Big Fish Feed Midday?

[hoosierbass07]

  I found this video from the Bass Professor and wanted to know what every ones opinion is on the subject.  Do big bass feed mostly during the midday?  

 

 

 

 

 

 So, what time of day you think is best for large bass?  This is my second year of bass fishing and my personal best came at 2pm.  What about all of you? 

[roadwarrior]

10:00 AM - 2:00PM

 

Nearly all of my biggest bass, both smallmouth & largemouth were caught mid-day.

[Mccallister25]

This is interesting. Iv actually heard about the 10-2 feeding window but never thought about it much. Not to sound like a smart ellic.. Im genuinely interested; have there been studies on this?

[gulfcaptain]

come to think of it, most of my larger fish have been caught between 10 and 2pm.  There are exceptions but 80% would fall in that window.  

[Pz3]

Early morning for me.

[kickerfish1]

Most of my big fish have been taken during dusk and dawn (low light periods). Granted these are highly pressured waters but I would say 90% of my quality fish fall under this category.

[WRB]

I am the anomaly and caught my 5 biggest bass before 9:30A. The reason is in the video, low light mask imperfections using artificial lures, all my giant bass over 17 lbs are jig & pig fish. Not only was the time before 9:30A, the weather was light rain or heavy cloud cover that reduced the light further.

I believe the reason is these big bass were feeding on nocturnal crawdads very early in the dawn period and a jig represented the crawdads these big girls were looking for.

Doug Hannon was a smart and observant angler, his logic was based on the knowledge gained by research and on the water experiences. I generally agree and using life like lures, swimbaits and A-rigs for example bright high sun with light breeze or wind is ideal to catch big bass. 9A to 5P during day light savings time is the time period with the best sun light on clear bright days. I catch a lot of bass during that time period, not jig fish.

Low light and night are better for the nocturnal feeding bass targeting crawdads, frogs, mice and rats.

That's how I see it.

Tom

[iabass8]

I am the anomaly and caught my 5 biggest bass before 9:30A. The reason is in the video, low light mask imperfections using artificial lures, all my giant bass over 17 lbs are jig & pig fish. Not only was the time before 9:30A, the weather was light rain or heavy cloud cover that reduced the light further.

I believe the reason is these big bass were feeding on nocturnal crawdads very early in the dawn period and a jig represented the crawdads these big girls were looking for.

Doug Hannon was a smart and observant angler, his logic was based on the knowledge gained by research and on the water experiences. I generally agree and using life like lures, swimbaits and A-rigs for example bright high sun with light breeze or wind is ideal to catch big bass. 9A to 5P during day light savings time is the time period with the best sun light on clear bright days. I catch a lot of bass during that time period, not jig fish.

Low light and night are better for the nocturnal feeding bass targeting crawdads, frogs, mice and rats.

That's how I see it.

Tom

You aren't alone. almost all my largest bass, both smallmouth and largemouth, have come in the morning hours and most of the time there's either wind and/or a light rain. Most have been on a Jig too but I attribute that too being my weapon of choice. I have however almost matched my PB twice during high sky, no wind, mid day on a frog..

[Deleted account]

 all my giant bass over 17 lbs...

 

I hate you!

[G8RBob]

All my bass over 17 pounds came late at night, in my dreams.

[michang5]

Half of my biggest LMB (4.0 - 5.75#) have come around 3:30 PM CST.

The other half and my 7.25# PB have come between 8:30 - 10:00 AM CST.

I suspect these correlations are because I try to leave work early some days and fish around 3:00. And because I more often drop off my daughter at school and fish for an hour or so before I head to work.

Oh, and I mostly fish from the bank. Feel free to disregard if my catches don't qualify as "big fish."

[Missourifishin]

I most often fish later in the afternoons and into evening, so of course that's when I've caught most of mine. Looking back on it though, I have caught a couple hawgs around noon.

