It isn't that water temp has no influence over bait behavior. Like everything else it would seem that every move that any fish makes is a result of the presence of forage. I don't know if menhaden or other baitfish hang out when it stays warm either. Maybe a late plankton bloom or something might keep them around longer. All I'm getting at is that if the water temp is 49 degrees instead of 50 at a certain time of year I don't think that that has a huge effect on the presence of bass. Angler participation seems to be the only known, ground truth when it comes down to fishing reports and when it's cold and windy the fishing reports become fewer so the number of fish caught becomes less. I've fished spots at times, under certain conditions I was told not to bother with only to be rewarded by excellent fishing. The converse has occured as well. It just seems that too many people like to make excuses sometimes because it's easier to except some theory than it is to go out and find the truth. Pete and the crew at the edge are an exception to this rule shown by the type of advice they give out in their fishing reports. They will tell you if the fishing was bad or good for them but they encourage everyone (especially when it may have been slow) to keep looking and try different things out because the fish are certainly somewhere feeding.
Jpgrandchamp brings up a good point too. It has to be more than just warm weather. What happened to moon phase, angle of the sun, etc. Things that are much more primal. Don't forget there are populations of bass in rivers all the way to Canada. Does air temperature define their feeding habits as well? It just doesn't make sense. Where are these fish going anyway? We all assume that they return to the Chesapeake or the Hudson but don't the cows tend to congregate offshore NC during the winter months? If so, what's the rush to hurry up and wait at the wintering grounds. I'd imagine the offshore deepwater temps down there are pretty constant year round. Wouldn't they actively feed all winter if food was available? If there are fish offshore in NC all winter then doesn't it make sense that the cows for the northern breeding populations lay just off our shores in RI as well? The water temp down towards the bottom does not fluctuate as much as the surface waters do as a function of weather.
Sorry to ramble and I really don't want to offend anyone but this whole warm/cold weather thing seems to have an oversimplified connection to the quality of fishing especially this time of year.
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