On tournament eve the high temperature neared 70 degrees. Look at any photo on the Bassmaster Blog and you’ll see a different story today. Snow flurries fell on Cherokee Lake during the morning takeoff. The current temperature is 34 degrees with a windchill of 27 degrees.
Check out the BassCam videos and you’ll find a mixed theory of reasons why the weather does, or does not, affect the fishing.
I discovered it really depends on whom you ask. Seth Feider just laughed when I asked him about extreme weather. He’s from Minnesota, enjoys ice fishing, and loves catching smallmouth in the nastiest of weather. For him, this kind of weather is a way of life.
Others, like Fred Roumbanis, used a more strategic approach to this extreme weather (depending on where you are from, Seth Feider).
“I think it stimulates a bite because it’s a front,” said Roumbanis. “It’s not unlike when you have a front with rain instead of snow—same effect.”
Roumbanis didn’t even bother tying on baits last night, knowing change was coming. Instead, he opted to fish the conditions and let the weather—and bass—tell him what to throw at them.
As a native Tennessean, I can say with all certainty that weather like this does indeed stimulate the smallmouth bite, and especially during winter. Check out the steady stream of pics from the Bassmaster Blog for the evidence. Wind is the key contributor. Another is cloudy skies. The clouds provide cover and concealment in the low light conditions for what they do best. That, of course, is look for crawfish. Finding their favorite food source is easier with wind-driven current like we are seeing on Cherokee.