Posted by Bear from spider-wo041.proxy.aol.com on October 19, 1999 at 22:40:06:
In Reply to: Local DPFP Lake Temps - Trivia Test posted by Bear on October 17, 1999 at 08:01:42:
: Trivia Question:
: LM Bass are supposed to be at peak feeding level-100%- when water temp is 75 and only at 60% when it is 60. But why might you have better fishing success in the spring and fall with the temp around 60? There are at least two good reasons maybe more.
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Good Reasons
My Original 2 (True for lakes and rivers.)
1. Food supply. 75-degree water period coincides with abundance of food in the form of young of the year, insects, crayfish, tadpoles, frogs, etc. There is less for fish to eat in spring and fall. They spend more time feeding which ups your odds.
2. Pre-spawn binge, 60 deg. Bass have a natural drive to feed heavily before the spawn @ 60-65 deg for LM bass. Some say this begins the previous fall accounting for a fall binge.
More Reasons (Some are not as universal as 1 and 2.)
3. Fall binge, 60 deg. A lot of people say this is just an early stage of number 2. Others say they are getting ready for winter the same way squirrels and bears fatten up at this time. Either way they are snapping.
4. Heavy summer pressure, 75 deg. Boaters and fishermen spook the fish on some waters. Fish become nocturnal. Night fishing is not everyone’s cup of tea.
5. Heavy summer weed growth, 75 deg. Heavy weeds are hard to fish without specialized equipment and presentations. Fish may distribute broadly across weedy flats becoming hard to target. Or it becomes hard to find the holding structures under all those weeds.
6. Lake stratification, 75 deg. This can move fish and food out of their normal locations and require finding a new pattern.
7. Toothy critters, 75 deg. Muskies, Pike, and Eyes, driven shallow by stratification, take over the weed edges forcing bass into heavy cover that, again, requires specialized equipment and presentations.
Score yourself. Since some reasons stem off other reasons, it is sometimes hard to draw a line where one ends and the other begins. I am sure there are more less common reasons, like the fact that some fishermen drink more beer in the summer which throws their reflexes off ;-) Above all, do not take this as a list of excuses. If we can adapt to changing conditions, we can catch’em all season long. For instance, the overabundance of food in the summer tells us that a minnow imitator has a lot of competition for attention down there. Try something different. Hit‘em in the nose with a purple metallic worm, or use a fast retrieve to trigger a strike with a crank bait, trap, spook, rat, or buzz bait. All the other “problems” have solutions too.
Good Fishing.
Catch and Release!