Fishing in cold weather is quite challenging and offers some unique challenges in which fishers dont have to put up with with when the its nice outside. For the purposes of this article I'm not referring to ice fishing, in my opinion ice fishing is completely different then fishing in cold weather. I am referring to fishing like you usually would, the only difference being that the tempature is much cooler.

As the weather gets cooler, the water temp obviously gets colder as well. When the water gets colder, so does the body temperature of the fish. Seeing as how fish have cold blood, this drop in body temperature has a huge impact on the fishes behavior. Fish start to become lazy when its cold outside and therefore it's a good idea to pay attention to when you're fishing.

In cold water temperatures fish don't feed as much, so paying attention to other factors that affect their feeding behavior is important. The simplest things to pay attention to are the weather and moon. When I refer to weather and moon, I'm referring specifically to the moon phase and frontal systems that pass through your fishing area. These two things have a huge impact on fishes feeding patterns, and that affect is multiplied when the weather is cold.

It is quite easy to pay attention to the weather and moon. As a matter of fact, a half an hour or so of study will do wonders to help your fishing success in cold weather.

The other important thing to remember when fishing in cold weather is your hands. Keeping your hands warm is of the utmost importance. But many times us anglers still need to use our fingers when fishing. This is where a pair of quality fingerless gloves comes into play. They can be the difference between fishing and going home to get warm. Believe me, I know this is true from experience.

The bottom line is that fishing in cold weather simply offers some different challenges than fishing in other weather conditions. Familiarize yourself with the weather and moon and keep your hands warm and you'll be much better off. Oh, and don't forget to layer up and all that.