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Don’t be deterred by cold surge

Posted Feb 13, 2012 by TBO.com

Updated Feb 13, 2012 at 12:16 AM

BY MARK COOK

Before the latest cold blast this weekend, freshwater fishing was on fire with reports of bedding bass and excellent speckled perch catches. But par for the course, Mother Nature came in with one of her ill-timed cold fronts which has made the last two days difficult to find fish. To make matters worse, in addition to the cold came blustery winds, making it dangerous for those with small boats to even leave the ramps.

But the cold snap isn’t expected to last long and by the middle part of the week fishing should start to rebound and pick back up to the pace we had seen before Saturday’s front.

Before the cold, Lake Kissimmee bass were biting nearly everything thrown their way. Reports of bedding fish in as little as 20 inches of water were common and after weeding through the smaller protective male bass, the females were in the mood for food. With the cold snap, the bigger females have more than likely moved just off the spawning areas in the first deeper bottom contour. With the sudden drop in water temperatures, their metabolism will be much slower so it will be crucial to creep your baits along considerably slower than prior to the front.

I am still waiting on reports from the Medard Reservoir that reopened Jan. 1. With the loss of the legendary Turley Creek Bait and Tackle, the go-to source for updates is gone. I would imagine with the Medard being catch-and-release only for a while, that fishing pressure hasn’t been too bad. If you have been to Medard since the reopening, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).