[Raul]

Most of the 10+ lbs fish I've caught were caught between 1:00 and 5:00 PM.

[Paul Roberts]

There is good info in that video, such as the general idea that large bass are successful predators, and there is research to suggest that aggressive individuals do grow faster and have a better chance at getting big –provided the food is there, and angling pressure and associated mortality is low.

 

But, do big bass feed more at midday? Are more big bass caught at midday? Are big bass more vulnerable to angling at midday? Are these even the same questions? I’m not sure we can actually get at the first question or third questions by answering the second.

 

-First, saying anything about “big bass” is a statistical nightmare –most often comprising low number data sets. Second, angling success data offers precious little control, even recognition, of the possible variables involved. Collecting angling data across the continent, (and ignoring season, weather, sky and water conditions, prey type, availability and vulnerability, angling pressure, angler habits, angler effort, etc), is a recipe for chaos.

 

-Bass vision: There is a fair amount of research that pertains to bass behavior and lighting, and some of it doesn’t really jive with what is stated in the video. The fact that bass have color vision does not mean they cannot hunt in low light or are even less efficient –esp compared to their prey. According to some research I’ve seen bass can see much better than bluegills in low light. Many small prey fish species head for cover or shelter for the night -for good reason. Telemetry studies have shown increased crepuscular and nocturnal activity in bass in many waters. Probably depends a lot on season, prey, angling pressure.

 

-Prey vulnerability to bass. There is research that has looked at hunting success by LM under different lighting. One in particular found that under brighter lighting bluegills were able to avoid LM and capture rates by the bass fell, During low light bass could approach closer and capture rates increased. I’ve seen this type of thing myself on ponds I fish where I purposely watch bass hunt from high banks. Under brilliant sun, bass make fewer chases and time and again I’ve seen bass enter a cove and see the bluegills stream away and into cover well out ahead of the cruising bass. It’s apparent that they can see the bass from a long ways out.

 

Now, one could argue that these are not “big” bass. Yet they are the largest and oldest bass in these small ponds. Thus they should also conform to Hannon’s suggestion that these are the “rule followers” –the one’s that have survived. There’s a hole I see in the “rule follower” idea that assumes that there is one set of rules that bass follow, as if every year or every season would be the same. Prey abundance, prey vulnerability, cover density, and other factors can vary greatly year to year. One set of “rules” may not pan out the next season, much less the next year. Becoming “big” is not a formula that is met at all times. And being an “aggressive individual” carries tremendous risks. There is some research in brown trout too -a fish that has the ability to diverge in growth pattern from cohorts due in large part to aggressiveness in feeding- and many of these individuals burn out and die depending on what’s available to support such growth. Growing “big” is, in large part, luck.

 

-Bass vulnerability to angling: I think it’s safe to say that, at least for northern largemouths, large bass are most vulnerable during the cold water periods. In the north, sun angle can be low enough that the prime periods tend to shift to midday. Dunno how this pans out for floridanus, and I know Hannon has written that he caught most of his big bass in summer. His experience is with Florida strain largemouth. Maybe floridanus is different? Certainly sun angle, and water temps, would be different. Roger?

 

-Angler effort weighs in heavy. I remember all the excitement around the Texas Sharelunker program catch rate and moon phase comparison. At one point early on, a poorly done statistical investigation suggested that catches of lunker bass clustered around the full and new moons. Well, that ended up being wrong. Catches were pretty much evenly distributed against moon phases. The most solid conclusion that could be drawn turned out to be that most significant period to catch a Sharelunker qualified bass in Texas was … on a weekend.

 

How does angler effort vary across the day on each water body? As to time of day, how many anglers get up at 3 or 4am to be on the lake at sunrise? Also, I don’t know about you but it often takes me some time to get my act together, figure out what’s going on for the day, and then to revisit those good locations ferreted out for the day. By then, it’s not 9am anymore. Does time to get to casting change with age? Do older, and presumably more experienced, anglers tend to fish later in the day than many gung-ho younger anglers –if so, maybe it’s more a matter of energetics than it is success rate on “big” bass. I wonder how success rate on big bass would compare between night and day, if corrected for effort?

