How many of you, Fish like this?

[Worm Man 2020]

Gentlemen and Ladies, Hope I'm talking general bass topic.. It's about fishing.How do the people on this site address these: Please include what lures, depth, time of day, how you fish (fast,medium, slow) and anything else. Or nothing?

Barometric Pressure: Chance time of fishing, day planner (What day you prefer), and lures/presentations/Speed on retrieves 

Full Moon: ?

New Moon: ?

Waxing Moon: Position / Time moon is raising towards full moon? (fish early) Morning ?

Waning Moon: Position / Time  moon is lowering from full moon? (fish late) late evening or night fishing ?

Maybe some of the more experienced anglers/members, could shine some light on this topic? I'm hoping to get better understanding of Bass habits and travel plans. Shallow fishing v/s deeper fishing to adjust for all the above? What's you'll take on lake/river water turn-over,  season/time, when water gets 39 degrees it's denser, bottom decaying material rises, mixing and pushing the thermo layer (warm area) causing turn-over.

Gene and Glenn your tutorials rule !!!!!! Thanks in advance. Any and all options would be appreciated, Can't Fish, to cold to learn on water, let's learn from each other !!!!!!

[scaleface]

I pay no attention to the moon except I prefer to night fish on a full moon .

[Worm Man 2020]

Scaleface, thanks for your input, barometric pressure, like storm fronts make difference in your fishing?

[scaleface]

I approach cloudy days differently than sunny days .Cloudy days will see more top waters and shallower baits and sunny days will see more deep structure fishing . High pressure after a storm  can be tough , I'll often rely on the depth finder to find how deep the most fish are and start from there . No matter what the pressure I keep eliminating water and hopefully figure them out . 

 

 All anglers have tough days , some will call it quits and chalk it up to the fish were not biting . Some  anglers dont get discouraged and are determined to keep trying until they have success . Except in high , cold , muddy water I always think fish can be caught . 

[MFBAB]

As far as the moon part, I think it is really important around the spawn.  Other than that, I've never been able to find any sort of meaningful pattern regarding the moon phases or solunar periods, but not for lack of trying. 

Pretty much the same goes for the barometer. 

I prefer fishing in lower light (early, late, or cloudy), stained water, at least some wind (more the better), reasonable water temps, basically I prefer fishing in conditions that allow for better odds on moving baits or power fishing presentations.

The conditions I described above are more forgiving than the opposite: Bright Light, Clear Water, No Wind, ultra cold or hot water.  These conditions will probably dictate a total 180 on the bait selection.  These conditions are heavy on the finesse end of the scale, and would dictate smaller more realistic baits, lighter lines, longer casts, slower presentations and generally more stealth required, at least as a starting point, perhaps even deadsticking.  It is also worth a try to experiment with heavy but compact baits in this scenario, baits that look like finesse baits, but are heavy enough to be cast a long way and worked fast can sometimes generate reaction strikes and still allow you to cover some water (Tail Spinners, KVD Rocket Shad Spinnerbait, heavy Jigs with finesse trailers, etc). 

Most of the time the conditions you find are a mixture of these 2 examples, but the point is, you need to evaluate at least all of the variables mentioned above each time you go.  If you rig up Big Jigs, Spinnerbaits and Squarebills the night before, expecting the breezy, stained water conditions that favor those baits, but you get to the lake and find falling water with less stain than you want and no wind, you better start re-rigging and re-evaluating your game plan or you're about to waste some time-regardless of the barometer reading or the moon phase  

I think probably the first thing I want to look at is the water color (the clearer the deeper, the dirtier the shallower), then second, is the wind blowing (the windier the shallower, the calmer the deeper).  I won't say my mind's totally made up after observing those 2 things, but every other decision on how to proceed is secondary.  There is a percentage move for every condition you might encounter, the trick is being consistent and making all of the observations all of the time-and being flexible. If things aren't working, you need to make changes, but they need to be made based on the conditions, using logic.  You can have all of those power fishing conditions going for you, but if you didn't notice that the water is falling, that can destroy a shallow water bite faster than anything else I know of, and it's an easy one to miss! 

Every day of fishing is an opportunity to learn something, whether you catch them or not, try to take something away from it, and write it down! Keeping a fishing journal is one of the best things you can do, because it forces you to evaluate yourself, but more importantly, it forces you to evaluate the conditions from each trip.  This is where trends start to emerge and a lot of the mysteries start to get solved. 

