My brother and his family is coming in for the Thanksgiving holiday. We are going fishing on Wednesday, and unfortunately there is a cold front blowing in on Tuesday night. My experience is fish get finicky right after big weather changes. About the only time I have a hard time catching white bass is right after a cold front.

Here is the question: I live close to lake Waco and lake Whitney. What species is less likely to be impacted negatively due to the coming cold front? White bass / hybrids at lake Waco or striper at lake Whitney? My thought is striper will be negatively impacted less than white bass/hybrids due to the depths they hang out vs white bass that have been 15‘-20’ lately. Has anyone experienced this?

My next question is: Will the cold front scatter shad and make them harder to catch if I choose to try striper at Whitney Wednesday morning? Should they be in the same areas only deeper?

I personally have not had very good results fishing the day right after a cold front. I have had good days fishing pre front. On the other hand I have friends of mine who have done quite well fishing the day after a front. As the saying goes. "You don't know if you don't go". Hope you get onto some fish. Best of luck.

High barometric pressure will move pelagic fish to the timber. If the pressure change is less than one percent , should be able to find sandies close to shallow water . White Herons will point them out to you, or find creek channels close to deep water mid lake and north. Find the bait , the fish are not too far away . Wind blown points etc..

Makes it better for me. The colder the better they bite.

Just go a little deeper and fish a little slower

Weather forecasts are hit and miss at best, but what I saw this morning looks like the front Wednesday will be mild but a stronger one here on Friday. I was at Whitney on Saturday and saw bird activity in Cedron Creek. Ran up in there thinking I would catch some stripers, but it was mostly white bass feeding on the shad.

Sir, the following is a cut-and-paste from one of my recent columns in the Killeen Daily Herald, addressing the weather cycle and wintertime fishing. I hope this helps you!

How wind and weather impact autumn fishing

The long stretches of stable weather we Texans enjoy in the summer months are now in the rearview mirror. Turnover has taken place, and the window has now opened on some of the year’s fastest fishing, rivaled only by the spring warmup when flooding does not hinder.

From 7AM on Friday, October 9th, through 10:30AM on Monday, October 12th, my clients landed 601 fish over the course of five half-day trips on Lake Belton, primarily by reeling MAL Lures upwards off the bottom in 35-50 feet of water. Fortunately, the weather cooperated over this entire stretch.

From now until the spring warmup, weather will play a predictable role in fish behavior, and therefore, in fishing success.

First, understanding the cycle of autumn weather is important. As we move toward November and December, cold fronts will become more numerous and more severe, each dropping the water temperature a bit more until early March.

The cycle goes like this: first a cold front arrives (as was the case this past Monday morning). As the front arrives, winds begin to blow from the northwest. Some fronts are dry, others will have a short-lived band of moisture on the lead edge, dropping some rain as the lead edge of the front quickly passes over and continues to the southeast.

Winds typically spike rapidly from the northwest and continue to increase as temperature decreases, winds then peak, then begin to die to nearly calm as high atmospheric pressure sits atop Central Texas.

After the front’s passage and the cessation of winds, we will experience bright, calm, cool conditions until southerly winds return. In a normal weather cycle, we typically do not experience easterly winds. Only when Gulf of Mexico moisture spins over us either due to tropical influence or the influence of a strong low pressure system will we have easterly winds (and rain) for any length of time.

Southerly winds will typically persist for several days causing a slow warmup, then, as the next cold front approaches, winds will increase from the south-southwest due to compressional warming of the atmosphere.

Three to four hours before the incoming cold front’s arrival, winds will swing briefly through the west, then go west-northwest, then north-northwest. Finally, the front arrives with yet another rapid spike in wind velocity and a drop in temperature. The cycle then repeats. This will go on all winter, right into early March.

Because we are on the cusp of this change of seasons, we have several weeks to enjoy the impact of these fronts at a time when the water temperature will still be in the 60’s and 70’s (it was in the mid-70’s on both Lake Belton and Stillhouse Hollow Reservoir this week).

In most years, the best of the fall fishing occurs through at least the second week of December. I have seen excellent fishing continue into the first half of January in years with a slow autumn cooldown. In fact, my single best guided trip, with three clients aboard, saw them land 364 fish in early January several years ago.

To try to boil this all down, I have described below the wind and weather conditions within the weather cycle when above average, average, and below average fishing can be expected.

Above average conditions

The best of the best weather for fall fishing is pre-frontal fishing in the hours just before and during a cold front’s passage, and up until the point where the winds reach their peak velocity.

Winds will shift from southerly to westerly, then spike and turn northerly. Dry cold fronts tend to produce better than those with precipitation on their lead edge.

Above average conditions can also be expected toward the end of a warming trend, especially when accompanied by southeasterly, southerly, or southwesterly winds at or above 10 mph and grey cloud cover.

Average conditions

Average conditions can be expected for a day or two from the time the winds return from the south after going calm following a cold front’s passage.

Average conditions may also be expected after the northerly winds peak, and until they go calm in the day or so following a cold front’s passage.

Below average conditions

Below average conditions are typically experienced when low pressure causes winds from the north-northeast, the northeast, the east, or the east-southeast.

Foggy conditions (typically experienced on cool mornings after rainfall) lead to below average fishing.

Periods with light and variable winds from any direction, or calm wind conditions typically also lead to below average fishing.

The worst conditions take place during the calm, bright, cold pause between the cessation of winds following a front’s passage and the start of southerly winds. These conditions are so predictably tough I will postpone fishing trips with clients if I see these conditions developing.

I have put together this summary so that if/when you have the luxury of choosing when to fish or when it might be better to stay at the house and catch up on chores (a luxury many will have in the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons soon coming), you can choose wisely.

ACTUAL ARTICLE FOUND HERE:
ARTICLE IN KILLEEN DAILY HERALD

Bob, thanks for passing along the write up. That is very helpful information on the weather changes around fronts. Sounds like I should be ok tomorrow as the wind will be out of the NW in the morning before it switches to the NE and then the south on Thursday.

Great info Bob. Thanks

Update:

I’m happy to say we had a successful outing today fishing with my brother and nephew. Caught shad, found striper under birds for a while. Stayed in the area that the birds worked earlier and caught quite a few more on a deep water point near the underwater trees just off the river channel in 45 FOW. Overall we caught and released 43 striper and 4 catfish. The majority of our fish were in the 16”-18” range, three were over 20” with the biggest measuring 25”. There was a nice 10 mph west wind this morning that shifted to NW by 11:00 or so.

Bob, Thank you for the detailed and accurate info on the cold fronts and winds, sir. I’ve said for years there’s no worse fishing than under a bluebird sky after a big cold front. And no better fishing than the often very rough water conditions in the hours preceding a major fall weather change. You have obviously kept detailed fishing logs. It would be very interesting to read your observations of the effects of barometric pressure change and also moon phases. Please post your thoughts on these topics when you have a little downtime.