Is My Fishing Season Over? 2025
BuffaloBass716 reply :
The last week or so, it has been raining and cooling down into the 40's during the day and into the low 30's at night, it has also been rather windy. I haven't been out fishing in over a week and the other day I went out despite the poor conditions. After about 20-30 minutes, my hands were numb and couldn't feel anything in the water. I didn't catch anything, I don't even know if the fish would still be shallow where I was fishing. With this said, the weather probably wont get substantially warmer and the days are getting shorter.
Anyone else having the same conditions?
swagkid300 reply :
my fishing season is done, I've been skunked 4 out of 5 days i went fishing this month.
it's way too cold to fish. it's low 30's in my area.
AK-Jax86 reply :
You guys need to take a trip to FL plane or car fishing year round... I feel your pain though I grew up in NJ
Felix77 reply :
Around my area I have been skunked a few times already. Last weekend I had the chance to head to a private lake in PA and was able to get into some nice fish on one day. On that same lake it got windy and colder overnight and as a result was skunked on day 2. If this lake doesn't produce then it's OVER.
Sucks but that's the way it is up north. 
Bruce424 reply :
I live in pa. I agree. Its been so cold over the past couple weeks. Funny thing is last year I got to fish until the end of november.
Fishes in trees reply :
The fish are still in the water, as long as the water isn't frozen over, you can go, in my opinion. You might want to carry several sets of gloves. Me, I have a pair of neoprene gloves, a pair of fingerless neoprene gloves, a pair of polar fleece gloves and a pair of wool fingerless gloves. You might want a heavy duty pair of mittens for when you're driving the boat. Hand warmers come in handy. The point is, a long as the water isn't frozen over, you can fish. Just gear up appropriately.
BaconStealer303 reply :
Yeah the highs are mid 40's here in Illinois. I was planning to fish the drop shot in some ponds in the coming weeks. Usually produces. Or throw a sponnerbait
KritterGitter reply :
Same here, nothin over the past week outta the ponds, think after this week Ill call it a season and start in on the rockfish and whitetails....
KevO reply :
I'm sure glad I can fish year round. Sure it gets tougher as the water cools, but should be able to catch fish until it ices over up there.
hoosierbass07 reply :
Ever since it's really cooled down I've not caught anything either. I hope to get out this weekend if the weather
becomes stable. I've not caught a bass over a month and I hate the feeling. lol.
einscodek reply :
You guys must be from the NE
Yes the temperature has been brutal.
I caught 1 spinnerbait fish the other day and thats it..
The fronts which went thru the past several weeks have taken our temps down from 60s to 50s then another front yet again to near 40s.
I'm afraid the fish are likely adjusting and sluggish right now and we may need to resort to jig and worm worked real slow.
No not the real exciting action any more.. but the fish need to feed more for winter so if a warm front comes back thru Im out there again..
travis23 reply :
I haven't had the chance to get out as much as I normally would because I have a new baby in the NICU. I have been out about twice a week to my nearby pond and I noticed it has slowed down. I normally catch 20 a day in this pond and I've been coming out with about 5 to 6. I caught most with a jig and a zoom brush hog. I'll continue to go until it freezes over, but I might not stay as long because of the cold.
wnybassman reply :
The next month can be the best time of the year.
Bruce424 reply :
Just seems like it went from very erly fall to late late fall. No prime time fall fishing.
Grizzn N Bassin reply :
Fishing is slow youll get skunked a lot... just comes with the cold... no reason to stop you can catch some serious fish this time of year.... I just got back fished 4 hours no fish...
vikingbear8 reply :
Unless it is iced over im on the water. It is going to be 28 tomorrow morning even here in NC and I am still going dont let the cold stop you it is some of the best fishing of the year if you know what you are doing. (oh btw I am from PA so I dont want to hear about me not knowing "real" cold or winter)
Smokinal reply :
Are you kiddin! I, too, fish until the water gets too hard to launch the boat. Actually, we have had to break through ice around the edges to get out before. Last Sunday, water was 58-59, next time I can get out is Nov 3rd and I expect water to be 54-55. This will be prime red craw trap water and jerkbait water. In the 5-6 hrs I'll fish both mornings I should boat between 15-25. I may throw a Rage Space Monkey on a football head and that will get me a few as well. From there, as water temps fall, the monkey, jig and jerk will be the baits until ice in...and fish will still be caught up until then!
