ~82F. Above 80+, (an imprecise number) bass growth suffers. The wild card is the sheer amount of readily available food.

It has appeared to me from what I've seen that shallow bass daytime activity decreases during summer and so far, this has coincided with high water temps -approaching the mid 80s.

The surface temps here in WV on the lakes are pushing mid 80's but on the rivers they are high 70's.  We are still catching fish in the traditionla ways on the river topwater, spinnerbait, etc., but on the lakes the fish have just pulled out off the bank a bit to the 8-12 ft level and are feeding just as heavily as before just have to get down to them.  shakey heads and just T-rigged worms doing damage now.

The surface temps here in WV on the lakes are pushing mid 80's but on the rivers they are high 70's. We are still catching fish in the traditionla ways on the river topwater, spinnerbait, etc., but on the lakes the fish have just pulled out off the bank a bit to the 8-12 ft level and are feeding just as heavily as before just have to get down to them. shakey heads and just T-rigged worms doing damage now.

Your scenario is being repeated all across the country.

Welcome btw.

Bass prefer 70 to 75 degree water, holds DO far better than 80 to 85 water. If you have ever swam in a lake, you know the surface water down to about 5 feet is warmer than the deeper water. Surface water temps measured before the sun gets on it is a better indicator of the first 3 feet of water.

The bass move into warm shallow water to feed on critters hiding there, then try to find cooler water during the hot summer period.

85 degrees is about the warmest the water can be and hold enough dissolved oxygen to sustain bass.

It's like holding your breath for bass to be in low DO level zones, they can't stay there very long.

Green weeds give off DO during the day time and provide shade to cool the water, reasons bass like them.

WRB

Bass prefer 70 to 75 degree water, holds DO far better than 80 to 85 water. If you have ever swam in a lake, you know the surface water down to about 5 feet is warmer than the deeper water. Surface water temps measured before the sun gets on it is a better indicator of the first 3 feet of water.

The bass move into warm shallow water to feed on critters hiding there, then try to find cooler water during the hot summer period.

85 degrees is about the warmest the water can be and hold enough dissolved oxygen to sustain bass.

It's like holding your breath for bass to be in low DO level zones, they can't stay there very long.

Green weeds give off DO during the day time and provide shade to cool the water, reasons bass like them.

WRB

We have water temps around 90 degrees at this point ( South Florida). Would you say that bass would be more comfortable in 5ft of water with very heavy vegetation, or in 15ft of water? What I mean is do you know which one would hold more of the DO that you speak of, or is the DO in both spots relatively similar? Thanks for the info above I never thought of the DO being very important, I always thought the bass were in certain spots based solely on structure.... a lot of things are clicking right now :-?

Was out yesterday in Northern IL. Water temps topped out at 83 degrees with partly cloudy skies. Couldn't get anything on cranks, spinnerbaits, or swimbaits in deeper water, and never tried dropshoting. Killed them in less than 5fow on jignpig and senkos while dock and weedline fishing. Had a few blowups on Scumfrogs in the heavy slop but couldn't connect.

Thats just the way the river system I was on fishes. 8000 acres that includes maybe 8 or 9 lakes, average depth is 5ft with max depth 30ft. BUT there is limited structure in deeper water and much of the bottom is soft or sand.

I think conditions as a whole will dictate what the bass want and not just water temp.

Topwater will always work in this situation (depending on your retrieve). BUT weightless senkos will dominate in this heat wave. More often than not, you will be hooked up almost immediately after it touches the water.

Which leads me to my next point. Using senkos is cheating  . There. I said it. What.

Find your thermocline then match that with structure and go from there.

seems like the bass told you what they wanted that day. that could be different from day to day or on another lake. I always start with what i think will work then adapt if i have to. you have to consider pressure, type of forage, type of cover, water clarity.

In other words just fish the moment.

basically the blah blah blah is the answer to your question. if you can catch em doing it then it was better.

Hey thanks everyone for all the input!

I had read that high water temps can make Bass sluggish & finicky. Almost the same as cold water temps. But wasn't sure at what temp that might be?

Paul you nailed that question! 

That's what the physiology says, and my interpretations of it so far. The whole story is far from complete though.

Aquatic systems are VERY complex. And each one you visit, every hour of each day, and each year throw up complications. That's why aquatic creatures, esp in the upper rungs of the food chain are so darn complex.

