Mid Day Fishing

[airmcnair8888]

I recently went on a fishing trip, got to the lake at 6am

Caught about 10 bass (4 small rock bass) largest two were both 16" from 6 am to about 11 am.. it was hot out and sunny and we still stayed still about 3 but never caught anything after 11. if its hot and sunny.. .where do they go, and will they eat?

Chris

[Marty]

I don't know enough about their habits to answer questions, but I do know that I've caught bass from shallow water in midday under sunny skies in hot weather on numerous occasions. On one outing last year, it was all topwater, then things slowed down in the evening. Go figure.

The point is, that it's not always predictable. If they're not taking fast-moving baits, try soft plastics tight to cover if you're not into the deep water thing.

[zooker]

the bite normally shuts off at that time some times earlier-specielly round here..

zooker

[IL.bassin]

Look for them in the shade. Boat docks, under logs, deep water, buried in vegetation prettymuch anywhere there is shade. And yes they're catchable but it's usually a little tougher to get them to bite.

[KenDammit]

during summer, bass also usually(note that word) feed during the early hours and later hours...leaving the midday to get out of the sun and into some shady, cooler water. They kinda act just like a human would in the sunlight..go find somewhere cool to lay and wait til it cools down again. They fill up their bellies(at least they hope to) when its cool enough for them to not burn so much energy getting food, then try to conserve it while the day is really hot. Remember that a basses metabolism is related to its body temperature which is related to its surrounding temperature. If its hot=faster metabolism. Faster metabolism=less movement to conserve energy.

Bass will feed a lot more aggressively in water in the 70's than they will in water above 80 degrees. They will eat the same things they always eat if a meal presents itself as an easy target. Thats why most people will switch over to soft plastics or a jig or something along those lines on a hot day and try to hit them into cover. gotta go knocking on the door during the noon hours. Another reason that bass tend to be "not biting" during the middle of the day is the intensely bright sunlight. Bass don't like it..and will hide from it, go to the cover.

Also remember that a large bass can eat a pretty large meal and when their belly is full they may not "feel like" eating again for hours or days.

[KenDammit]

I forgot to mention that an added bonus to largemouth during this time of year is the young bluegill and other baitfish that are still trying to hide in cover to protect themselves..this will also pull in the feeders.

[bassking22]

Try shallow, weedy places that have lots of cover.

[Rebbasser]

I had a similar experience a few weeks back-they shut off about 9, and we had nothing until about 2 when I got one on a C-rig. that just confirmed what I already knew, just didn't put into practice: It varies on every body of water, but when the early bite shuts off move out to the edges-weedlines, the first drop off, etc. and fish a little deeper. That means deep cranks, T-rigs, jigs, or what I'm really starting to like, a C-rig.

[JB]

Its hard not to keep fishing even tho you have figured out the bite has shut down. I've seen co tournament anglers just about give up for hours mid day, just out of frustration, then pick up their rod later on in the day..
Several dif tournies I've been in or perhaps my club will log what time the fish bite, and after comparing notes many of the other anglers will have similiar peak times that they caught fish.
It's mighty hard not to keep on pluggin away even after hours of no bite, but you're always hoping to be rightplace/righttime when they do want to bite again...many times ya beat your brain thinking change location, run n gun, or change depth..many times a depth change will get you that extra bite, when most out there have the "beat the banks" mentality.
some are deadly when the bite is shallow, but as we all know, its not that simple, fish move and we have to adapt to the pattern changes.

[airmcnair8888]

Yea they were hitting 2-3ft offshore in the early morning on a chartruese spinnerbait and then on a chartrues weightless lizard.. after that caught one smally mid day on a yo zuri crystal minnow

[vagabond]

That happened just this weekend. The boat just got done being built but still has to be shipped from Missouri to Oregon. Even though I was let down, we decided to go out anyway in our Kayak's. We caught a lot of fish until about 11:30 and then it turned off like you said. The guy I was fishing with started paddeling out and was fishing just past the weedline like Rebbasser mentioned. He just put on a heavier bullet weight than he normally uses and fished plastics.

In that time he caught two fish that according to his scale weighed over 6 pounds and one that weighed over 4.5 pounds. He sometimes fibs but I saw these fish and took his pictures.

I couldn't make it work but it seemed to work fine for him. Those were the biggest fish that any of us caught all day.

[lizardsrule]

I fish all day long. The mid day is slower on quantity, but I've caught "Several"(including the largest) of my largest bass between 10am-2pm. The big girls get to feed, after all the youngins(and faster too) eat.

Lizards

[H2O]

Originally Posted by lizardsrule

I fish all day long. The mid day is slower on quantity, but I've caught "Several"(including the largest) of my largest bass between 10am-2pm. The big girls get to feed, after all the youngins(and faster too) eat.

Lizards

I caught my biggest SM at 3:00pm on sunny hot day last year. And she was the only fish I caught that whole afternoon.