Does a hard freeze effect next season's fishing?

[mhall]

Sorry grumpy, just dreamin of warm weather and buzzking that is the best avatar yet....chuck

Chuck I can't wait until it warms up, this dang weather is killing me. I to loved that avatar, boys we have winner. Peter that's your winner of the avatar contest.

[SecretWeapon]

Guy’s this is a very good topic here. As I have wondered myself.

I emailed Ryan Oster KY Black Bass Research Biologist about this and also thanked him for the very nice Tournament website http://fw.ky.gov/tournamentschedule.aspx and the very detailed Free Bass Tournament Results they send to Directors/Tournament organizers who enter their schedules and Tournament results on the site.

Here is the very detailed reply from him.

Good to hear from you. Glad you like the tournament information I put together on our website. Please give me any and all feedback on how it looks, understandability of it, and overall worth to you as an angler and director. The whole point of those stats on a lake by lake basis is for your benefit and I want to make it the best it can be. If it needs to be modified, I will be more than happy to do it. I will hopefully get working on the 2006 tournament season in the next couple of weeks. Please pass the word on to other anglers and directors and have them look at it. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. And again, that data is all provided by you guys, so the more people who report their catch rates, the better it will accurately reflect tournament conditions throughout Kentucky.

In terms of your question, about winterkills (hard, cold winters) and how that relates to fishing the following season; I imagine that there have been numerous articles written on this topic expressing various comments and opinions. From a biological standpoint, you are absolutely correct in that when you have cold, hard winters (potentially with extended periods of frozen water and cold water temperatures); you create conditions where potential shad kills may occur. Threadfin shad are more susceptible to winterkills once water temperatures drop below the mid/upper 40’s, while gizzard shad become susceptible to winterkills in the lower 40’s. Additionally, hard winters also may potentially create conditions where you have increased mortality of small sunfishes and juvenile bass produced from the most recent spawn.

Your question, “How will fishing this coming spring be, after having a hard freeze?” The answer to this is very complex. There are more factors that drive fishing success than merely just how cold of a winter we experienced this year. You are correct in that if a lake experiences a dramatic winter shad and small forage fish kill during winter, than it is entirely possible that there may be a degree of limited forage available to bass the following spring. We all know that bass due need to forage heavily during early spring to recuperate their lost energy reserves they consumed during the long winter, in addition, to helping complete the development of eggs and sperm for the upcoming spawn. In this situation, if forage is not available, then it is possible that anglers might see an increase in fishing success as bass are looking for food and it is not present. Please understand that this is a dramatic example, because even in the most intense winterkills, a certain percentage of forage (i.e. shad, sunfish, etc) will still survive to carry the population.

In my professional opinion, the quality of fishing success is more driven by strong or weak year-classes of bass that are now recruiting into the fishery that are vulnerable to anglers. When strong year-classes of bass recruit into the fishery, anglers notice dramatic increases in catch and quality of bass. Anglers need to understand that these fish just didn’t appear overnight, they were the result of a good spawn that occurred 3 or 4 years previously. It simply took those fish time to grow to a size where anglers may observe them. Conversely, if anglers experience a year or so of reduced catch rates, this is the result of a poor or failed year-class of bass that was produced 3-4 years previously. Bass populations, just like with all other sportfish species (including crappie, walleye, catfish) are cyclic. This means that a strong year-class of bass typically only occurs 1 year out of every 3-4 years. These strong year-classes are produced when conditions are optimal for the survival of large numbers of bass. Optimal conditions include, good spawning conditions, adequate habitat for juveniles to mature and forage, adequate forage, good water quality, etc, etc. When many of these conditions do not occur in a year, we often see the result of a poor year-class or average year-class of bass.