[Bluebasser86]

When I have the chance to go fishing, I go, that's how I address the different moon phases and pressure systems. Only thing I've ever noticed, I hate fishing about 2 days before to two days after the full moon, almost always stinks for me. The only exception to that rule is, I seem to manage to catch a big fish or two if I grind it out. I hate night fishing with a full moon, almost always slow for me. 

[Bankbeater]

I can only get out on the water about once a week, usually on the weekends.  I go regardless of the moon.

[BassinLou]

I adjust to the conditions presented to me. Just this past weekend, we had big cold front blow through and had full moon. Still managed a  couple of decent fish, but I had to adjust my presentation. For the most part, when I mean adjust my presentation, I mean I had to slow down my approach. Yesterday for example I landed a 5lb+, using a bitsy jig. Fished it slow and methodically along the bottom. 

[Scott F]

What is it about the different moon phases that could possibly affect fresh water bass? Gravity? The combination of the sun and the moon causes the tides in oceans, but fresh water lakes are far too small to have tides. Your boat has more gravitational pull on a bass than the moon does. Light? If you fish during the day, the moon is generally not visible. How could the moon change how fish behave?

[herbu]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

When I have the chance to go fishing, I go

Exactly.  If you're really serious about a database with all the parameters/rules, make a spreadsheet.  Log all those parameters, along w/ your result, every time you go.  But if you wait for all the conditions to align, you'll miss a bunch of fishing.

[Catt]

Ya kidding right!

There aint no way to properly answers those questions in one post!

Some of us have 50 plus years experience & are still working on those questions!

I can tell y'all 

The best time to go fishing is anytime ya can go fishing!

They bite the best the day before ya get there & the day after ya leave!

[MDBowHunter]

I fish pretty much every weekend regardless of all that bullcrap, and I haven't been skunked for a while now. So I feel if you got the chance to fish go, if your gonna wait for a perfect day on paper you'd only fish a few days out of the summer. Also for some of us it's just about getting out and enjoying the day regardless of the number of fish caught. Some of my best days fishing were days when only one fish was caught, but the company I had and the enjoyable day we had made it one for the books.

[Catch 22]

6 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 I hate fishing about 2 days before to two days after the full moon, almost always stinks for me.

Can`t believe you said that. I have always said and experienced the very same thing.

Of course there are no absolutes in fishing.

C22

[Raul]

1 hour ago, Scott F said:

What is it about the different moon phases that could possibly affect fresh water bass? Gravity? The combination of the sun and the moon causes the tides in oceans, but fresh water lakes are far too small to have tides. Your boat has more gravitational pull on a bass than the moon does. Light? If you fish during the day, the moon is generally not visible. How could the moon change how fish behave?

Because it continues to generate cosmic rays that penetrate and bind us together ...... Pretty much like "The Force" ..... If you were a Jedi you would be able to control it.

[Worm Man 2020]

Wow, Great Stuff !

I don't fish weekends in lakes around here, only every weekday for around 5 months. I go to South Carolina to some Big lakes on weekends to nail the stuff, I've learned on the weekdays up in my area.

I'm not a scientist, really just trying to learn better boat positioning and on weekends in D.C. area the boat positioning is NOTHING to due with fishing, it's avoiding the other boaters, kayaks, and the folks: that only have, that ONE DAY, for the nature trail/escape from real world, Mentality "Oh my god, I'm out,. AKA: YOUR IN MY WAY. I don't even care if I skunk fishing, haven't yet. I want my lure, worm or whatever I'm throwing back.I'm checking out the geese, deer, lake and the quite...while tying knots, becoming on with nature.              The Force? Really,Man, I need to go fishing with you, You don't even need fishing equipment, I'd like to ****** to pebble from your hand, Grass-Hopper... lol

My force can't even,place that little tiny bug thingy in the 10% fish in 90% water thing, right. Really appreciate all of ya'll opinion even the funny ones, I too, have sense of humor,

[Team9nine]

I once worried about all the little intricate details, but no more. That said, I'm sure with just a little bit of effort online you'll be able to track down some experts who can give you detailed theories on all those things you mention. Now days, I side with Buck in my approach to fishing, who wrote;

"It appears to me a fisherman should realize there are so many variables in so many things, that on any given day (much less over a period of time), any one particular variable would play a very minor role in the overall picture of catching a fish.

...What was present or true yesterday, may not be true today or tomorrow...it would be a sad state of affairs, if you and I had a different set of rules to follow every time we went to a different body of water, under different weather and water conditions, or when seeking a different species of fish."

