Why do bass go on flats in late winter?

[Bassboss]

This kinda goes along with Smitties thread in the bragging board, so rather than hijacking it, I'll make a new one!

One thing I never understood, is why do fish congregate on shallow flats like they do in the cold. I understand why the would be on deep points, but why the shallow flats? It it seams like they would be coldest until a bit after noon (not afternoon), than it may warm up, and than fish would go there.

So why, anyone know?

[basstech]

There is an artical in the FLW outdoors magazine I picked up at BPS the other night. That may help answer your question. Hopefully someone who knows will post an answer because that is a dang good question, and I'm curious to know now as well.

[JB]

Fishing the flats is a way of life up here by the great lakes, however fisherman only target these flats in much warmer temps...the reason why? bait fish move in these areas with little or no visible cover to us, but to them its a comfort zone. Small shad feed on the plankton in the water, the game fish follow.

Normally if you go out far enough on a flat theres the drop, where fish this time of year will be. I imagine its the same on salt fishing, fish hunt in flats because smaller pray are there.

[Captmikestarrett]

On the river the flats have dark mud bottoms and warm up quick. The crayfish and shad will also head for dark mud flats first.

But only if the water is clear.. muddy it up and it all gets warm fast on the top..

Capt Mike

[TN_Bassin]

Capt mike hit the nail on the head with that one. Go where the food goes and you find the bass. It just so happens that the food goes to flats.

[Bassboss]

Hmmm, I always thought the food when deeper in winter, I guess not all the time!

Thanks guys!

[BlueDaksi]

Ice fishing for the first time this year has taught me a lot about largemouth bass. I used to have the impression that they went deep, didn't eat much, and just sort of became more or less inactive until the water warmed up. Up here in Western NY, nothing could be further from the truth. We found them aggressively feeding in the shallow flats under thick ice.

[screwballl]

Depends on the lake. I found here in north FL that when they do that, they are in a spot where the sunlight warms the water much faster.

[nofearengineer]

My opinion on the subject is this:

I don't think the warming of the water is the primary issue here, but secondary. I think as the Spring approaches, the sunlight becomes more direct; i.e. more overhead, and the algae and plankton begins to bloom. This happens everywhere on the lake, but at a more accelerated rate on the flats, where as was noticed, the temperature is slightly higher. Flats are also typically located closer to places where snowmelt is entering the lake, bringing with it lots of nutrients for the plankton to grow on.

Where the algae and plankton are, there will be baitfish, and thus the bass will follow.

(One thing to think about...a side issue, is that in late Winter, water warmed by the Sun (up to 39 degrees) doesn't rise to the top...it sinks. Once the entire water column stabilizes at 39 degrees, the surface will begin to warm. I think this time would be the optimum time for late Winter flats fishing.)

[screwballl]

good info nofear... although I wonder about the temperature because here closer to sea level, the water does not start to "turn over" until it is closer to mid to upper 40s.
This weekend I went to a 65 acre lake and the topwater temps were around 42ºF, but around 18 feet down it was 46º. This seemed to trigger the carp into coming up but the bass stayed down low in their usual winter hideouts.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by screwballl

good info nofear... although I wonder about the temperature because here closer to sea level, the water does not start to "turn over" until it is closer to mid to upper 40s.

Are you talking about the fall turnover? Or what a lot of people think of as Spring turnover? If it's Fall turnover, that's because the top layer has cooled off faster than the bottom, not necessarily because it's cold. You could theoretically have a turnover at 70 degrees if the bottom of the lake was 80 degrees. Something like that actually happened up here at Patoka a couple years ago, and it killed a lot of the large Striped Bass, who just couldn't handle the combination of the high temperature and the resulting low oxygen levels.

This weekend I went to a 65 acre lake and the topwater temps were around 42ºF, but around 18 feet down it was 46º. This seemed to trigger the carp into coming up but the bass stayed down low in their usual winter hideouts.

It is always possible to have a few degrees difference across the water column. Especially if you never reached 39 degrees this Winter, which I'm sure is pretty likely in Florida. You guys don't typically have the same degree of turnover of those of us in more temperate regions.

[screwballl]

That lake was around 35º for most of Dec and Jan since the daytime air temps rarely reached much higher than that in this stretch of northwest FL.
Usually we notice the spring turnover getting ready to start when the carp start coming up to feed in the cooler water and the bream hang along the transition line waiting for the turnover. I had a 3 foot carp hit the top of the water a few feet from me in the canoe
I was tempted to toss out a fly to see if I could catch any but decided against it as it is illegal (look up triploid carp Florida).

[AUFred]

I think it has a little to do with the temperature and light penetration. The bait fish tend to move in for any plankton activity. I also believe another factor is the need to gorge for pending spawn times. The bass are looking for warmer water but more so the food source afforded in the flats.

[screwballl]

AU, I can understand that for lakes that have shad and fish that actively feed on plankton, but many of the local lakes I am speaking of do not have any shad, so the main food source is panfish. Most panfish rely on small bugs and larvae which generally do not start hatching until water is in the mid 50s, so the bluegill stay low and in winter mode until the water hits that temperature, and the bass follow suit.
So many of our lakes/ponds do not even see the bass moving into pre-spawn mode until the water is already in the low to mid 50s.

[AUFred]

Originally Posted by screwballl

AU, I can understand that for lakes that have shad and fish that actively feed on plankton, but many of the local lakes I am speaking of do not have any shad, so the main food source is panfish. Most panfish rely on small bugs and larvae which generally do not start hatching until water is in the mid 50s, so the bluegill stay low and in winter mode until the water hits that temperature, and the bass follow suit.
So many of our lakes/ponds do not even see the bass moving into pre-spawn mode until the water is already in the low to mid 50s.

I have watched bass do what I can only assume is sunning themselves on cold sunny days. Sort of like turtles & snakes do when it is still cool. I have had some good luck over flats when the water was still cool using lipless crankbaits & buzzbaits. i happen to be one who assumes moon phases effect their behavior as well as temperature and pressure.

[3dkicker]

One thing I didn't mention in my post was that I did catch one other fish other than the bass. I caught a 10" white perch in the same area on a deep diving crankbait when I put the trap down. I'm guessing that the perch were up feeding along with the bass or the bass had followed them and may have been feeding on them too. I didn't see much on the depth finder in terms of balls of bait fish when fishing the flats and shallow points. Just an occassional fish or two.

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by AUFred

I have watched bass do what I can only assume is sunning themselves on cold sunny days. Sort of like turtles & snakes do when it is still cool. I have had some good luck over flats when the water was still cool using lipless crankbaits & buzzbaits. i happen to be one who assumes moon phases effect their behavior as well as temperature and pressure.

AU, in late winter when you a bass sunning themselves (Nature provided them with a dark back to help them warm those eggs, as well as camoflage) it is usually a female incubating her eggs. The longer daylight is one of the triggers for that spawning urge. Even with the water still being cold, those bass know that the longer days will be bringing warmer temps as well so the spawning urge starts kicking in. I have seen bass spawn in Texas with 50 degree water temps on Lake Fork. Everything starts kicking in during the late winter and flats adjacent to a ditch, creek, or other "highway" is the perfect place to start staging and waiting on the rest of the food chain to become active. Start looking at the flats in pockets, coves on the northwest side of the lake facing southeast for your first water to warm up.