 

Do big bass feed more at midday? How would we know?

[.ghoti.]

Thank you Paul Roberts. Well said, sir.

To which I can only add a quote.. -there are lies, damned lies, and statistics- Mark Twain

[slimshad]

I eat when I am hungry.  If snacks are available I might have that too.  Not a breakfast guy tho.  Most of my feedings start around noon. LOL  I can only go fishing when work and the boss(wife) allows, so I just try to catch what I can catch.  In tournaments this year my partner ad I have managed several fish over five pounds.  They have come at all times during the day.  First fish of the day to the last fish 5 minutes before 4pm.  In my opinion big fish and all fish eat at all times of the day/night.  Just have to be in the right place at the right time...

[Catt]

Observational data suggest big bass feed between 10 am - 2 pm.

Traditional most anglers fish from 30 minutes prior to actual daylight (not sunrise) & are home by noon.

My personal best was caught at daylight, 28° air temp, foggy, water temps in the upper 40s, in February.

Then there is night fighing which produces monster bass!

[A-Jay]

My top three largemouth bass where caught within an hour of sunset. 

 

My top three small mouth bass were caught between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm.

 

A-Jay

[Choporoz]

I catch far fewer bass from 11AM to 3PM.  However, I'd (VERY unscientifically) say that my 5 biggest, maybe 10 biggest have all come between those same hours.  Interesting.....I'd never really thought about it in that way.   As the bite slows/stops, I'll sometimes come off the water....lunch or cool off or...take a break.  Not sure I'll do that anymore.  I guess now it means that I'll have to be on the water from 45 min before sunrise until after sunset. 

[einscodek]

My biggest bass 6lb and most of the 4's and 5's were caught between 10am and 1pm.

So I dont know if they exclusively feed mid-day but they certainly do bite during those hours.

[Christian M]

The majority of my 4-5's were caught between 9-3, (when I'm usually on the water) I've heard this theory from many other anglers before. Another theory I've heard a lot is that the fish will feed for about 40 minutes, then turn off for about 3 hours throughout the day.

 

As far as PB's, my biggest (6.8) was caught around 7:30pm in August, second (6.0) was caught at 2am in June with a storm just starting. I think its a lot more fun during the day when you can see the whole fight, but from my experience, and what I've seem with my own 2 eyes, the big bass do feed at night. Just MHO

[roadwarrior]

The last time Fish Chris posted a number for his DDs it was in the mid eighties.

I suspect he is well over 100 by now. He has stated that most of these fish were

caught between 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM.

[.ghoti.]

I used to keep detailed fishing logs. I no longer do so, but when I did, I quickly noticed that almost all of my big bass (over 5 pounds) were caught at night. I used to bass fish mostly at night.

 

All of my big bass at Trophy Country were caught during the day. You can't fish at night at Trophy Country.

 

Which data set would you choose to make your point?

 

I choose to say I've caught all of my big bass while I was fishing for them.

[slimshad]

I used to keep detailed fishing logs. I no longer do so, but when I did, I quickly noticed that almost all of my big bass (over 5 pounds) were caught at night. I used to bass fish mostly at night.

 

All of my big bass at Trophy Country were caught during the day. You can't fish at night at Trophy Country.

 

Which data set would you choose to make your point?

 

I choose to say I've caught all of my big bass while I was fishing for them.

Thats my thought also sir.  If more people fish during the day, more fish will be caught during the day..  Just gotta get out and put a bait where the biggins are..

[wnybassman]

I'd be willing to bet many (certainly not all) of your bigger bass over the years have been caught within three days of a new or full moon.   And with that said the highest activity levels during both those moons are within an hour or two of noon.