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Mercury can be your friend
Conditions last Saturday combined to paint a clear and compelling picture illustrating the merits of finding the best possible water to fish.
I was on the lake at sun-up and enjoyed a glorious dawn that splashed scarlet streaks in the hardwood stands rimming the lake. Each vista was in duplicate (albeit reverse) thanks to the perfect reflections on the mirror surface.
The wind hadn’t yet kicked up and the warmish evening had pulled packs of smallmouth bass to feeding locations in the shallows around Route 18 over Shenango Reservoir. A few casts into the day already had produced a couple of smallies topping 18 inches.
It was shaping up to be a banner day.
And then the clouds rolled in.
Make no mistake, I’m not complaining. The day was far from ruined. Into many fishing days a few cottony cumulus clouds may roll.
But the sun that provided warming comfort an hour into the daylight now was playing hide and seek in the sky. When it was bright, it was warm. When it was dark, it was chilly.
The warm-then-chilly phenomenon was more than atmospheric. It also affected the subsurface world. I fished seven more hours last Saturday and managed to hook and land 22 largemouth and smallmouth bass. Every single one of them happened on water where the sun was making a direct hit.
The general water temperature last weekend was in the mid-50s by midmorning. Areas where the sun had yet to warm things were around 53 degrees. In the locations where the sun had been beaming direct light, the water was 55.5 to 56 degrees.
The two- to three-degree swings were huge. I could fish the shady side of a point where the water was 53.5 and not get bit. Then, 50 feet further around the point in direct sunlight the water was nearly 56 and I’d catch a fish.
Other environmental factors like wind and bottom composition often come into play for most of the species popular here in Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Walleye, crappie and bass all tend to be busier in areas where the water is moving and the bottom is firm.
But it was the sun factor last weekend that proved to be my best ally.
I hit a few places where the wind was just about perfect. It created a bit of current that seemingly would be pushing bait in toward the cover where the bass would be waiting. But without sun on those spots, they were a waste of time for me.
On the other hand, I caught nice largemouths off cover in locations completely slick in the shelter from the breeze. What those spots lacked in current was more than compensated for by the better water temperature.
Spring and fall are the two prime seasons for using water temperature to help locate your favorite fish.
Let the mercury be your friend as the 2014 season winds down and again during your first trips of 2015. Whatever lake you fish — Mosquito, Milton, West Branch, Berlin, Pymatuning or Shenango — the fish will inevitably be in the warmest possible water.
Whether you are after crappies, largemouths, smallies or walleyes, if you know the temperature range they prefer and can find it on your lake, you will increase greatly your odds of hooking up.