Water Temps

[Seth]

Hit the Gasconade for a few hours yesterday and the water was already reading 43-44 degrees. My buddy said it was in the upper 30's a few days ago before these two 50+ degree days. A few fish are starting to move to the wintering area's already but they aren't piled in there by any means. Still caught some fish out in current. Caught a few smallmouth but mainly 12-13" kentuckies and a couple largemouth of the same size. My buddy did catch one kentucky that was 17" and fat!

That's the best kentucky I've personally seen from that river. I'll be having some fried kentuckies for dinner in the next day or two. I don't eat many bass except for when the water get's cold in the winter. I'm sure it's just in my head, but I swear fish from cold water taste better than during the warm water seasons.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Seth, were you getting some jerkbait action yet? I've just bought some hair jigs for some winter fishing. Getting ready for some winter walleye and smallies! Wanna fish the gasconade one of these days. I"m planning on doing something similar on the Current down here within the week, water temps may fall the next few days tho.

I'm with ya on the cold water, caught a mess of catfish in the lower current river one time while walleye fishing, think those were the best I've eaten to date!

[Al Agnew]

Strangely enough, I've found the spotted bass to be a little more likely to be in stronger current in cold water, and a little more likely to chase lures.

17 inches is about the biggest I've seen spots get in the Meramec river system. I've caught a few on the streams where they are native that were 18-19.

You gotta wonder whether length of daylight has as much or more to do with when they move and settle into wintering pools as water temps. Right about now they SHOULD be starting to settle in.

[LittleRedFisherman]

At what water temps do you consider to cold to get an effective fish bite? I was thinking anything over 40 to be worth trying?

[Seth]

Jerkbaits produced the most fish by far, but the average size was much nicer on the jig. I stuck with a jig and caught fewer, but nicer fish and more smallmouth. Water visibility is probably 10' right now. It's clear!

Al, you're right about the kentuckies being mainly in the current, but I did catch the best smallie of the trip in current. It caught me off guard because I was out well away from the bank in the main current and just getting ready to reel in and cast again when I felt a mushy feeling and a slight tug. That big kentucky came from out in the middle of nowhere in current as well. My buddy threw to a point and was way off his mark, but fished the bait back anyways and nailed that big kentucky.

[Seth]

I think I cost myself some money this trip too. My buddy let me try his Daiwa Steez 6'6" MH setup for throwing jigs. I couldn't believe how sensitive it was compared to my Skeet Reese jig/worm rod. Bites were so much easier to detect it was unbelievable! I'm not going to be dropping 4-500 on a Steez by any means, but I will be looking for something in the 2-300 range eventually.

[LittleRedFisherman]

I think I cost myself some money this trip too. My buddy let me try his Daiwa Steez 6'6" MH setup for throwing jigs. I couldn't believe how sensitive it was compared to my Skeet Reese jig/worm rod. Bites were so much easier to detect it was unbelievable! I'm not going to be dropping 4-500 on a Steez by any means, but I will be looking for something in the 2-300 range eventually.

Are you using florucarbon on your jig rods?

[Ham]

1) LRF, You already own lots of excellent cold water smallie jigs. They are feather jigs. Hint Hint.

2) Better tools make fishing easier and more enjoyable. I'm not buying a Steez level rod though

3) nanofil makes any spinning rod better ; flurocarbon makes any baitcaster better.

4) relative temp CAN BE more important than absolute temp. And warming trends make a big difference. ie the ONLY time I've been on a guided trip was on the New River. Air temp was 28 degrees when we started and water temp was 36'. We were able to coax a few tentative bites and had caught a couple of fish, when water warmed to 38' with an upstream water release, the smallmouth activity increased dramatically. I think we finished the day with about 20 smallies between us and all of them were pretty nice sized. I had a certified Boga grip 5 pound river smallie which is my heaviest smallie to date..

[Al Agnew]

Kinda my general rule is, if the water temp is below about 37 degrees it's usually very tough. But I agree with Ham, if the water temps start out at 35 degrees but bright sun brings them up three or four degrees, the fishing can get pretty good even with the first degree of rise.

I'm probably going to be fishing hair jigs most of the time when the water temps drop below about 44 degrees, but I'll still be trying jerkbaits down to about 40 degrees, especially if the water is very clear. Also in very clear water down in the upper 30s and low 40s, I like fishing a 5 in. finesse worm on a light jig head.

[Seth]

Anyody try a Ned rig on the rivers when it's cold? The Tablerock guys seem to love that bait.

I need to tie up some more hair jigs. Last year was so cold i never really got the chance to try them out.