The ideal water temperature for largemouth bass is between 68 and 72 degrees, but they can acclimate and feed at warmer or cooler temperatures. Water temperature can vary quite a bit within a lake, and your surface temperature gauge is a valuable tool in helping you find those areas that are most likely to hold active bass.
Cold water slows most bass way down and can shut off the bite. Avoid incoming creeks when they're running cold. Instead, in winter and early spring, work the corner of the lake that gets the most exposure to sunlight and warm winds, or move to shallow areas that will be warmed first by warm fronts and rainstorms. Just a few degrees?difference can draw a lot of fish. If the shallows aren抰 any warmer, you might want to look to deeper water. Pay special attention to the first major drop-off outside a bay梑ass will move down the slope and suspend at the preferred temperature.
While bass won't usually hold in 80-degree water when they have cooler options, they will roam into warm shallows looking for food. They will be most active in the early morning and late evening. In many shallow bass lakes, the coolest water can be found in the shade directly beneath dense weed canopies. This is especially true in very clear water.
As the weather gets warm on larger, deeper lakes, the water may separate into stable thermal layers, with warm water above and colder water below. The boundary between these layers is called a thermocline, and can sometimes be seen on sonar. You may find bass suspended just above the thermocline looking for a comfortable water temperature or food. (Below that layer, the water tends to get oxygen-depleted.) In the late autumn, the top layer will cool and dissipate, a process called the turnover. This tends to make bass disoriented and sullen for a few days.
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