When There's Fog

[Squirmin Wormin]

i'm just wondering when there's somewhat or pretty heavy fog on the water how or does that make a difference or does it in our fishing ? and if it does how so ? or would it be like overcast weather? sometimes fog can be around for a little bit or stay a few hours then burn off. but does fog alter our fishing or not? i think that spooking the fish were after wouldn't be a factor simply because if i can't see it or anything it can't see me either. what's your op? i also think it would improve catching the fish were after also in my op. i don't know if some or all of you fished in fog, just asking your op ?

[roadwarrior]

Geez...I need a cup of coffee.

 

Q.  Does fog impact fishing?

 

A.  Fog has no impact on fish, but can make "fishing" more difficult and possibly dangerous.

[Mike L]

As Kent said, fog doesn't affect the fish but it should affect what you're gonna do especially in a boat.

Namely if you can't see stay where you are!

Dont leave the ramp area or don't launch at all...theres a reason it's called "safe light"

If a fog bank rolls in while you're on the water turn your lights on and shut down, dont move. Keep still and listen for other boat's, and be prepared.

The only advantage to fishing in the fog imho, is that the water and air are still. If you must, throw a top water bait of your choice.

Mike

[kikstand454]

Ha!

I LOVE fishing in the fog in my kayak! Topwater is on fire!

I sneak up into a cove or creek and try to avoid areas of boat traffic. Some people just want to run their boat- it doesn't matter if they can't see!

[reb67]

A Fog bank rolled in on a buddy and I one morning didn't noticed a change in the bite how ever as the fog got heavier we decided being that we were fishing a point on the river channel of this lake we should move out of the line of fire. So we trolled over to the edge of the bank to wait for the fog to lift enough for us to troll on safely. The fog got so thick we could barely see each other standing at  both ends of a 21 foot Triton and sure enough we hear this JACKA## coming down the lake at full speed he passed right by us about 50 to 75 feet from us and we never seen him. After we stated how careless this guy is we realized he went right threw where we were. This story could be a lot different or not be told at all. The GPS electronics are a great tool but like all tools if not used correctly it could end badly.

 

 If I have to navigate in the fog I use the same rule that I use for navigating at night, (Only go as fast as you want to hit something)

[TBO]

I love fishing in the fog with my canoe. I tend to fish ponds where gas motors cant get to so i feel no danger, but i never hit top speed while fog is around especially when you cant see 20 feet. Top water usually is on fire! I would have a different mind set if i was in a large body of water with other boats with gas motors.

[geo g]

Does fog effect fishing? The answer is most definitely! 1). Don't run the boat unless you absolutely have too. 2). If you have too run, run slow! 3). Don't think because your running slow, the other guy is too.

(A little story.) One early morning before first light my son and I went to L67 in the middle of the Everglades from SR 41. This is a long 33 mile, wide canal, through the middle of the Everglades. There was real heavy fog that day so we went real slow for about 4 miles to our spot. You can't see more then 30 feet in any direction. We hear off in the distance a big bass boat running the canal from the south west wide open. Then I hear another one running wide open from the north east and Holiday Park. I tell my son to move our boat as far into the weeds as he can get it, and out of the canal. The collision speed for these two jerks could easily be 120 MPH. For 5 minutes we can hear the two boats getting closer and loader and no one is slowing down. This was going to get ugly. They were both running the middle of the canal and collision was immanent.

Thank God one guy was paying close attention, and swerved his boat hard right and ended up into 30 yards of sawgrass and partially up the steep canal bank. A head on collision at that speed would have probably resulted in 4 deaths. We would have been witness to a horrible tragedy.

If there is heavy fog I now sit at the dock until it lifts. You never know who running that other big boat with a 250 HP engine. They don't give an intelligence test when they hand the driver the key. Does fog effect fishing the answer is yes, most definitely yes!!!!

[reb67]

No fish is worth a life not even a fish of a life time.

[Skeeter Dan]

Geez...I need a cup of coffee.

