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When I was growing up the "ol folks" would say that if ice falls into the water(snow or sleet) the fish would not bite until it rained enough to flush the icy water out. Has anyone else heard this or other than the water being cold know of any reason it would effect the fish. Special K, I would like to hear your response.
Here is my theory. I always try to take a pretty simple common sense approach to fishing when trying to determine where fish are located, why they are there and why they are active or inactive. As I have said in several of my previous articles on Crappie.com… I firmly believe that for the most part all fish spend their time concentrating on satisfying their biological, environmental and migratory needs.
As I’ve read and observed many times: An approaching cold front provides a number of conditions that are a plus for predator fish. Wind causes current and waves and this agitation of surface waters works to oxygenate the water and also play a part in making food sources available to the fish as they tend to push microorganisms to windy points and banks. This in turn draws the bait fish, which in turn draws the predators like bass and crappies. This action caused by weather changes and pre frontal conditions makes the food supply more readily available and more concentrated and predictable to predatory fish. It becomes fact that these elevated activity levels must be sustained by more intake of energy producing food. Example: I know I am far hungrier following a day of strenuous exercise than I am following a day of rest or inactivity; well it’s the same with crappies and other fish too. (I have more days of inactivity as I get older too).
There are of course lots of advantages to cloud cover that almost always accompanies these winter frontal passages that involve lower light conditions, which always give predatory fish an added advantage of stealth and ambush over bait fish, which is right in their wheelhouse as predators that I won’t get into now.
On the other hand, with post frontal conditions, or within a day or so after a cold front has passed, as a rule of thumb: Fish are almost always tougher to catch for a number of reasons. The simplest and most common sense factor that I can think of is that they are not as hungry and because of this they are now dormant or inactive. They have just had a smorgasbord of food when the cold front was approaching and just arriving to the area and now that it has made its passage through. They are just not hungry after days of feeding.
As for the snow or sleet or hail or any other frozen precipitation falling in the water and the old folks reckoning that the fish just don’t bite: I think it is just coincidence that they have taken as fact. I have seen and heard to the contrary many times when a rapidly approaching cold front brought snow or sleet when it first arrived and the fish were on fire and biting anything you put in front of them. Just like when it is raining… I believe it all has to do with when the rain, ice or snow falls during the onset or passage of a frontal system. I have also heard of this feeding frenzy occurring when snow or ice came three or more days after the passage of a cold front when pressures are rising or falling.
It has always been a long standing theory of mine, as with most anglers: That is--that fish feed very actively just before a cold front passes and during the initial passage but are more prone to inactivity after the front has passed. Accordingly, I always like to go whenever I can go, but I figure the third day after any frontal passage on any consistent weather pattern is the best time to find actively biting fish if you can’t take advantage of pre-frontal fishing conditions.
Sorry so long winded, but it is a rather complex subject. I hope this helped answer your question, but let's hear some other opinions too.