Get out there! You just gotta fish slow and try a lot of different presentations until you find what works. And a jerkbait is quite possibly the best cold water bait you could throw.
coryn h. fishowl reply :
On 10/25/2013 at 11:30 PM, Felix77 said:Around my area I have been skunked a few times already. Last weekend I had the chance to head to a private lake in PA and was able to get into some nice fish on one day. On that same lake it got windy and colder overnight and as a result was skunked on day 2. If this lake doesn't produce then it's OVER.
Sucks but that's the way it is up north.
EXCELLENT USE OF EMOTICOMS!!!
My fishing season ended when I lost the mail box key and therefore had all my stuff confiscated by my mom....even though I found the key the next day.
Delaware Valley Tackle reply :
Year before last, a buddy and I caught a boat load of smallies on Dec 10th on jerkbaits and spoons.
CPBassFishing reply :
I catch fish when part of the ponds are iced over. Just dress accordingly and fish reaaaaaaalllly slow. Dropshots, shaky heads, and jerkbaits. I wear the following when its 20 degrees outside.
Long underwear
Compression shorts
Pajamas
Jeans
Two pairs of socks
Waterproof boots (very warm)
A t-shirt
A sweatshirt
A heavy coat
Thin fingertipless neoprene gloves
Heavy gloves
Handwarmers in the coat pockets
I usually don't wear the heavy gloves while fishing, only when my hands get numb. I stick other handwarmers in the neoprene gloves on the back of my hands under them.
BuffaloBass716 reply :
To me, its not so much the cold as it is the wind, it just makes fishing miserable in a constant brisk wind. Its just not worth spending the time while your hands and face are numb, it get very uncomfortable, and the fact that I usually ride my bike to my fishing spots makes you feel numb before I even get there.
SudburyBasser reply :
Bank beating at this time of the year in northern Ontario is generally a fool's errand. So fishing is essentially over for me until next spring. It's going to be a very long winter...
Koofy Smacker reply :
Man, the fall bite just really turned on for me here. Few days ago I had 13 fish in 4 hrs with the biggest over 6lbs.. Jigs and cranks jigs and cranks. And yes the water temp was in the 50's and I was pretty freaking cold out there but nothing makes you forget about that more than feeling a jig bite
Bluebasser86 reply :
When it gets cold you just have to abandon the shallow areas with no deep water close by (unless it's a warm, sunny day) and slow down your presentation. I've caught bass shore fishing all year long, even with ice on portions of the lake. A couple factors that are always present when I catch fish during cold months (water temps less than 45 degrees) from shore, rocky shoreline and drop offs. Doesn't need to be a big drop, a foot or two will hold fish at times. With the rocky shorelines it seems like chunk rock is best a lot of the time. Jerkbaits twitched slowly along the drop and rocks, shad rap or wiggle warts slowly retrieved over the rocks, jigs or small plastics pulled slowly through the rocks are my main presentations.
Don't give up on them though. The numbers may go away but the cold months are usually the best times for me to catch some of my biggest fish of the year. Just this year I had a 7.51 and a 5.88 on the same cold, rainy day in January that never made it above 40 degrees. Then the first week of March I caught the 7.76 in my avatar.
Montanaro reply :
this time of year has opened up the begetation enough for me to bank fish from steep dropoffs. the hill goes straight down into maybe 12-15 feet of water with green hrass and standing timber. figure this will be my best spot on the mini lake i fish. problem is.casting distance is limited and if i slip ill slide into water...
hoosierbass07 reply :
I went fishing today for an hour or so. No bites at all.
Sun Fish reply :
To answer OPs question. Only if you want it to be unless the water is solid and you can no longer penetrate it with your baits or launch your boat. I'm in NE PA it was 26 degrees on my way home from work in the morning at 6:30am. Water temp on my local lake was 49-50 and I managed to bag 3 in 4 hours later that afternoon. In my opinion as the weather and water get cooler the bass are still in the water and they still need to eat to survive, they can be caught it just becomes more difficult. I find the drive to continue to fish in this cold and figure out how to get the most bites is what seperates the Joes from the Pros as far as how good of a bass fisherman you want to become. They may get skunked far more often than you do in the spring and summer but it feels more rewarding when you do get a bite. All you have to do is dress appropriately and the wind and cold wont be as miserable.
