Pre , During and Post Cold Front Techniques

[goldrod]

Per the the title how do you approach all three of these conditions?

[Hobie-Wan Kenobi]

Almost all of my fishing experience has been in Northern Michigan. A few times I have fished in Florida, I found the fish to be more sensitive to weather changes than fish up north. Not sure if it is the generally shallower lakes, strain of bass or what.

Weather where I am at can fluctuate a lot. Can be 95 one day and drop to 50-45 the same night and carry over for a few days. I am going to speak about the summer, as no spawning or other real huge seasonal pushes are happening.

Pre-cold front, I fish where I have been catching fish. If there arent any fish, I move a little deeper. I try to find areas where I usually catch fish that are adjacent to drop offs to start.

If the cold fronts are sunny, try finding rock or dark bottom. I fish those drop offs I mentioned earlier. I will use a drop shot or Ned Rig. Sometimes a lipless bait slowly yo-yo'd may produce too.

Post cold front, I like to use small cranks to find the fish that are "waking up". I may also use smaller plastics, like a Ned Rig and fish then horizontally off the bottom or into the water column.

I should add, if largemouth arent biting, there are smallmouth. If they aer being stubborn, there are generally pike and walleye in the same lakes. If I KNOW the bass bite will be stubborn I have a variety of trout and to target, in lakes and streams. Trout like conditions that bass generally do not like.

[goldrod]

Thanks for the feedback

There is a front coming in now. As I write this I intend on doing one thing tomorrow and that’s Flippin. My setups are as follows
Valkyrie Flippin rod and bantam with floro 3/4 weight
Dobyns 805 / OG Zillion PE spool 50lb braid 3/4 Mesu jig
Zombie flip rod 85# braid Revo Premier gen2 punch skirt
GLX 895 /Z200 20# 1/2 jig
7’6” cork crucial/ bantam 1/4 weight
Otterods custom Flippin stick st. Croix LE / 50e braid
X7 Aaron Martin rod / SV103xs with 20# floro (on a spool Tim suggested that I haven’t found again, but is absolutely a pitching monster)

So all I have is Flippin rods to try and learn. I’ve seen some success in Florida with a big weight and small bait like a bb cricket but RI man bear pig seems to work just as good.
I am thinking that the fish will be tight to cover. I’m not sure of the tide but in my little experience the incoming tide will push them closer to the bank.
Pretty much during and post front Flippin and pitching has worked for me and prefrontal conditions get crank baits and football Jigs.
An old timer told me to throw in a swim jig and I may try that as well.

Areas that have sparse cover and or flats I’ll slang a S/B with and Indiana blade. Just enough thump but not too much. Fish seems to gorge themselves on the front side of a front. And during the front they hunker down but can still be caught. Post front conditions are the hardest for me. I’m still learning though. I feel more comfortable throwing a ratLtrap than a sb.
Lord willing and I wake up tomorrow morning on time I’ll see how things pan out. With the information you gave, I should be okay.
Location of the fish is going to be key. If they go deep the sticks I have won’t really be effective. I will locate deep water access near pads. Worst case will be to run points.

[Hobie-Wan Kenobi]

A lot of times, the will hold in thick vegetation forba while during a cold front. Its like insulation, keeps them warm for a bit.

[Jeffbro999]

I fish Seminole, so it could be considered not really Florida, but man, when the cold fronts first start like now, the bite goes off. Many mornings of 25lb+ limits by 8AM with 25mph north winds and dropping temps. They seem to school up on edges of vegetation and the bites usually come quick. We usually just keep power fishing chatterbaits and cover water until we find the mother load. We rarely see water temps below 50, so basically the whole winter is a prespawn bite. Hear this a lot about fish activity after a front, but have never seen that happen. I’m not in South FL, and there’s plenty of northern strain in this lake, so that may be the difference.

[goldrod]

I fish Seminole, so it could be considered not really Florida, but man, when the cold fronts first start like now, the bite goes off. Many mornings of 25lb+ limits by 8AM with 25mph north winds and dropping temps. They seem to school up on edges of vegetation and the bites usually come quick. We usually just keep power fishing chatterbaits and cover water until we find the mother load. We rarely see water temps below 50, so basically the whole winter is a prespawn bite. Hear this a lot about fish activity after a front, but have never seen that happen. I’m not in South FL, and there’s plenty of northern strain in this lake, so that may be the difference.

Does wind direction matter?
I fished a place with winds out of the west and the fish were slow dumb
They would basically hold the jerkbait and swim off with it. So the bite was like worm fishing a hard bait. Same place with the wind from the north and they would power slam the bait. I’m slowly catching on but I am still learning to pay attention to what’s going on.