fishing after a cold front in texas

[bigbasswilly]

It was in the 60's last week, this week it's in the 20's with a -6 wind chill. Not supposed to get above freezing until Friday and I am fishing on Saturday with a high of 45. My guess is fish slow and deep, but welcome any thoughts from anyone who knows more than me which shouldn't be difficult.

[carolina-rig-01]

Cold fronts can be a crap shoot, especially in the spring. One thing I have learned is that while cold fronts may effect the fish, they usually bother the fisheman more than the fish. I used to be really bad about overthinking a cold front and often times would over compensate by fishing too deep or making too big of changes to what I was doing to catch fish before the front hit. The water temps will have a big impact on what the fish will do also. If the water was getting close to spawning temps before the cold front then there is a good chance that the fish may stay shallow and just hold up tight to cover or structure, or maybe just back off to the first contour change. If the water was still pretty cool before the cold front then they might be suspended over deeper points or any number of other areas that hold fish during winter months. I would also look for areas that get the most sunshine and seek out some chunk rock, concrete boat ramps, or transition areas to hit hard if the sun starts beating on them. For baits there are tons of right choices for this time of year but I would start with the following on the deck of my boat.

1. Lipless crankbait (probably in a red crawdad pattern). This is a great bait to YoYo along the bottom with a long cast on flats that are close to deeper water.

2. Suspending Jerkbait (color is your choice but I prefer some sort of a shad pattern). This bait can be used just about anywhere. Be sure to vary your cadence with this bait. Jerk jerk pause, jerk long pause, jerk jerk jerk pause jerk long pause, ect. If the water is extremely cold don't be scared to let the bait sit for a long time on the pause (maybe 15 seconds to as much as a minute). It can be painful to fish this bait in the cold and using really long pauses but it can get bites too.

3. Spinnerbait (I prefer shad colors here too if water clarity allows). I like to slow roll this bait over deeper ledges, flats, and points. I prefer a spinnerbait that weighs anywhere from 1/2oz to 1oz. For slow rolling I use spinnerbaits that I custom made that have a single willow leaf blade in either size 6 or 7. If you find the fish are shallow you can flip and pitch a spinnerbait around shallow cover as well and this is a great way to catch some toads.

4. Wiggle Wart (crawdad colors). This bait is hard to beat on chunck rock in cool to cold water. Get in shallow water and let the bait bang around on the rocks on the retrieve.

5. Jigs (your favorite color). I would use a fairly light jig as it will force you to slow down more.

6. Jigging spoons. These baits can be killer if you find a school of suspended fish.

7. Flipping bait. (can be a flipping jig or a soft plastic bait). This will come in handy if you get on a shallow flipping and pitching bite.

There are a lot more baits that can be a great choice for cold water and cold fronts but this will at least give you a starting place. Good luck and hope this helps.

[Solidbad]

Hey man, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm from fort worth and we have the same nasty weather you're dealin with right now. I plan on fishin Saturday too, and I'm Thinkin like you- deep and slow for the most part. But that being said, with how long this cold front is lasting, even the deep water will get cold so some bass may take Saturday's sunshine and get to shallow flats where the sun is warming the water. It depends on the time of day you're fishin really, but don't get hung up too much on one thing. See what the bass are doin and let them tell you what they want. Regardless of the depth you decide to fish, I would have a jig tied on to at least one rod- fish it SLOW. There a variety of other baits you can fish such as lipless crankbaits or maybe soft plastics if the shallow bite shows up. I like to fish big baits in cold water. The bass don't want to spend energy on chasing down a little meal in these conditions. Throw big baits and fish them slowly. Make it look like a big easy meal.

Hope this helps man! Good luck Saturday!

[keithdog]

C-Rig gave you some great advice. The only thing I want to add is that I have had my best success facing cold front situations when working the wind blown side of the lake working grass beds. I'm going to look for water between 4-10 foot deep with good weedbeds near a wind blown bank. Pitchin t rigged beaver type baits and spinnerbaits near shore and working them into the deeper weeds have proved deadly for me under this situation.