[Harold]

Hi,

wat is your opinion to the water temperature for lurefishing ?
I mean, by which temperature C start the bass feeding on baitfish.

In Holland the water most be 11 / 12 degrees C
For surface lures at least 15 / 16 degrees C

 

[trev richardson]

Harold,
A good question and a lot of people appear to be using the temperature as a guide. I certainly don't begin to know why but the usual reason I see for fish actually feeding is the presence of food...crabs...baitfish etc. Maybe it's the temperature affecting them which controls the feeding habits?? It's when you get a post like yesterdays (i think it was yesterday) with catches of bass in the north of Scotland of 14 and 17 fish it makes you question things ...but I'm sure there are local peculiarities that work for some people but don't work in other areas. This should start a good debate though.........

 

[Bagpuss]

I have always been told around the 10C mark, however I know that here we usually see bass caught on bait right through the Winter at much lower temperatures.

 

[kevin white]

i think it's mainly to do with phytoplankton and chlorophyll levels, which needs the sunlight and water temps to get going which is a primary food source for alot of marine species which bass and others feed on,you tend to get a spring bloom when water temps hit around 10-12c, so this could be the major factor with a sudden increase of fish activity .

kev

 

[keith Ogden]

Temperature and light levels are important to the reproduction of phytoplankton as the cells have a minimum nutrient content needed for cell division optimum temperatures increase the cells ability to intake nutrients .Phytoplankton is then a food source for Zooplankton such as Amphiopods and Copeopods which are a food source for Small baitfish and the like . Hope i explained that ok as i was taking the info from one of my marine fishkeeping books.

 

[trev richardson]

So what is turning the bass on to feed up in the North of Scotland?

Are they after the sand eels which might be feeding on something else or the local population of lug worms??

 

[keith Ogden]

these pictures show the west coast of scotland is slightly warmer than this time last year maybe this has something to do with it , why it is warmer who knows.

 

[kevin white]

the gulf stream runs close by according to a program that was on the other day.

kev

 

[trev richardson]

Spot on guys but we were talking much further north than is on those images. Interesting to see the warmth in the Solway though..probably due to the shallow depth around Sheerness and a bit of sun on the beaches maybe.

Apologies if I seem to be questioning everything I'm just trying to get it into my thick head. There are obviously good local guides with temperature which work but I'm trying to understand whether it's the bait food that has the biggest problem with temperature or the Bass. Just seems funny when Bass are caught in the North of Scotland and near me in the East riding (where there definitely isn't any gulf stream) 4 weeks ago in colder conditions??

 

[keith Ogden]

You've every right to question Trev or i suppose we would never advance im totally out of ideas though mate hopefully someone on here may have some other ideas.

 

[Rob F]

So are we possibly looking the wrong way about things by getting slightly obsessed with water temperature? Could it be that the major factor in it all is the light levels, hence why Norway above the Arctic Circle has such amazing fishing because of the continuous sunlight creating plenty of phytoplankton for the incredible amount of baitfish they get up there?

Instead of targetting the magic 10 degrees, are we better looking at the gradually increasing daylight hours we have?

 

[Bagpuss]

Rob
I think it's a combination of the two, longer daylight hours & water temperature.
Warmer water is needed for better lure fishing, as the bass are less active in colder water. I think this is why they are taken on static baits, even through the Winter.

 

[kevin white]

you also have to take in to account stratification of the water, during the rough weather of winter the water column gets completely mixed up are as near as damm it, so there's lots of nutrients in the water, then as the spring/summer arrives the weather calms down, the surface of the water warms stratification begins helping trap phytoplankton in the surface where because of the conditions of warmth, sunlight and availble food begins to bloom, but because your now not getting any mixing of the water, once all the nutrients have been used up, no more food for the phytoplankton to grow so it dies off.

kev

 

[Bagpuss]

you also have to take in to account stratification of the water, during the rough weather of winter the water column gets completely mixed up are as near as damm it, so there's lots of nutrients in the water, then as the spring/summer arrives the weather calms down, the surface of the water warms stratification begins helping trap phytoplankton in the surface where because of the conditions of warmth, sunlight and availble food begins to bloom, but because your now not getting any mixing of the water, once all the nutrients have been used up, no more food for the phytoplankton to grow so it dies off.

kev

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[Jimmy-boy]

This is all very plausible for this time of year. I wonder how it changes later though? Here in jersey I have foudn the bass come on as the water gets colder, and I expect to catch well up to Christmas. Sometimes beyond. At those points, I suspect that light plays less of a role (or a different role at least) and maybe the onset of spawning is the driver for some pretty active fish. Not sure though: just a thought. I keep meaning to take a thermometer out with me to make this all elss speculative and a bit more scientific.

Cheers,

Jim.

 

[Nathan Taylor]

http://www.seafordweather.co.uk/wl/UKSeaTemp.htm

 

[Tom H 2]

Harold - saw the water temp hit 10.7 today on buoy #4 on the schelde

 

[keith Ogden]

Maybe salinity has something to do with it also as salinity increases with temperature