The cold fronts that sweep through South Florida in February have a dramatic effect on the fishing for largemouth bass.
Like locals who stay indoors when temperatures drop to the 40s and 50s, bass slow down and move as little as possible in chilly water. That’s when Team Yo-Zuri bass pro Mike Surman of Boca Raton said anglers have two choices.
“One is to flip heavy cover,” Surman said. “Two is to try to get
some type of reaction bite.
“That’s essentially the only way you can catch them in Florida,
They’re so used to warm weather, they just shut down. The
water is so shallow, it can cool down 10 degrees overnight.”
Over the past 30 years, Surman has been one of the most successful tournament pros in South Florida and won countless
tournaments.
He won the very first FLW Tour tournament in 1996, which was held on Lake Okeechobee during cold front conditions.
Back then, Surman flipped heavy mats of vegetation and that is still a productive cold front tactic. He especially likes to flip in hydrilla, an exotic aquatic plant that offers bass food and shelter.
“During a cold front, the hydrilla stays warm and they feel secure,” said Surman, who flips the middle of a hydrilla mat during a cold front. “They don’t have to go anywhere if they want to eat, but they also don’t have to move. They’re not afraid of predators, they’re holed up in their home, so to speak.
“Hyacinths are my second favorite. There’s a canopy over the top and it’s open underneath. When the bass are a little more active, they can move around.”
Flipping involves dropping a soft-plastic creature bait through the vegetation and, hopefully, right in front of a fish’s mouth. Even if they’re cold and not hungry, bass can’t help but grab the lure. It’s like putting a fudge brownie in front of a person who is cold and doesn’t feel like eating. That brownie is going to disappear.
Back in the 1990s, bass anglers used 1-ounce weights to punch through thick vegetation. Now they can use 2-ounce weights.
“In the old days we didn’t even have a fishing rod that could hold a 2-ounce weight. Now the rods are so good,” Surman said. “I always try to get by with the lightest weight I can use to get through the cover.
“If it’s totally canopied and there are hyacinths on top of hydrilla, that’s when I use a 2-ounce weight.”
Surman, who flips with 65-pound Yo-Zuri braided fishing line, explained that he likes a slower fall for his lure instead of having it plummet in front of a fish.
His “all-time favorite” flipping lure is a Gambler Crawdaddy, which looks like a crawfish. In severe cold front conditions, he’ll use the smaller Gambler BB Cricket.
“Sometimes that little cricket is easier to get into that real thick cover where they are,” Surman said. “There are all kinds of little grass shrimp and crawdads in there, so downsizing is definitely a good thing to try. But if I can get them to bite the Crawdaddy, I’ll use that.”
In the Everglades, Surman said there is not a lot of vegetation to flip, so he uses a square bill crankbait, which he reels so it hits rocks, downed trees, and other structures.
“That works all over the country,” said Surman, who uses Yo-Zuri Hardcore Crank crankbaits. “It bangs into the rocks, then goes up on its side until it starts tracking again. That’s usually when you’re going to get a bite.”
He fishes the crankbait on a 12-pound Yo-Zuri fluorocarbon line to help the lure get down and uses a Witch Doctor 50G crankbait rod that he helped design. It’s half fiberglass and half graphite, so it’s lighter than the old all-fiberglass crankbait rods.
Surman added that fishing is usually much better two or three days after a cold front because the water is warming and bass start feeding.
By then, the fish have moved out of the thick stuff and Surman locates them by making long casts with a Gambler Big EZ swimbait.
Once he finds the fish, he’ll pitch a Texas-rigged Fat Ace into holes in the grass or fish a wacky rigged plastic worm in open water.
In cold front conditions and after cold fronts, the chances of catching a big bass are excellent. Bass in southern Florida spawn during the winter months, so it’s common to catch female bass filled with eggs. If you catch a big female, handle her carefully and release her quickly so she can pass on her good genetics.
Warming weather conditions after a strong cold front resulted in a record-breaking professional bass tournament catch a little more than 20 years ago. A Bassmaster tournament was being held at Lake Toho in Kissimmee, where the water temperatures had been frigid for several days.
By the time the tournament started, the water had warmed for a couple of days and the bass moved onto the spawning beds in
the shallow creeks and canals feeding into the lake.
Dean Rojas of Arizona was one of the few fishermen who saw that the bass had moved onto their beds. On the first day, he set a Bassmaster record that still stands by catching five fish weighing a total of 45 pounds, 2 ounces. His catch included fish weighing 10 pounds, 13 ounces, 10-0, 9-0, 8-2, and 7-3, and he went on to win the four-day tournament.