Sunny side or shady?

[FishingMN]

When flipping a jig or t-rig on the outer weed edge of norther lakes for LMB, is the east or west side of the lake going to be better in the morning?  How about in the evening?

[riverbasser]

I have no real evidence for what is better but I always like the sun in the morning and shade the rest of the day. When it comes to weeds though sun might not be the as big a factor as say wind. I will be watching for others opinions on this.

[Dschouest42]

I have found that the windward side along weedlines and cover is effective. Mainly because I think the disturbances and the possible effect on current can move baitfish and forage around that side.

[papajoe222]

If shade were the only factor to consider, the northeast side of the lake would offer shade longer. That shade would position fish facing out (west). With other contributing factors being unknown, I'd concentrate on the east side, not only because of shade, but the wind is out of the west, or southwest most often.

[Fish the Mitt]

My thought...Imho

Morning = Stick with the east as long as there is shade. Once the sun hits the water, there's chances they'll move off the edge into deeper water, so the east provides a longer fish window. 

 

Evening = West first, then east. The west will shade first so hit that evening bite there. Once done, dependant on time, go to the east and work the new shade there.

[JigMaster4]

East side should have more shade in the morning because the sun rises in the east.

[Catt]

7 hours ago, FishingMN said:

When flipping a jig or t-rig on the outer weed edge of norther lakes for LMB, is the east or west side of the lake going to be better in the morning?  How about in the evening?

Shade given off by grass will mostly be under it!

When flipping/pitching/punching grass I start at the outer grass line & work inward regardless of where the sun is.

Do we ignore the northern & southern shorelines?

[Fish the Mitt]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

Do we ignore the northern & southern shorelines?

I was going to mention this too.  I rarely position myself in accordance to the sun. However, if I did, it'd be like above.

[Fishes in trees]

I think that the edge of the shade line is a decent place to throw a bait no matter what time of day.   I try to be aware of "shade pockets", where objects beneath the water create spaces of shade.   For instance, a horizontal branch coming out of a tree trunk 5 or 6 feet underwater will create a shade pocket.   Say you have a soft spot in a shallow flat, where vegetation grows to the surface, but harder bottom all around, where vegetation doesn't grow as well.   That will create a shade pocket.   I have modest success fishing these areas.   I think that I"ll do better fishing these areas as I become more intuitive about how to approach these areas and get better at making my first cast count.   

Unless it is totally cloudy, any given area could have dozens (or hundreds) of shade pockets.  Learning to differentiate these into high probability and low probability site is a work in progress.   Another work in progress is how deep do you you have to be before shade pockets aren't a factor?  I'm pretty sure that water clarity figures into this.   Most of the water that I fish have secchi disc readings of between 3.5 and 6 feet - which translates into 7 to 12 feet visibility more or less.

Next - another thing I'm working on is which cover ( of all the available cover in a particular piece of water) is most favored by prey species.

Predators will sacrifice comfort for dinner.    All of this is ongoing, but it is stuff to think about while I'm fishing - moreso while I'm driving toward fishing.

[gim]

In the heat of summer, I always try to target shade.  Think about it.  Would you be out in the hot sun baking or would you rather be in some shade where its up to 10 degrees cooler?  The sun rises in the east so the eastward facing areas will be hotter and thus you would want to target westward facing areas that are shaded.  Later in the day, the opposite is true.  Obviously there are other factors at play like wind, overcast, depth, etc

[J Francho]

I consider wind or breeze before I consider sunny or shade.  Though I do try to avoid fishing with my back to the sun, so my bait doesn't cast a shadow before it gets there.

[FishingMN]

Thanks all.  So shaded and windblown would be the best place to start, if everything else is equal.

[WRB]

Northern lakes without threadfin shad.....hmmmmm lets me think this through, the sun raises in the east moves overhead and sets in the west. More shade on the eastern side of the lake in the morning, more shade on the western side in the evening, south and north shores more sun all day. 

If there is a early morning shade bite it will last longer on the east facing banks and shorter in the afternoon. Since our lakes are in deep steep canyons the shade can last until around 9A on the eastern facing banks so that is where I would start if there is a shade bite. Afternoon bites are almost always on wind blown banks regardless of shade or not. What happens if it's overcast? Or fishing off shore structure?

Tom