Light, temperature, DO (dissolved oxygen), vegetation, forage (type and availability), lake topography, etc ... all play an ever changing role.

What it comes down to at the practical level is that each day each hour we are having to reinvent the wheel -Mother nature appears to be unwilling to have it any other way. Get used to it. ;D It just ain't cookbook.

slonezp brings that to the table in his post. Bass feeding well, and shallow in 83F water. That happens in many waters. I've seen it and shared some pretty interesting conversations with knowledgeable anglers on it. I could explain much of it, but not all to my satisfaction. I think it has to do with the interactions between the variables -some become more important as conditions/circumstances change. Change is what we can count on. It's the way of life. I for one want to know the variables, and peruse examples of how they play out in as many situations as possible. It's the main reason I'm on this board. I can't be everywhere and I want to be LOL.

Love the conversation gents.

It's important to identify lake classifications and bass species together when discussing details about bass behavior. We all tend to think of the type of lake we fish and the bass we catch when replying to a question.

I think of low land reservoirs, natural lakes and rivers with largemouth bass for example when someone is from a region with predominately that type of water and bass.

Where I fish the lakes are highland deep structured with 4 types of bass; northern largemouth, Florida largemouth, northern spotted bass and smallmouth, with FLMB being predominate. Each of the different bas species behave differently in the same lake.

Bass in clear water lakes in the Colorado river system, lake Mead for example are subjected to extremely hot surface water and tend to locate near the thermocline in 30 to 40 depths. The northern strain largemouth bass in mead will strike a surface lure, during mid day, in 120 degree air temperatures, or a 4" finesse worm drop shot at 40'!

The first thing most bass anglers want to know is "depth", the 2nd is what "color".

WRB

Since bass have no choice in the matter they will become acclimated to the environment in which they live.

Is a finesse approach the way to fish if the water temps are up over 80?

It was the technique of choice on this day!

Or maybe just slowing down your presentation?

Again slow was the technique of choice to the bass!

I know that you should fish the conditions, the fish will tell you what they want, blah, blah, blah. I'm just saying in general is slower better when it this hot?

To consistently catch bass is a process of elimination and duplication. Eliminate patterns and waters that are non-productive and duplicate patterns and waters that are productive.

I went out Wednesday night again. Since i had the senko already tied on stared with it. Got nothin. Then threw crankbait caught a small LMB. Stuck around till 9:30, this time threw a black spinnerbait dbl colorado blade. Hooked a nice fish but, lost him (I was to busy swatting mosquitoes !!).

  I guess this again proves, "fish the moment & the conditions"!

I've got the opposite going on. Unseasonably cool weather is still on us here in CO. This past week has seen nights as low as 48F! Water temps should be in the in the low 80s now (in the shallows), but it's now in the low 70s. I'm either fishing the dense cover in shallower ponds or hitting offshore structure in the deeper res's by this time.

And usually by this time of year I've long adjusted to the error of not breaking out the heavy tackle early enough to wrestle bass out of dense milfoil. So yesterday I hit a good shallow pond (like one big flat for you big water fishers) armed with ALL heavy rigs, only to find very little vege development. Surface temp was 72F. The bass were VERY finicky. They liked a swum jig in bluegill hues around the remaining bluegill colonies. They were aggressive, and would rush it, throwing awesome wakes, but intercept the jig gingerly. Set and I'd feel weight, and then they gone! At first I thought I was just missing em. I double checked my hook -AOK. After over a dozen such hits I had to conclude that something was amiss with the lure. I believe they were taking the pork trailer only. I tried speed changes, then a color change, with the same response. One bass, holding in a sparse milfoil bed just beyond a bluegill colony, hit 5 times with strong wake-throwing rushes! But we never hooked up.

Curiously, they were not interested in a swimming worm. Nor an active topwater. The sun disappeared before I could find something that would fit. I would have liked to down-size to a smaller jig n trailer, or go to a soft plastic jerk. But those were home in my "spring box". Go figure!

Keeping good track of those fish is really a full time job, Unfortunately, I have couple other competing full time jobs LOL.

WRB:

You are right that we all tend to operate from our own experience -can't be any other way really. The danger is trying to extrapolate across too many waters and circumstances. In looking at the physiology and other such stuff about bass, I'm trying to focus on key limitations. Then see how these play out in the real world.