What are your opinions of how fish react ( do they move, go deeper etc. ) on the river when a cold front comes through? On the river systems I realize they do not react as strongly as a lake….Or at least I don`t think they do.
Do fish in Pepin react as a lake enviroment, resevoir, or river?
Is it colder temps, or the higher barometer that drives fish? How do you change your prsentations or locations to compensate?
Please take Eric’s Report to heart.. but at the same time, keep in mind that slowing down presentations may not always work. For the cold front eyes, I will always slow down the presentations first. If I am graphing fish, but don’t have many takers, I will actually increase the speed first, then presentation as well. There are times when getting a reaction bite will be the only bite during this time. Playing off of the eyes’ instictive bite may require more speed rather than less. Then again.. .less might be just what they are waiting for. Main point is… regardless of the situation… be willing to change up. Prepare for everything. When the bite is off.. throw everything at them to find what they are looking for. 
Here’s a recent post I made about this very topic. I wish I had cut and dried answers for you but it seems that for every “rule” a guy can come up with it is just as easy to come up with numerous exceptions.
Dealing with Post-Cold Front Walleyes
It is very difficult to completely eliminate aggressive or fast paced presentations following a cold front but certainly odds are in favor of presentations that are fished slower, that offer smaller baits or some type of live bait in response to the drop in temperatures and high barometric pressure.
I gather from reading both reports, the fish never really changed locations, just inactive… right?
Both reports are from a river situation. Would the same hold true on Pepin? Are lake walleyes more nomadic, or are there both groups in the lake…the nomadic and structure orientated?
Another question just out of curiosity. Is there a deciding factor, why a walleye will stay in the river or lake walleyes stay out in the lake? Do river fish move into or out of the lake during the summer or vice a versa?
Thanks
So James if I am reading your report correctly, if the fish are just giving you reaction strikes because they are so shut down, you are better off putting something with treble hooks and a little speed in front of them? Did you fish the cranks both upstream and down? And which direction went better? I’m guessing that upstream was still better. But I say that only because I haven’t had great luck going downstream with cranks.
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I gather from reading both reports, the fish never really changed locations, just inactive… right?
From my experience the fish don’t relocate at all due to a cold front. I can graph them right where I left them the day prior… but they’re far less agressive.
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Both reports are from a river situation. Would the same hold true on Pepin? Are lake walleyes more nomadic, or are there both groups in the lake…the nomadic and structure orientated?
The fish in the river don’t migrate as a result of cold fronts or any weather pattern that I’m aware of. They do adjust their position in an area as a result of changing water levels and there is a very well documented seasonal migration based around the spawn that most fish seem to follow. The vast majority of the fish in pool 4 spend a small amount of time each season in the river. Thankfully for us guys that like to avoid the lake like a plague the river has its own population of river resident fish that do not leave for the lake.
As for which fish migrate more, river fish or lake fish, the pool 4 telemetry study indicates that lake fish have a very small home summer range… less than 1 square mile. I do not know of a similar study done on river resident fish but my gut instinct tells me they don’t move very far either.
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Another question just out of curiosity. Is there a deciding factor, why a walleye will stay in the river or lake walleyes stay out in the lake? Do river fish move into or out of the lake during the summer or vice a versa?
I really can’t answer that one. I would be very interested in knowing if river resident fish one year are more likely to stay in the river in subsequent years.
James has pretty much summed it up. One thing I will mention about fish holding in the same spot after or during a cold front in the lake is that I belive they stay in the same general area. With that said most of the time I would find them a little deeper on the drop off. Say I was catching fish one day in 12 fow and a cold front comes through that night, the next day I would find them fish in say 17 fow. Like James mentioned before there are no set answers to these questions but a lot is based on location and your own personal experiences.
As for slowing down with cranks after a cold front I agree with what was mentioned earlier. What I will normaly do when I encounter a cold front is first try my normal stuff that has been working, say 1.6 mph if that doesnt work I will try slowing down, 1.2 to 1.4 then if that doesnt work I will go faster, say 2 to 2.2 mph. I usally do it in that order until I find something that works.
Hope that helps
What do you beleive drives the fish more when fronts come thru, Temp or Barometer? I am talking summer and mostly the lake since it seems to be established river fish really don`t change there position due to weather mostly current changes. This may sound dumb but if it is barometer which is high pressure why would fish go deeper where the pressure would be even greater? 
Thanks for the great replies.
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This may sound dumb but if it is barometer which is high pressure why would fish go deeper where the pressure would be even greater?
Thanks for the great replies.
I don’t believe fish are responding to the change in pressure following a passing front. There are other factors at play that I think have a larger impact on the fish. I believe I read in an In-Fish that the highest swings in barometer ever recorded was similar to a fish moving a tiny increment vertically in the water column.
But why might a fish move deeper following a cold front?
A cold front typically ushers in high pressure which usually results in high skies and very bright, sunny days.
Walleyes have a very refined sense of vision that gives it an advantage over its prey in low light conditions. If it is very bright out I can understand why a walleye would slide off into deeper water where there would be less light penetration resulting in lower visibility levels. This scenario would put it in a position to have a sight advantage over its prey that it would not have at lesser depths on bright days.
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