KyakR reply :
I went out a couple days ago.....put a warming pad in my yak. After turnover up here the fish go deep and begin to inch into their winter patterns (stacking up on drop-offs, slowing metabolism, etc) for me. I fished slow all day on Thompson lake (BIG smallie waters) and caught nada even though I did fish slow. Tomorrow I'm headed north to try Little Togus Pond, which is small and has a 25' depth max. Hope the sun's out! I'm in denial about the dwindling bite up here 
Smokinal reply :
On 10/27/2013 at 8:14 PM, KyakR said:I went out a couple days ago.....put a warming pad in my yak. After turnover up here the fish go deep and begin to inch into their winter patterns (stacking up on drop-offs, slowing metabolism, etc) for me. I fished slow all day on Thompson lake (BIG smallie waters) and caught nada even though I did fish slow. Tomorrow I'm headed north to try Little Togus Pond, which is small and has a 25' depth max. Hope the sun's out! I'm in denial about the dwindling bite up here
Let me know how you did on L Togus.
Mainebass1984 reply :
You got to keep at it. The fishing in Maine this past weekend was incredible. Late fall fishing can be the best of the year. There are no pleasure boats, few fisherman and the lunkers tend to congregate. I fished 3 days this past weekend form about 10-4 each day. Fishing deep water structure. Air temp was high 40's to maybe 50 degrees each day. The wind was 5-15 mph each day. It was a little rough out there. The water temp was 50 degrees. The thing about this time of year is that you don't catch many small fish 3 lbs. Here are my biggest 3 fish from this past weekend.
8-3
8-1
7-4
Great time of year to catch lunker bass. Jig, crankbait, silver buddy, jerkbait drop shot and spinnerbait all work when the water gets cold.
einscodek reply :
On 10/29/2013 at 2:26 AM, Mainebass1984 said:
You got to keep at it. The fishing in Maine this past weekend was incredible. Late fall fishing can be the best of the year. There are no pleasure boats, few fisherman and the lunkers tend to congregate. I fished 3 days this past weekend form about 10-4 each day. Fishing deep water structure. Air temp was high 40's to maybe 50 degrees each day. The wind was 5-15 mph each day. It was a little rough out there. The water temp was 50 degrees. The thing about this time of year is that you don't catch many small fish 3 lbs. Here are my biggest 3 fish from this past weekend.
8-3
8-1
7-4
Great time of year to catch lunker bass. Jig, crankbait, silver buddy, jerkbait drop shot and spinnerbait all work when the water gets cold.
What depth & time of day did you catch the big ones and on what lures?
bigbill reply :
I'm waiting for the first flurries then I'm going to pour it on with the fishing till the ice is on. I hooked my biggest fish at this time and lost it. This year I will get "bassfish hunter" I'll try anyway. I have a stronger rod, stronger line and I'm ready. I have the spot near the Lilly pads all picked out. It's a big bass, a big salmon or a big pickerel but it fought like a big fat bass. Very slow and not giving up. Time will tell. It's the biggest fish I ever had on my line so far. This was near thanksgiving.
The season isn't over yet. Maybe we been calling it quits too early all these many years? Maybe they want one last meal?
The season is just beginning I have those thinner warm ice fishing gloves too.
wnybassman reply :
I have caught open water fish with surface temps down to 35º or so.
One day on Conesus Lake several years ago, the air temp was 19º and the water was very calm and around 35º. We were fishing in 30+ feet of water, and before we knew it ice was forming around the boat. It grew quickly to between a 1/8" and a 1/4" before a breeze picked up and broke it up. We caught a bunch of fish that day. Below is a picture of my tube jig sitting on the ice in 30 feet of water.
Another day, on the same lake, four of us headed out for a day of fishing a few days before Christmas. We got a bit of snow overnight. lol
If I remember correctly each of us caught a limit of smallmouth that day.
When we came back in at the end of the day, there was only one set of tracks at the launch, and they were ours from we launched in the morning.
It's never too late in the year to catch fish.
Smokinal reply :
That's hard core WNY!
And MaineBass, what time are we meeting at Kezar this Sunday?
