Fishing a cold front at night (would you go?)

Hello guys, new guy here and I have a question. But first the preface.

I'm relatively new to crappie fishing (about a year). I have always went at night and plan to keep it that way because it works out better with my schedule(3rd shift police officer with a family).

I use submerged 150led green lights and fish tied off to a bridge using live minnows in my 18' center console boat. We always catch a pile and usually pull a few good size hybrid stripers as well.

Due to my schedule I have been planning for about 3 weeks on going tomorrow night here in NC to Lake Norman with my fishing partner. The weather has taken a turn and they are calling for temps to be 50 hi to 25 low with wind at 5 to 10. It has been 20 degrees warmer all fall until now.

Has anyone ever fished this type of cold front? I have a Mr heater and plenty of hunting gear to keep warm but am concerned about how the front may affect the bite. Anyone dealt with this before?

I have been traversing the Internet and have come up empty on this particular subject as most folks fish the daylight in the winter, something I just can't do.

I'm no expert by no means but have had a lot of luck fishing at nite with lights an minnows. I'd say it's worth a shot.

In my opinion, you have 2 choices. Fish or don't fish. I would fish! The one thing I have learned about predicting the crappie bite is that it is often unpredictable! By trying, you will learn. If you share you're results, we will too. BTW, I am pretty new to this as well, so don't freeze to death on my advice!

The cold front will leave you with a high barometric reading, Fish will go to the bottom, So fish deep, under your light. The change in temp will be slow in the water. The bait fish will stay down also, but will still come up to light. My 2cts. Going fishing and not catching any is better than not going.

Great question. My standard rule of thumb is (right or wrong): The second or third day of any suddenly changing weather pattern has always been the best for me... providing of course you can't go when a front is approaching and pressures are in the process of dropping from higher to lower pressure or vice versa. Accordingly, I would say: You should be fine tomorrow night providing the winds cooperate and you are fishing at the right depth and in the right area. NOTE: I find that fall and winter fishing is less dependent on air pressure changes (than at other times of the year) and more dependent on feeding activity, because crappies are typically in deeper water and very close to the bottom.

I agree with everyone else...fish a little deeper!

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Originally Posted by Special K

Great question. My standard rule of thumb is (right or wrong): The second or third day of any suddenly changing weather pattern has always been the best for me... providing of course you can't go when a front is approaching and pressures are in the process of dropping from higher to lower pressure or vice versa. Accordingly, I would say: You should be fine tomorrow night providing the winds cooperate and you are fishing at the right depth and in the right area. NOTE: I find that fall and winter fishing is less dependent on air pressure changes (than at other times of the year) and more dependent on feeding activity, because crappies are typically in deeper water and very close to the bottom.

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Yeah I think I'm going to brave the cold (I've hunted still in a tree at MUCH LOWER temp).
I will post the results of the trip.

If anyone else has any input I look forward to it!

God bless and thanks fellas.

[QUOTE=Frosstyx;3083352]Yeah I think I'm going to brave the cold (I've hunted still in a tree at MUCH LOWER temp).
I will post the results of the trip

I will every chance I get. Don't need to catch , just the experience is enough....

We braved the cold and the wind last night in North Alabama. Because of the position of the bridge and the angle of the wind I felt like I was in one of those wind testing tunnels. It was 31 when we gave up and the N wind was at 13. And I can truly tell you that experience was enough. LOL

Well we went. Should've paid more attention to the moon phase (almost full). The Mr Heater was a life saver. We had some gusts at about 10mph but mostly light wind. The crappie bite was almost nonexistent but we did catch 2 18 to 19 inch hybrid bass and 2 good size crappie.

Given this experience I think we fought the moonlight to attract the bait and saw very little in the form of bait balls coming to our green lights like we usually do. The cold had little to no affect on the bite imo, the water temp was 59 degrees .

during a cold front, at night, I'd be fishing in my dreams. sorry couldn't resist

Thanks for protecting us in the line of duty.

As for night fishing, I love it, especially in the summer.
Fishing before a cold front is usually the best fishing. After a cold front can be extremely challenging. The advice about fishing deep was great advice.

I fish at night all the time in the cold. Great crappie fishing as there is very little pressure on the crappie. Fish DIFFERENT depths but make sure structure is there! The crappie WILL NOT suspend if there is not any structure.
Once you found the structure (I found bridges to be best as it is in the entire water column and hold crappie often) drop your light no more than 10' down (I drop 6 foot myself). The light ball is where the bait fish congregate but mostly on the top of the water. The crappie COME up or from the sides to hit the bait fish.
Drop your lines just on the outside edge of light ball and work your way into the light from all directions (low, to the side and above the light ball). You can fish in the light too but only as a last resort as the crappie do not like to stay in the light that long.
Make sure to have minnows to entice a bite if jigs will not work. This will help you find them better as well. Once you find them and they are hitting minnows, drop a jig in next to them. You will be happy!!
And don't let anyone tell you that fishing with minnows is bad. You have an edge when fishing with minnows just like the pros do. They use minnows in all their tournaments and they catch. I really hate fishermen that belittle others that use minnows. Those people are NOT fishermen and are selfish and ego conscious. Just ignore them. I do.
Good luck.

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Originally Posted by kickingback

I fish at night all the time in the cold. Great crappie fishing as there is very little pressure on the crappie. Fish DIFFERENT depths but make sure structure is there! The crappie WILL NOT suspend if there is not any structure.
Once you found the structure (I found bridges to be best as it is in the entire water column and hold crappie often) drop your light no more than 10' down (I drop 6 foot myself). The light ball is where the bait fish congregate but mostly on the top of the water. The crappie COME up or from the sides to hit the bait fish.
Drop your lines just on the outside edge of light ball and work your way into the light from all directions (low, to the side and above the light ball). You can fish in the light too but only as a last resort as the crappie do not like to stay in the light that long.
Make sure to have minnows to entice a bite if jigs will not work. This will help you find them better as well. Once you find them and they are hitting minnows, drop a jig in next to them. You will be happy!!
And don't let anyone tell you that fishing with minnows is bad. You have an edge when fishing with minnows just like the pros do. They use minnows in all their tournaments and they catch. I really hate fishermen that belittle others that use minnows. Those people are NOT fishermen and are selfish and ego conscious. Just ignore them. I do.
Good luck.

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Great info! Very concise, especially the last part! [emoji14]opcorn