A few (decades) ago me & a buddy were looking for something to do. We didn't have the inter-web thingy so after we had watched all the VHS tapes of Bill Dance & Jimmy Houston we owned for the 7th time, we decided to go see if we could catch a bass from this small pond not far away. It had been sleeting-snowing and very cold for days, kind of like today.

We drive to this pond and walk over the dam. It was blocking the North wind. I distinctly recall there being ice around the shoreline in places 6 feet out. We each took one rod with a lure tied on. Mine happened to be a 1/3 oz gold black back Cordell Hotspot. This predates the Rattletrap. The pond was small enough we could cast all the way to the other shoreline with the 20 mph wind behind us.

A couple casts my bait landed on the ice near the other shore with a little tink-tink sound. I would pull it off and let it sink. It couldn't have been more than 4-5' deep at the edge of the ice. I would guess the water might have been 8' deep in the middle of the pond.

We were so competitive back then. I figured if I was going to out-fish my partner I would need to use a slow retrieve with the bait. I would let the bait sink all the way to the bottom, turn the reel handle about 4-5 times then pause. We didn't really dress for the extreme cold weather because we were young and didn't think it thru well. I think I had on a Bass Pro Shop 30 MPH suit.

My buddy says, let's get outta here and I agree. We make one more long cast and as the bait is sinking to the bottom a bass grabs it. I never felt the bite. The fish was just there when I started to reel. I thought I had snagged some brush on bottom. As it turns out it was a pretty nice fish of about 3 pounds. He punches me in the shoulder as I hold it up in his face. I release the fish and we run for the warmth of the car.

So, how cold was the water at the bottom of the pond? Still water freezes as its temp drops below 32 degrees so the surface temp had to be low 30's. I was hopeful that one of you young energetic guys would take a digital thermometer and do a survey for us on TFF this weekend here in North Texas.

I would love to know what is the surface temp and also water temp at five foot increments as you go down to 30 feet.

Just above freezing. Buddy had a 10 inch lmb in a 10 gallon aquarium on his back porch yrs ago that froze solid. Days later after it thawed the bass came back to life. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes

Was on Texoma several years ago when the water was in the upper thirties. Threadfin were stunted and the bass started schooling in the back of a cove. Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it.

Walking ponds during freezing events like this can be interesting. You'll see huge dead tropical fish like Plecostomus and Oscar's that couldn't handle the temps after being released from aquariums

For me that I can recall was 41. Huntsville State Park, aka Lake Raven. Buddy and I caught them schooling that day. We had almost 28 pounds best 5 on schoolers. It was wild. Jerkbaits and traps.

That is Crazy!

Rumor has it that Mary Kay is cryogenically preserved in the basement of her Pink Palace in Addison.

38-39 degrees. They absolutely crushed Texas rig skft plastics in 1' of water on Lake Worth.

Yesterday 27 degrees on lake Arlington

Puff n pass

I was just thinking about water temps at different depths yesterday. Wondering how the best way to get a bunch of volunteers to measure water temps at different depths in different parts of Lake Fork, all at the same time.

You found 27 degree WATER TEMP yesterday at Lake Arl??

Thats cold water bro

The pond behind my home in DFW just froze over.

Just a personal observation. I have caught fish on Texoma at 39 water temp after it came up from 38. Over the years I had difficulty catching fish on dropping water temp below 44 but could catch fish when the temp started back up. It did not seem to matter how low it was as long as it was coming up.

42 is the coldest, had it a couple of times and it sucked.
Pretty much anything below 50 is gonna be a arse whipping for me.

You can always use a temp probe. I use one with depth increments marked on the line every 5 feet and put the results in a chart graph to find a thermocline. It will make an "S" shape to show it in between the curves.