 

Q.  Does fog impact fishing?

 

A.  Fog has no impact on fish, but can make "fishing" more difficult and possibly dangerous.

It's no fun at all. I fished in a company competition once at Sardis Lake Ms. We where delayed 3 hrs by the fog. A vote was take to fish or go home . TO FISH WON. I'll never do it again. It was way to dangerous. We were all over the road truck drivers who should have know better. All for bragging rights and a trophy. That was really stupid. As drivers we had to drive for a living so that was part of the job but we didn't fish for a living.

[Shanedog76]

what Season is the fog in the lake? I'm not a Bass fisherman, I enjoy the fog time of year the most but forgot when that is? Spring or fall time? its about Winter time now and I've been out there last 10-14-20 at night and no fog so that must mean the time of year is early Spring time? anyone help me out?, thanks

[Glenn]

Fog results as water gives up its heat. So fog usually occurs in the fall when air temp is cooler than the water temp.

[Koz]

I have a story that involves boating and fog.

 

Years ago I had an oceanfront condo on Hilton Head Island. Now Hilton Head is a bit strange because there are all sorts of bylaws and restrictions regarding illuminated signs and lighting and there are no street lights. So things are pretty dark all around at night.

 

If you live on the beach you are required to have black out curtains because lights from your home could confuse the baby sea turtles. Anyway, we had a dense fog one night during the off season and the island was free of crowds an most tourists. About 10 o'clock at night there's a woman pounding on my door and screaming for help.

 

She and her friends (all tourists) had rented a small boat and got lost in the fog for hours until they got lucky and accidentally beached the boat. I say lucky because they started off on the intracoastal side between the island and the mainland and I lived on the open ocean side. If they hadn't beached they could have easily headed out to the open sea in this little 14 foot boat.

 

We had two boats (25 foot and 42 foot) but thankfully never ended up in a position like that. Heck, it was hard enough navigating the intracoastal and the marshes at night to get to our slips. I can't imagine trying to do that in the fog AND the dark.

[Captain Phil]

Sometimes fog can be your friend.  Years ago we were fishing a buddy tournament on Okeechobee out of Clewiston.  The fish were in the pepper grass patches out in the lake.   When the tournament started there was a fog so heavy you couldn't see 100 yards ahead.  We ran down to the first cut and headed out into the lake.  Image us trying to find a 100 foot diameter grass patch in 40 miles of water in the fog!  Undeterred, we kept going and as you would expect got lost in the fog.   We eventually saw land and started to fish.  We had no idea where we were.   The first fish we caught was a 5 pounder.  When the fog cleared, we discovered we were in Pahokee near the airport.   We ran back out to the grass patches.  Back then the limit was ten fish per angler. We had 20 bass in our live well.  By buddy and I won that tournament with 65 pounds of bass.  There is more to this story that I won't go into here.  The short story is we were ticketed by the Game officials and ended up in court.  The judge threw the case out.  After that the tournament limit was reduced to 8 fish per angler.

[Jig Man]

8 hours ago, Shanedog76 said:

what Season is the fog in the lake? I'm not a Bass fisherman, I enjoy the fog time of year the most but forgot when that is? Spring or fall time? its about Winter time now and I've been out there last 10-14-20 at night and no fog so that must mean the time of year is early Spring time? anyone help me out?, thanks

Fog can occur in any season.  It happens when the temperature and dew point get close together.  I find it lots of times on the upper James River arm of Table Rock Lake.

[A-Jay]

Fishing in fog for me is similar to other low light conditions.

Seems to help the bite more in warmer water conditions than in colder. 

 

 However as mention here already by several astute & experienced fisherman,

navigating in very reduced and especially near zero visibility conditions

is serious business.

Completely doable IMO, but you have to go slow.

 

 

Finally, it's interesting to me that 'professional' derbies are delayed & often cancelled for it, yet the participants are surely seasoned boaters with the best mapping available.

A-Jay

 

 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Fog does not scare me one bit.  What scares the heck out of me is other boaters in the fog.  There's been countless times when I've been on the water in heavy fog and heard boats running at high speed.  I don't go anywhere near the main river channel in the fog.  I've been known to fish with my air horn in my back pocket on foggy mornings.  There's some crazy people out there.