Dedicated fishing

[barkleyhawggitter]

single digits, dipping rods in water constantly to free the ice from the guides. winter smallmouth fishing on cumberland. caught fish that day on live shiners but had to put 2 ounce egg sinkers on the line because the shiners kept trying to jump in my pocket with the hand warmers!!!!

[zx150]

I have fished in the teens at Dale. I don't think I will do that again.

[RICHYD4U]

Fly fishing in NorthEastern Utah on the Green River in mid January. Temps hovering around -15 to -20. Eyelits on my fly rod iced over every cast. We were wade fishing as well. The fishing was HOT though, so it made it all bareable. #26 gnat patterns. Fun.

-Rich

[bassman_ky]

Fished the USA Bassin tourney earlier this year the middle of March on Barren. It wasn't really that cold but it never made it to 40 degrees. It did rain pretty hard the entire 8 hours though. No matter how hard you tried you couldn't keep your hands dry or warm. When my hands are cold I'm cold. No matter how warm I dress. The coldest I've fished it was 18 degrees at C-land three years ago. I guess I'm not as crazY as some of you guys.

[DJD]

Biggest shocker for me was the first Tourny up here after moving from Central Florida. Showed up at Green River Lake Holmes Bend Ramp before light in March and it was COLD!! Then it rained, sleeted and snowed, we had accumulation in the boat and I was miserable! Might have been in the 20's-30's.
Took 18lbs if I remember right to win and I thought the little 3 pounder we had was gonna do well? I figured fish don't bite in this mess! I was wrong...lol.
Since then I have fished in single digits but not for long...it just ain't right.

[mess]

Fished in single digits in morning warming to mid 20's in afternoon at Lake Cumberland 5 years ago in Jan. My first and best float n fly trip with numerous 3 to 4 pound smallies, a big striper, numerous big spots and a few largemouth. Never forget that trip!

[dc chopper]

o for me.. o fish too.

[DaveR]

i can remember a few years ago at rough river me and my buddy dave was fishing and it was snowing the whole boat was coverd in snow. but the cool thing was we where catching fish. and another time we fished a tournament on barren i have never ben so cold in my life it was just above freezing rain but it was pouring ran and about 30 to 40 mph winds it was the worst i have ever felt.

I think I fished that white-out tournament in March on Rough River, we caught one bass 6.8 lb in 43 ddegree water. It wasn';t my coldest.

20 degrees is as cold as I remember at blast off on KY Lake at least twice and once at Barren

I was thinking about how potentially dangerous running 65 mph accross KY Lake and 40 miles down Barkley was, If either of us had gone overboard, I'm sure Hypothermia couldn't have been prevented when you take into account the water temp below 50, air temp of 20, time it would take to get help or to shore, remove wet clothing. Come to think about it, it was down-right risky. Keep your sense and keep your gear in top condition. Later

[Hlleonard]

When it gets below 20, then it's too cold for me, but i've fished when it's in the single digits. Everything freezes up when its below 20, meaning reels and such.

I have to agree with Bruce ......I haven't went out with the temp below freezing for a long time but the best I can remember when the air temps got down in the low 2o's ...it became impossible to operate a rod and reel because ice would freeze in the rod eyes and the guide of the reel to the point that I couldn't reel the line in ...could stick the rod in the water and the ice on the eyes would melt but just about freeze up again almost immediately when i took it out of the water ...was nothing I could about the ice in the reel guide...

[Mean Morone]

I got a million of them but here a few. 6 or 8 years ago on Lake Cumberland it didn't get above 24 during the day and was well down in the low teens at night. We caught 8 stripers all at night in three nights of fishing. None of them were under 15 lbs. It was so cold that when we would catch one we would just let it lay on the bottom of the boat. It would be frozen in no time.

A few of weeks ago I was fishing at night with my buddy at a WWD on the Ohio River. It got down to 4 that night and the wind was going sideways. Very cold. My mustache froze up and the bottom of my coat froze up solid from being in the water from wading out to waist deep.

Last year on Lake Cumberland it got down to 16 at night. I was having a very frustrating time with the reel freezing up, but my buddy was at the front of the boat catching stripers.

You have to be a die hard to fish in these conditions because it really isn't that much fun. Still can't wait to get back out there.