T T A E K I M N G P TH E IR
Story
Photos Courtesy of Michael Murphy BY SEAN OSTRUSZKA
water temperature is the best way to unlock patterns throughout early season … sometimes
I
t may be the oldest, simplest and least-ex-
citing feature on your electronics. Heck, you
probably only glance at it for a second before
messing with your GPS tracking and graphs that show contours down to inches or sonar that
allows you to actually see whether you’re fishing a
stump or a rock. Yet, you do glance at it. In fact,
it’s probably the first thing most anglers look at
the moment they drop their boats in the water
and turn on their
electronics.
That’s
how
important
your
temperature
gauge can be,
especially in the
spring.
Knowing
the water is 47
degrees – and
not 52 – is often
the biggest guide
34
for anglers as their season’s start up. That simple number can quickly guide you on patterns and areas, while not knowing it can often lead to hours of scrambling around trying to determine where the fish are and what they’re doing.
Michael Murphy is a tournament angler with
a degree in fisheries and aquatics sciences.
So when he says understanding water
temperatures is the fast way to pattern fish
during their spring transitions, he knows
based off years of studying
bass transitions relative
to temperature.