The weather ahead of cold fronts will often lead to favorable fishing conditions. We’ll start seeing a lot of this happening this month. Gradually, the weather is changing before the front moves through. As wind picks up and cloud cover increases, underwater activity gets triggered.

In these situations, largemouths and smallmouths often increase their feeding activity and go on the move. As a result, feeding windows emerge, and the potential for very high and quality catches may be possible. Most feeding fish move shallower.

In these instances, before the front arrives, fish quickly and cover water with horizontal presentations and search baits. In early season, these windows can last for a few days prior to the front’s arrival. As expected, you will be fishing near-shore areas and early season locations.

Pre-Front Largemouths

Come post-summer and early fall, top lake locations for largemouths are often over the tops and deep edges of weed beds, and deeper weed humps. Largemouths will be positioned and on the prowl along their edges.

By now, most waters are darker clarity or blooming, and therefore a dark black/blue or black/chartreuse 3/8 oz. and ½ oz. swim jig paired with a high powering and vibrating paddletail swimmer, or creature will effectively represent a fleeing bluegill that not many other presentations could.

The swim jig and casting jig are two of the most effective lures to employ in this situation. One presentation is built for speed and covering water, and the other for slower fishing and precise lure placements.

My favorite way to catch largemouths is with a ½ ounce swim jig paired with a 5-inch paddletail trailer. This bait combination accounts for several big largemouths on an annual basis.

Last year and this year, I’ve had my bigger and better catches on a ½ ounce Z-Man Chatterbait Elite EVO paired with a Chatterspike. I let the water clarity dictate color choice, but Bama Craw and Black/Blue are both difficult for me to ever take off.

The biggest largemouths I catch are often triggered by a larger bulkier trailer. I like to overpower them in summer with a full 4 and 5-inch paddletails that produce a wide tail kick and side to side wobble. Top choices are GrandeBass Kickback Shads, Bass Assassin Boss Shiners, and Big Beast Baits customs. Vibration of trailer is the most critical triggering point in reduced visibility/ algae bloom waters. In many murky water clarities and weedy jungles, baits that move too fast may avoid a bass’s strike zone before it could see it and strike. In these situations, I like to slow my retrieve speed and will tip the jigs with large creature baits.  

Colors vary, from bluegill patterns to blacks and blues. Freedom Tackle Corp. and 3G Smallmouth Solutions swim jigs are my two baits of choice. For best contrast to poor water clarity, dark jig and trailer colors are preferred at all times.

Junk fishing strategies really shine on these fisheries. With the employment of these two lure types, with also the inclusion of launching around spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits, you never really know what you’ll catch. When pre-frontal feeding windows emerge, the entire lake has the potential for firing itself up. Northern pike, walleyes, and muskies are always possible bycatches.

Pre-Front Smallmouths

Meanwhile, smallmouth behaviors aren’t much different at their fisheries. You can go to any lake type to take advantage of these windows. Pre-frontal conditions will send me to the deep, clear, trophy waters where the boat will have great opportunities at a few bites on these more elusive fish.

The food chains get active, first observed with yellow perch and ciscoes. Next, smallmouths will invade the flats or relocate themselves to wherever the forage is, feeding on whatever food supply is available.

Search lure strategies apply here too, with spinnerbaits, paddletails, and deep diving crankbaits catching the majority of our fish.

The only instances I will ever slow down during these windows is when smallmouth concentrations are greater – commonly atop the flats and spot on spot areas. Through these areas, you will want to be dragging tubes, football jigs, or ned rigs instead. Often, there is a wind present, so working jig baits can be counterproductive.

The pre-frontal feeding windows brought by cold fronts and cool downs can represent some of the best fishing and feeding phases of the summer and fall seasons for trophy bass.