[thefallofman]

My son and I went fishing Feb 7th here in Utah. The lakes are iced over and it's colder than a well diggers ....
Now we are used to catching trout during the winter and so what happened was very wierd to me. We happened on a river where Utah lake exits into the Jordan River. The water from the lake was not even flowing so the river was just still water. There was a small ditch on the side of a road where water was pouring in the river from the melted snow off of the highway. I pitched a chunk of Burkley Power leach out and Whamo, a nice Largemouth. I ended up catching four very big Largemouth, 6 white Bass, 1 nice crappie, and 5 huge bluegills. All in about 30 minutes.
Is this normal for these sunfish to be so agresive during the winter?
I dont know because I usually dont fish for bass etc.
Im a trout man. But now I may switch to bass!!

[shortbus]

You caught these in the river where the water was pouring in?

I'm surprised you caught any of these in that area if the water temperature was that cold. Maybe they just wanted out!

[oucorry]

That is kinda of strange they were biting in that cold of water. But if they are hungry enough, I guess they have to eat something.

[birdman]

I would say this is surprising at all. You have fresh water moving and dumping into still water (can you say oxygen?). Increase oxygen no matter what time of year and you have more agressive fish. Add to the fact that fresh bait, food, insects, etc. are being fed into the only open / moving water and it should produce some fish. This is the perfect place to fish as the iced over areas have less oxygen (sun doesn't penetrate snow covered ice to keep algae and plants photosynthesizing thus releasing oxygen). This is the exact reason why some of the best fishing of the year occurs at ice off.

The first rule is SLOW DOWN. As the Bass have finished gorging themselves for the winter, and the water temperature drops, their level of activity slows down. They're not going to be as willing to chase a fast moving lure as they were a couple months ago. The best thing to do is to try to find water that has the right combination of temperature, oxygen, and structure/cover. In the real world we know that this is not as easy as it sounds so start with the most important characteristic first - cover. Like us, fish like to feel safe. The next thing is to figure out where those safe surroundings are. Where is the water temperature going to be closest to their liking? During the winter, it will usually be the warmest water in the lake. If there is any type of structure such as a drop-off, downed trees, etc., Once you hook a fish, get him in the boat as quickly as possible. Playing them out increases the risk that they will die later. Even a healthy looking fish upon release can wash up dead a couple days later if it is not handled with care. This happens more often than people think.

[oucorry]

Nice fish. I'm getting cabin fever bad. Just wish it was more than 20 degrees outside

[oudave]

well me and corry fished a tournament when it was 15 deg outside and placed 3rd but never again