Hi All;
I’m experiencing some cold rainy weather here in MD, 70 to 80 degrees,overcast, occaisional rain. My question is how does this weather effect summer Bass patterns?
Thanks in advance;
Wayneb
Darker colors work better for me on darker days. So… turkey tails instead of pheasant tails, black wooly buggers, brown&orange clousers, black gnats, dark green and black poppers are all good bets for me on dark rainy summer days in stillwater.
Hello wayneb, well where I am, the bass like cloudy, even rainy days. As an example, Sunday I went for smallies and it was drizzly, dark clouds and first cast, hook up, 3 cast, hook up and so on…then the clouds thinned and the sun started to peek through and it took 15 to 20 casts for a strike or hook up and the bass became tentative…short striking, not wanting to rise very high up into the water column towards the surface.
At first my hook ups and strikes were near shore…shallow gradient type…but as it got lighter the bass moved to deeper water…I was having to lengthen my casts ever few minutes or nothing would happen. Finally, once the sun was out more than not, everything ceased…I could have dredged bottom out about 50 ft. but I don’t enjoy that, so I headed out.
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Not sure why wayneb, but I took that as ‘feeding patterns’…hope you can use some of what I said…Brookie is right on the money with his post.
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Moose, we make a good team! Got all sorts of patterns covered. 
What’s rain? 8)
- Cloud cover and or a light rain usually help summer bass fishing.
We had one day last year hear in OK when we started at dark thirty am. We picked up some fish with 1 or 2 very nice bass. About 9:30 am we were getting ready to leave and a light rain started. The fish just went nuts. We lost count of the fish we caught. About half the fish we caught were channel catfish. We finally got off the water at around 3:30Pm
Rainy, cold?
What is that?
Bass are real particular to changes in air pressure and water level… and you name it.
Hi All;
Thanks for the replies, they are helpfull.
The reason I’m asking is I went fishing yesterday evening and it was cold, raining, and with a slight breeze. I tried several different presentations topwater light and dark colored, mid depth light and dark colored, and deep dark and light colored with only one strike. Prior to rainy period the weather was hot and humid, typical for MD in summer. I was able to catch bass either with topwater at dusk or chennille worms just prior but the change in weather appears to have changed the pattern. I did’nt observe any surface activity yesterday like I had seen in hot weather in the past.
Saturday was cool, high around 80 and I went fishing with a new friend at a lake with a lot of pads and we did quite well with poppers so I’m wondering if this latest weather change has reduced fish activity or if the fish may be active at a different time of day.
Wayneb
Same thing happened here the other day. It has been around 100-106 here(hot even for here) and the bass at the local pond had been hitting pretty well actually. I left the house, it was 102. I drove 1/2 hour away where they got some rain with front moving thru and it was 74!! The bass shut off completely and have been now for a few days.
Funny things these bass.
I grew up in Md but where in the helk is Port Tobacco?
Hi Wayneb,
My experience with bass has been that going from roughly 90 to 100 degrees down to 70’s and 80’s won’t change the patterns much. Any time there is a drastic drop in temperature like we have had here in Maryland will cause the fish to adjust but it should only take one to two days for the change. The biggest change I find is the change in barometric pressure. If the fish suspend, good luck.
By the way, I have fished your neck of the woods quite a few times. There is some super bass fishing there. Have you ever fished Nanjamoy around the end of April, first of May? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Hi All;
Big Bad Wulff, Port Tobacco is in Charles County in southern Md. 4 miles west of La Plata, tornado capital of MD.
Rookie, I haven’t fished the Nanjamoy but have fished the Mattawoman in spring, caught a 6 1/2 lber in about 1 foot of water from my kayak whilst all the bass boaters were dragging the bottom in deep water. I made sure to show it to them!! It’s hard for me to get much fishing in in the spring and fall, I have a daughter who plays competitive soccer and I’m constantly driving her to games.
The weather is supposed to get hot here again starting tommorow, should be interesting to see if fish drop back to summer pattern by the time I get a chance to go fishin again.
Thanks for all the comments;
Wayneb
I know where LaPlata is. I grew up in “the other Maryland”…Western Maryland…Cumberland/LaVale/DeepCreek Lake areas.
Brookie, yeah, we covered the water !
Cheers,
MontanaMoose