Other driving forces behind spring success include water level conditions, temperature, fronts, and so on. Springs with dramatic variations in water levels and temperature often create tough fishing conditions because fish aren’t able to set up in predictable patterns for easy fishing. I know I find it difficult to pattern prespawn fish when the water levels are changing every other day or cold fronts are followed by warm fronts followed by another cold front. Stable conditions allow for bass to establish themselves in very predictable patterns and locations as they prepare for the spawn.

Without question, winter conditions do play a role with influencing fish populations in many lakes, but there are also a multitude of other factors that are just as important of an influencing factor. My overall advice, contact your local fisheries biologist and ask them about the bass population in your local lake. Is a strong year-class coming into the fishery this year? Is a weak year-class coming into the fishery? Strong year-classes often carry a bass fishery for several years. If a particular bass fishery has several strong year-classes in recent years, anglers should note a dramatic increase in their catch. Also, closely monitor environmental conditions this spring, while you are fish. Did your catch go down following a dramatic cold front? Did your catch go up during periods of stable weather?

Great topic to discuss and we could discuss at length I am sure

I hope everyone is appreciative of this, and all the hard work Ryan and others do to help us fisherman.

I want to openly thank Ryan for taking his time with a detailed answer to my question.

I hope all who enjoyed this reply will shoot him an email with your thanks.

Here is his email: [email protected]

Justin Hires
Director/Moderator www.USABassin.com

[Grumpy]

Justin, thank you very very much for getting this information for us. I will send an email to Ryan and thank him also. All of this is what make this site so great, people like myself overserving something, getting comments from other board members on the subject, and then someone getting a real professional/expert to give us a more detail explanation. Ryan really covered the topic well and also provided a wealth of addional collateral informatiom. The bottom line is, it helps us to be better fishpeople.

Thanks again,

Grumpy

[SecretWeapon]

Justin, thank you very very much for getting this information for us. I will send an email to Ryan and thank him also. All of this is what make this site so great, people like myself overserving something, getting comments from other board members on the subject, and then someone getting a real professional/expert to give us a more detail explanation. Ryan really covered the topic well and also provided a wealth of addional collateral informatiom. The bottom line is, it helps us to be better fishpeople.

Thanks again,

Grumpy

Your welcome. I learned a lot! Glad we are very fortunate to have such good people working for us to help our resources. Too bad everyone doesn't take a few minutes of their time to enter their tournaments and results on the KY site. So much can be learned by doing this.

Ryan's reply should be posted here somewhere, for all to find and read

Justin Hires
Director/Moderator www.USABassin.com

[apb]

Guy’s this is a very good topic here. As I have wondered myself.

I emailed Ryan Oster KY Black Bass Research Biologist about this...

Thanks to both you and Ryan for this info. Good stuff!

Andrew

[Spider04]

Has there been any or much surface freezing on Rough, Barren, Patoka, Ky Lake, Barkley, Nolin this winter?

[CTFSHWHISKER]

do you think it may also be that during mild winters they recieve more fishing pressure?when it's cold or froze most stay home.

[Grumpy]

do you think it may also be that during mild winters they recieve more fishing pressure?when it's cold or froze most stay home.

It something to consider, but I am not real sure what you are saying. I don't think that the amount of people fishing in the winter time is enough to affect the shad/bait fish sufficiently to have an effect on the summer season. If you are saying that when there is little or no winter fishing, then there are more fish left in the lake, I find that hard to believe since probalby anyone that is a die hard enough of a fisherman to be fishing in the winter is also a "catch and release" fisherman and is probably releasing the fish to bite another day.

[mhall]

Nice topic. In resorvoirs I believe it helps by killing off huge numbers of shad. Less shad and hungry bass will always be a good combination. It can also give the fish a break from all the fishing pressure for awhile. And it's my belief that fishing pressure is tremendous on most of our lakes.

[HURRICANEBOB]

I know it will have a major impact on my fishing next spring. Doctor says my fingers are so frost bitten from my fishin trip, it might be till next September till I can move them again. And that will imapct my ability to throw a bait caster in May..........

[HURRICANEBOB]

See, it has already impacted my typing........