[Nitrofreak]

I have learned from these guys and gals that it's more important, far more important, to let the fish tell you what they want and fish accordingly no matter the phase, if they are all suspended, use your experience to fish that way or at least learn as much as you can from that, it is far better to gather your experience from such a day and post your questions with as much useful information as you can offer, in turn you get informative and useful advise that you can apply toward your next outing and you are also able to give back to others, fishing is complicated enough, in it's simplistic way LOL !! 

[the reel ess]

I go whenever I can regardless of barometric pressure, moon phase or even when my very knowledgeable fishing buddy says "they ain't bitin'" and I try to attack it from top to bottom every time, except in cold water. Also if I go in the middle of the day, I won't start with topwater. If I go late, I'll end up with topwater.

In winter, bass won't chase a topwater so then I concentrate on the bottom-to-middle.

[corn-on-the-rob]

5 hours ago, Scott F said:

What is it about the different moon phases that could possibly affect fresh water bass? Gravity? The combination of the sun and the moon causes the tides in oceans, but fresh water lakes are far too small to have tides. Your boat has more gravitational pull on a bass than the moon does. Light? If you fish during the day, the moon is generally not visible. How could the moon change how fish behave?

The more full the moon phase, the greater the light, the more active crawfish/baitfish, the more active bass. That being said, if it is cloudy it will have less of an impact but if there is more light to see bait at night, they will take advantage of it. Just because we may not notice an increase in light if the moon is bright but pretty covered up, for nighttime feeders with sensitive eyes, I'm sure it can make a difference.

Many fish including bass seem to utilize this same affect when spawning as well, many people will relate fish moving onto beds with a full moon. If I recall correctly, baitfish and crawfish also spawn around full-moons multiple times throughout the year.

So knowing that bass were really active over night, you can take advantage of a potentially very active morning bite while they are still active. Conversely, if they are focusing their feeding efforts during night because it gives them the best opportunity, they may be less active during the day while they wait for nightfall, so really slowing down and understanding they may not be very active can be very advantageous.

If you time it right with a crawfish spawn or molt, a craw bait fished shallow can be lights out.

[Scott F]

Studies have already show there is no connection between lunar cycles and spawning bass. 

As was posted recently on another thread, one specie of crayfish, under artificial conditions, peak molting activity happened under the new moon phase but no connections have been made between their spawning and lunar cycles. 

[Robert Riley]

I like to think I understand most of this stuff, but I also fish whenever I want, it's more about getting off campus than anything else. I will address these components around tournament day or if I'm planning a trip.

I've definitely heard " Studies have already show there is no connection between lunar cycles and spawning bass " before. I think it's more of a light level and pressure level thing instead of a lunar phase thing. I have however 100% noticed that muskie turn on almost immediately as major/minor periods come into effect, and it drops off about the time the period expires. But that's a completely different species. 

[Ratherbfishing]

Someday, if I find I have more time than money, I might pay attention to this stuff-though my brain can only handle so much before it blows its 2.5 amp fuse.  Until then, I fish when I can.  Only exception-i seldom bother to fish after a major cold front.

[corn-on-the-rob]

2 hours ago, Scott F said:

Studies have already show there is no connection between lunar cycles and spawning bass. 

As was posted recently on another thread, one specie of crayfish, under artificial conditions, peak molting activity happened under the new moon phase but no connections have been made between their spawning and lunar cycles. 

Okay, very cool. I guess I have not been very up to date on my information, thanks for clearing that up.

I still believe that when the moonlight is significant, they do utilize it to feed on more active and visible bait. Although anecdotal my experience has correlated with these cycles enough times to make me consider its impact.

[A-Jay]

As mentioned above, I go when I can regardless of "The Conditions".

Additionally, I believe that it can pay off in the long run to mentally record many of these "details".

That way, when I can only manage a day full of Dinks or even dance with the Skunk - I have plenty of "Factors" to blame it on.

A-Jay

 

[Scott F]

When studies were done looking at human behavior during a full moon there was no connection made that people are crazier when the moon is full. Cops and hospital workers repeat that things get crazy during a full moon. They see stuff, look up, see the full moon and say must be because of the moon. Other times, when crazy stuff happens, they make no connections.. I think the same thing happens with fishermen. They have a good day, see its around the time of the full moon and it reinforces the myth. Other times, if they have a good day, it doesn't make any connection so they forget about it. They just figure they are good fishermen.