Time of day

[Abbeysdad]

I know it's generally held that the best fishing is at the crack of dawn followed by perhaps dusk....but what say you??

[cassidyta]

I say that it depends on your body of water, time of year, and phase of the moon. One of my lakes is pretty much a bowl. There is very little shallows at all. In that particular body of water, I get almost all of my fish between 10:00 and 1:00 by tossing into the reeds. I have other lakes where the bite slows down by 0900.

In the winter time when the bass are deeper, I find that the late afternoon and evening bite is more productive. Especially where I can find rock faces that protrude into the water. The bass seem to cling to these spots. I can only guess that this is because the rocks maintain heat better.
When there is a full moon out, I find that I do better in the evening bite. I personally think this is because the bass are gourging themselves with their night time fishing and are not as aggressive once the morning comes. By the evening they are back into feeding mode.

[bassinbob]

For numbers maybe. I have caught my biggest bass from around 10 am to 1pm. I agree with crack of dawn for walleyes.

[bamabassman]

well i LOVE TO fish at the crack of dawn. get out on the water about 30 mins BEFORE the sunris. BUT........all my big fish have come just before sundown. go figure.

[Raul]

Most of my biggest fish have been caught between 1-5 pm, most under cloudless skies, scorching heat and under the blazing sun so at what time you think I prefer to fish ?

[Jim80]

I think the best time is after the sun goes down , mostly between 9:30pm and 3am , just get a spinner and get in touch with the thumping of the blades and when you don't fell it set the hook .


Jim

[MallenManson]

Early morning and late evening but I'll go anytime.

[Bassboss]

Yup! Imma morning guy as well! IMo it's funner to fish too, I catch bigger and more fish than too!

[bamabassman]

raul, isn't brightest of sunlight and hotter than hades where oyu are ALL the time? hahahahaha!!

[walkeraviator]

I read an article not to long ago that said that Middle of teh Day in teh cxlear sky with a blazing sun is when you catch fewer, but bigger bass... It basically claimed that the reason is that Bigger fish wait til they can see the prey better to eat... so where as you catch more fish in low light situations ( when any bait can fool a fish) they are usually smaller.... so in the brightest light conditions, these fish get a good look at yoru bait, so the more realistic the presentation the better...

[WatterBoy]

Originally Posted by walkeraviator

I read an article not to long ago that said that Middle of teh Day in teh cxlear sky with a blazing sun is when you catch fewer, but bigger bass... It basically claimed that the reason is that Bigger fish wait til they can see the prey better to eat... so where as you catch more fish in low light situations ( when any bait can fool a fish) they are usually smaller.... so in the brightest light conditions, these fish get a good look at yoru bait, so the more realistic the presentation the better...

Was it an online article? If so, could you post a link? Thanks!

[WatterBoy]

The 4 biggest LM I have ever caught were from 3 different lakes and all caught at or very near dusk.

[Captmikestarrett]

Every 6 lb plus LGMouth I have got has been 20 minutes after dark..

One hour after dark the bite just dies.

Capt Mike

[WTL]

Originally Posted by Captmikestarrett

Every 6 lb plus LGMouth I have got has been 20 minutes after dark..

One hour after dark the bite just dies.

Capt Mike

I've never landed a big fish just after dark, have gotten a few hits but its harder when you cant see and theres lots of cover.

I have certainly noticed fish shutting down when it gets good and dark. I wonder if they are transitioning? Most nightfishing it has taken until 1 or 2 to get back on them.

[Jim80]

Originally Posted by Captmikestarrett

Every 6 lb plus LGMouth I have got has been 20 minutes after dark..

One hour after dark the bite just dies.

Capt Mike

Originally Posted by WTL

I've never landed a big fish just after dark, have gotten a few hits but its harder when you cant see and theres lots of cover.

I have certainly noticed fish shutting down when it gets good and dark. I wonder if they are transitioning? Most nightfishing it has taken until 1 or 2 to get back on them.

I have to agree that the first hour of darkness kills the bite but if you hang out for a bit the fishing picks up incredibly . The key is vibration and noise in a no light situation with a spinnerbait or the likes , a few days ago my dad and I were out for a few hours after dark in the pouring rain . I caught 6 fish in the hour we toughed out the extremely heavy rain , mostly on a buzzbait but also got a few on a lip less crank and a couple on a spinner


Jim

[DaveW731]

I don't think there is a universal best time, for all the reasons mentioned. My biggest was right before dusk, second biggest mid morning, caught number of larger than average in the early afternoon.

[Dave63]

I've always done better in afternoons between 3 and 6 or so.

[Cavs1123]

I like mornings best cause you arent really on a timer to catch fish. But evenings have done great for me. Like last night i caught eight.

[HarveysMinnow]

Perhaps we should look at this from the Largemouth's point of view. It's a fairly well established fact that LM's move into the shallows near dusk, seeking a meal of small bream or other baitfish. I think this is especially true in most 'farm ponds' of the 2 - 3 acre variety.

But what if Mr. Bass is as unlucky as many of us fishermen, and he fails to catch anything for dinner? My feeling is that he will be back in the shallows at dawn, more hungry than ever. I think it's a mistake to assume that every bass in a given body of water is able to feed successfully every time he/she is hungry. So, even though my fishing luck has been better in the 5 - 10 PM time frame, I still enjoy being on the water at dawn...so much fresh air to breathe after the trees have been hard at work all night making fresh oxygen.

.

[Ebbetsguy]

Most of my best bass came when I was fishing Seriously, I fish when a busy life gives me time to do so. Most of my best bass came between noon and 5 pm, because that’s when I am on the water most of the time
I don't think Bass meals are a one and done thing that they move in relation to their forage and comfort and they need the right amount of DO.
If I am right bass are ambush feeders and somewhat opportunistic, so if we can find them, we can exploit this. So if you know what they are eating and know where the food source is, you can find the Bass.

There are some big bass guys who have experienced that a lot of shallow bass, stay relatively shallow and deep bass stay deep. This up into the flats overnight thing, may not hold up. Minnows and shad, can more easily adjust their swim bladders and they move more easily.I do not know this as fact, but a guide and swimbait fisherman, who has taught me a lot, RANDALL, on bassresource.com has just recently made this observation.
If you ask favorite time to fish: Overnight/top water because they all feel and sound like submarines until they get to the boat

[3dkicker]

Tidal water, rivers, river systems and lakes/ponds all have different feeding patterns. Time of day may influence feeding patterns but so do a lot of factors including the behavior of the forage species that is predominant in the body of water at that time of year.

So that being said I think you shouldn't limit yourself to one or two periods of the day. Adapt to the conditions that you are fishing (time of year, time of day, tide, cloud cover, etc) and try to adjust to the fish. I've caught fish and won tournaments in the middle of the day in the middle of the summer in skinny water with sunny skies throwing topwater.

[badshot]

Originally Posted by Abbeysdad

I know it's generally held that the best fishing is at the crack of dawn followed by perhaps dusk....but what say you??

Just before dusk for me