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Show TGnpratuFu And Culcliino Those Fisli Since fish are cold-blooded creatures, they tend to take on the same temperature as the water surrounding them. Temperature then controls their behavior. They may feel like eating everything in sight, even a plastic flat fish, when the water temperature is just right. ON THE other hand, when the water is too cold or too hot, they may just want to rest and will ignore anything you place in front of them. So, the successful angler thinks a little bit about water temperatures before he goes fishing. A thermometer can be used to take the surface water temperature several places for an average. ONCE THE average is determined, de-termined, reference to our Fish Activity Chart is necessary neces-sary to determine which species is most likely to be feeding at a particular period of time. Note that the chart shows spawning temperatures tempera-tures few fish are interested interest-ed in food when they have sex on their minds. Besides water temperature and prime activity temperatures, tempera-tures, there are other factors to consider, such as the ice-cover ice-cover period. Water temperatures tempera-tures cool down in the late fall and early winter, the surface freezes and it takes the water under the ice 30 to 50 days to adjust, with the warmer water (39 degree F.) going to the bottom and the colder water to the top. WHILE THIS is going on. fishing is poor at best. So it is better to wait four to six weeks after the surface has frozen before trying to fish through the ice for fish. In the intermountain states, the period from December through mid-January is inclined to be very poor for " fishing through the ice. From mid-Jaunary through March, anglers fishing through the ice generally do rather weil. After the ice leaves the lakes in the spring, the "turn-over" occurs with the warmer water coming to the lake surface and the colder water going down toward the bottom. This is another period when fishing success can be relatively poor. IT DOESN'T take long for this turn-over to occur it may range from a few days to a week or so. Yet while a body of water may turn over rapidly, warming, although gradual, may not be fast depending upon weather and air temperatures. Sometimes the water temperature may reach 50 degrees, only to drop to 40 after a sudden spring snow storm or cold front. So fishing under these circumstances circum-stances can be nip and tuck. Early spring fishing after the ice has gone from the lake, even with periodic changes, can be good for cool water fish such as walleye, perch, northern pike and smallmouth bass as well as cold water fish such as trout, kokanee and mackinaw. One of the things which makes a good fishing for these species early in the spring is the water temperature range between 40 to 50 degrees. ALL OF these species frequent the shallow water (6 to 20 feet) during these temperature periods, and people fishing off the banks generally do very well. The dog days set in after the water temperatures warm and an abundance of natural food becomes available in most waters. The dog davs may range from August through mid-September, sometimes longer, other times shorter; but they al- ways can be counted on to occur. oc-cur. FISHING FOR cold water and cool water species is generally poor to terrible during this period, although trolling in deep water and night fishing (when legal) can be productive. The dog days limit warm water fishing success as well, but night fishing efforts may pay off. When you get right down to it, there's really not much j time during the year when j fishing is really red hot. First, you've got spawning to put up with which takes 3 to 4 weeks, then the spring turn-over 7 to 15 days, (he dog days 5 to 8 weeks, freeze up and stabilization 30 to 50 days, which shoots between 95 to 150 days per year for you. So you somehow have to fit your fishing trips into the remain- ! ing 215 to 260 days. |