Winter bassing: feast or famine? It’s all in the mind...

This is the time of year [before it gets really cold] when bass fishing can be at its best or at its worst. At best you could encounter bass gorging themselves in preparation for their winter ‘hibernation’ and experience the kind of fishing where the mere memory keeps you coming back for more and more every time. At worse you could find yourself on the water trying to catch bass during a cold front and wondering what it was about this sport that keeps you coming back every time. 
As the days grow shorter, and the evenings chilly, bass know it is time to start fattening up for the winter, and if you are lucky enough to be on the water at the right time, fishing can be phenomenal. But, as the winter approaches, the frequency of cold fronts increase, the water turns colder, and bass become very picky about their feeding times.
The number one weather pheno-menon that shuts down bass activity and results in unsuccessful fishing outings is the cold front. A cold front is defined as a line on the weather map that indicates the leading edge of a mass of cool weather advancing into a region currently occupied by warmer weather. 
At times like these the difference in air temperature on either side of the front could be as great as 12ºC. 
Generally just before a front enters into the region there is usually a significant upsurge in bass feeding activity as the clear skies start to cloud over with the leading edge of the front but decreases as the skies start to clear again after the front has passed over. Usually the morning after a cold front will dawn with bright blue-bird skies and the majority of the bass would have moved into deeper water, heavy cover and become increasingly inactive, the nemesis of bass anglers all around the globe.
One very important idea to keep in one’s mind though is that cold fronts do not always have the dreaded effect we expect on the fishing and bass do not always ‘head off to deep water to sulk’ as we are programmed to believe. 
We as bass anglers tend to be more affected by the cold front than the fish and develop a fatalistic attitude that starts even before we have launched our boats, expecting to struggle on the day.
We have to learn to accept the conditions and keep on trying different tactics and locations, even if they do not make sense to our pre-conceived cold front notions. By doing this you will catch fish and perhaps even surprise yourselves by catching a lot of fish.
When faced with a cold front it is important to keep a good attitude and to keep checking all your options.  If you think you cannot catch a bass during a cold front, chances are, you probably won’t. Teach yourself to be positive, and expect to catch a fish with every cast, no matter what the weather conditions may be. Fishing should always be fun, even if you are not catching anything. Look around, appreciate your surroundings, and enjoy the company of whoever may be sharing your fishing space.