What does a cold front do to a crappie school?
The classic post-front response is down and tight: the school sinks a meter or three, packs closer to cover or to the basin floor, and the strike window shrinks from "rising a meter to eat" to "sipping what drifts past its nose." Blame the combination of falling water temperature slowing metabolism and the sudden bright, high-pressure sky. The counter is to downsize the jig, slow the fall, hold dead-still longer, and put the bait within about 30 cm (1 ft) of fish you can see on sonar — the school did not leave, it just stopped commuting to the bait.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about Temperature & metabolism
Same topic, other species
- What is the best water temperature range for largemouth fishing? — Largemouth Bass
- How does temperature set the muskie's feeding rhythm? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- Do cold fronts slow perch down the way they slow bass? — Yellow Perch
- What water temperature makes pike feed hardest? — Northern Pike
- Are smallmouth as cold-front sensitive as largemouth? — Smallmouth Bass
- Do trout feed in winter? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- How do cold fronts affect walleye? — Walleye