Cold Front Impacts on Ice Fishing Bite?

[justinl8688]

This weekend I'll be out in NY and the air temp will be below zero with 15-20mph winds. This front is rolling in today (Thursday) through Sunday. The lake is a natural, clear lake with grass and rock. In your experience, how does a cold front like this impact the bite? Targeting Walleye, Perch, and Crappies.

[IFF]

Depends on how much of a diehard Ice fisherman you are, to be out there, Me I hate the wind, so if I can get out of in and in shelter, I would go fishing, maybe not necessarily catching. Some times I am in the right place at the right time, sometimes not, its all a guessing game, before, just after, or during I've tried them all, and more likely than not, I catch something, even if its a cold.

[zcm_82]

Depends on how much of a diehard Ice fisherman you are, to be out there, Me I hate the wind, so if I can get out of in and in shelter, I would go fishing, maybe not necessarily catching. Some times I am in the right place at the right time, sometimes not, its all a guessing game, before, just after, or during I've tried them all, and more likely than not, I catch something, even if its a cold.

100% this.  I was out yesterday in the cold front that is out your way today. It was -12° when I got set up in the morning. The fishing was slooooow, but getting 8 gills still beats sitting around at home. There's an old saying, you can't catch 'em from the couch.

[justinl8688]

Thanks for the input guys. I am going regardless, I guess I was thinking more on location differences when the weather gets that cold. I usually fish  weedlines in 7-10 feet. was thinking to cold front in the spring and summer bass fishing and I look for the narliest thickest grass to punch. Ice fishing was thinking maybe I move from off the weedline to in the thick of it because could hold more heat, or could move out into the basin and fish 30 feet deep thinking the cold impact that far down is less?

[Neil McCauley]

pressure droppin flags poppin

[butkusbowman]

I've seen first hand LARGE pressure drop increasing the bite on open water, it's seems like it hasn't helped me so much on ice. Kinda makes ense I guess with the ice not being as flexible.

[namkeng]

Cold air temps push the cold water down deeper. And it does matter.

In fisherman did a good report on it. You can google "Water Temperatures Under Ice, The Ghost Factor"

Some good stuff in there, like:

"One laboratory analysis I've often quoted observed that crappies begin to lose motor function at 35°F. At 33°F, they lose control altogether and begin suspending upside down, sideways, and at other unnatural angles. Makes it difficult for crappies to capture prey at that point. Bluegills did seem more resilient than crappies, however, when frigid air pushed colder bands of water toward bottom."

In my own experience it seems changes are the most important. The third day of 0 degrees is a lot better than the first day of 0 degrees, especially if it was 36 the day before. Fish are cold blooded after all, so any changes in temperature will change them too. Of course water takes days to change temperature. So a single really cold day won't be the same as a week of sub-zero.

[justinl8688]

Namkeng,
I looked up that article, very insightful. I like the info on species and temperature ranges that is about 1/2 way through the article. I can add some personal experience after this weekend. My aqua vu has a temp gauge so curious to see temp range from top, mid, and bottom of water column.

https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/water-temperatures-under-ice/154092

Thanks.

[bobberbill]

Water temps on my home lake is 38.8° at 21'.  Water temps in the winter are the warmest at 39° degrees. Active spring areas could  be a little warmer.

[Ramp 23]

My experience is that It’s not air temp , A frozen lake is 39 degrees because that’s when fresh water is most dense. Water eventually gets trapped on the surface when entire water colum is 39, that trapped water eventually freezes .
But high pressure, blue skys shuts them down , I would fish your usual historic spots but from sundown on into the evening

[Alternative Reefer]

I know this is gonna sound fake but it really happened.  Last year it was -28 with winds gusting up to 40 mph.  I was sitting in a little one man eskimo.  Had a buddy heater with a 20 pound tank attached.   The wind was gusting so bad my shack would move 6" every time it gusted.  I am a 300 pound man.  I had to keep my feet on the frame of the shack to keep the wind from blowing it open.  No one else was out there.  I drilled a camera hole outside the shack since it was a small shack.  When I dropped it down the hole was stacked with bass, I mean thick.   I fished all day, I was exhausted from fighting the wind.   But one after another I just kept picking off these bass and a random crappie that was mixed in(12-13" crappies.  They would leave and blue gills would come in( target fish).  Then the bass would chase them out.  I decided I would try to pin a jig to the dome of every bass that came in.   It was one of my most memorable ice fishing experiences.  Right up there with a 100 walleye day on the fox river during the spring run.   I was hooting and hollering and turned it into a game.  At the end of the day I pinned 103 bass.  I would yet out Stick it in the Bass" every time they softly sucked in a wax worm.  It was my mission.  I also got a limit of gills and crappies. 

By the way that camera hole.  It froze six inches down.  I tried to chip it out but ended up going with the auger.  Yes the camera line got stuck in the auger, yes it tore the cable.  But it was definitely a memory.