Mainebass1984 reply :
One fish was on a crankbait, one on a jig, and one on a spinnerbait. hey smokinal if you want to hit kezar lake sometime send me a personal message. Its good to see some mainers on here.
Mainebass1984 reply :
I was catching the fish on structure near deep water
KyakR reply :
Mainebass, holy cow! What beautiful fish!! Hey! You took my fish and left me those pickerel in the shallow end! Smokinal, I never made it to Little Togus....wnybassman, loved your pic of the crinkly water 
DelcoSol reply :
Unfortunatley with my work schedule and a few upcoming personal commitments I may not be free to get out until December and barring a mild winter I don't know if I will. I am already sad thinking it's over Anyone in Florida want to invite me to their house?
einscodek reply :
Went shore fishin' yesterday on a whim and got skunked and was mostly frustrated being unable to reach the areas I thought the fish were.
My casts were just short of point dropoffs.
Saw some smaller & medium fish near shore via polarized glasses but they were easily spooked away by my spinnerbaits.
Looks like finesse fishing for me from here on out and only via boat.
DogBone_384 reply :
Overall I'm feeling that my fishing season is finished since I've been shut out since late September here in Boston, but tomorrow's going to be around 60 degrees so I've not scheduled any work and am going to 'practice' casting for a little while. Perhaps I'll try slowing down.
If I'm lucky, I'll get myself down to my cousin's house in South Carolina over the winter... Other than that it'll be working, skiing, and family for until Red Sox Spring training next year...
Best of luck to the rest of you.
SirSnookalot reply :
Never ends here, inshore is winding down and now it's bass time for a few months. Not a fish in the world would I wear one of the winter costumes for, lol.
Oregon Native reply :
When I lived in Oregon the big rains would turn everything to mud in the winter where I chased smallies so chased steelhead. Now that I'm in Tennessee it's awesome to have water to fish all year. Like everyone has said slow...slow...slow seems to work best. Clear water I love a 3inch dinger on a 1/8 or 1/16 head on 6lb line or if they are showing on the graph a dropshot will sometimes work well. Bites are usually real light. Dirty water is not my favorite...but a 3/8 jig fished slow can get some good fish. Especially if they are up sunning themselves.
Tight Lines
Bobby Uhrig reply :
OVER DID YOU SAY OVER --WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR--IT AINT OVER TIL WE SAY ITS OVER Whos with me ehhhhhhhhhhh!!!
Smokinal reply :
On 11/8/2013 at 5:09 AM, Bobby Uhrig said:OVER DID YOU SAY OVER --WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR--IT AINT OVER TIL WE SAY ITS OVER Whos with me ehhhhhhhhhhh!!!
I'M IN!!! I'll be out Sunday 17th, taking advantage of the full moon. Expect water to be 44-45. Jig and jerk will be the tickets. I'll keep ya posted!
Bassguytom reply :
I'm a jerk and trap guy with water in the 50's like it is now. When it goes down it's blade bait time! I love this technique in the winter because you can catch everything in the lake that swims on these. Our goal when going out in winter is a Pa grand slam consisting of Largemouth, Smallmouth, Pike & Pickerel. We catch more pike and pickerel than bass in the winter but the bass we do catch are usually big fish. We fish up until the lake freezes if no freeze we are fishing.
Sam reply :
Buffalo, depends on the definition of "season."
While we have pre spawn, spawn, post spawn, spring, summer, fall and winter we also have the special season of getting ready for next year.
Just because you can't wet a line or sit in below zero temperatures in the snow and ice to try your luck your season is not over. Actually, fishing seasons never end.
The season of reorganizing is very important for good physical and psychological health. The physical health part is for you to take inventory, reorganize our tackle, check our rods and rels and have them serviced, and make a list as to what you will need for next year.
The psychological healthpart is that you will be still handling you fishing gear and making plans for next year, studying new techniques, reading and watching programs and DVDs on bass fishing and getting excited for next year and the three months of good weather in Buffalo for you to fish.
5 Dollar Fishing Game reply :
Here in NC I battle the same stuff in the winter. I have good fishing gloves, bundled up warm, and learned to fish slow. It has paid off with big fish. The more you concentrate on fishing tough winter conditions, the better off you will be when the weather gets warmer and more ideal.
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