October Heat, Now What?
It pushed well up onto the 80′ in many areas of the country this past week, including the upper Midwest. The bright sun sure makes the changing leaves incredibly beautiful, however, October heat can definitely make fishing tough.
Big temperature change, up or down, can really shut fishing down. And it seems that big fish are affected the most.
Noted angler Larry Dahlberg wondered about this during an early spring fishing trip for pike. So he broke out a thermometer and found as the water warmed rapidly, the biggest fish, those with the largest body mass, warmed more slowly than smaller fish and often lagged behind the rapidly warming water of spring by a few degrees. He hypothesized, and I believe he’s right, that this difference was enough to put the big fish off feed until later in the day when the fish warmed to the same temp as the surrounding water.
Which brings up this week and the abnormally warm weather. Anglers after flock to the water on days like this and often go home disappointed because the fishing often proves tough. I learned the best way to fish on days like this is to focus on the times of day which the water temp is most stable…early and late in the day. I also turn to rivers when given a choice as the fish there tend to be a better option during July weather that hits in August.
You do realize that when seasonal weather returns it going to feel awful cold compared to what we are enjoying now.
See you on the water.
Steve
