Going into the weekend the forecast called for between a 60% and 90% chance of rain for Saturday and Sunday, respectively, and throughout the day and night.
That has changed and so might the fishing. The rain chances have decreased, with the temperatures increasing, both day and night.
A warm rain would be the ideal setup for the largemouth anglers. They’ll get the warm air temp, but without the needed rain to stimulate the bite.
“At least the nighttime lows will not result in a net loss for the water temperature during the day,” said Mark Menendez.
Earlier in the week, nighttime lows dipped into the 40s and then the daytime highs reached the mid-60s. So what was gained with the clear, sunny skies and water warmup, was lost at night when the temperature dipped and cooled down the water again.
The patterns in play for the largemouth guys are best described as random. Random, as in betting on the come. Those anglers are waiting on the narrow windows of feeding activity when largemouth move into shallow water to feed on shad. It’s a roll of the dice.
Meanwhile, and all alone both in the standings and his pattern, is Jeff Gustafson. Gussy is exploiting a wintertime pattern of fishing for smallmouth in deep water. That pattern is unaffected by any of the conditions needed for the largemouth bite.