Your fishing success

[N Florida Mike]

I agree that unless you go, you wont know.

But Ive fished enough slick calm, sunny days to know that most of the time days like that won’t produce as well .

I get that wind velocity keeps some off the water, or makes fishing like you want to next to impossible. But if you are fishing a small water body, or can stay stationary on the windy side of the lake, then it can often produce outstanding results.

I have generally done much better in lower light conditions, but not always. Sometimes everything is just right as you see it, but the fish dont cooperate.

In that case, I attribute the lack of bite to   1. The barometer not being conducive for a good bite.

2. The moon isnt in the best position for a good bite, or…

3. I havent found the fish. or…

4. They want a bait I havent shown them yet. or…

5. Im fishing those baits too fast ( usually the case) , or ( rarely ) too slow , or…

6.  It’s so hot or cold it’s just shut them down.  ( although I usually dont fish these conditions much anymore ). 

 

But the older I get , I’m learning that I can overthink the whole thing, and taking it to an  extreme , rarely go fishing.

Once I get on the water, I dont think about much , except finding the fish , and using a bait they want in a way they want it.

And once Im on the water, I almost never quit until the time I have set aside to fish is up. 
And if they’re biting, there’s always another “ last cast “?.

[TnRiver46]

17 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

None of the above...

Current trumps everything where I fish.

 

Yep. Water speed and fishing pressure at the two limiting factors, even though you and I are 400+ miles apart on the same river 

[Bass Junke]

6 hours ago, Catt said:

Ya forgot water temperatures ?

 

In my opinion your trying to divide what can't be divided. They each have an effect of varying degrees, some are dependent on others. All are constantly changing daily & even hourly.

 

They're all things that are beyond my control, so I deal with they as the arise.

I left out temperatures, specifically water temps, because it affects a fishes metabolism. This isn't opinion or theory, this is science. 

 

I agree with your last 2 statements. I was curious to hear some of the responses, thought we might get more contradictory answers. 

 

Agree with most, none of the six conditions would keep me from fishing. Just bad weather and high winds.

[Catt]

1 hour ago, Bass Junke said:

This isn't opinion or theory, this is science. 

 

Light 

Barometer 

Water Clarity

Wind direction

Fronts

Moon Phase

[BassNJake]

As a former tournament angler you find that no matter the conditions someone is going to win

fishing the same conditions.

 

To become a better tournament angler I focused on situations where locating and catching fish was the most difficult as I felt I had enough skills to compete with the better anglers on days when everyone was catching them.

[Darth-Baiter]

I only check for wind when I fish. I don’t have all the time in the world do what the barometer is going plays very little to if I’m going or not.   Wind.  Big winds, I stay home. 
 

on the CA delta I do check the tides but only to see what’s gonna happen.  Not a go, no go type of situation. 

[Tennessee Boy]

2 hours ago, Bass Junke said:

I left out temperatures, specifically water temps, because it affects a fishes metabolism. This isn't opinion or theory, this is science. 

I agree it is a scientific fact that water temperature affects a fishes metabolism.  How an angler should adjust to this change is open to debate.  It's a good question but I can't put the list in any order.  It varies by body of water and time of year.  Also when something on the list if far from the norm it can be the most important thing to consider.  For example if the water clarity is like chocolate milk then it would be at or near the top of the list.  Like the other Tennesseans have already mentioned,  on reservoirs,  the guy at the dam that controls the current is VERY important.

[king fisher]

For me it depends on the fishery.  One lake wind direction is everything, another it's water clarity.  I couldn't care less about barometric pressure.  Of course a person could argue that a change in barometric pressure is what causes the wind, and the weather responsible for rain, which in turn changes the water clarity.  With that line of reasoning, then obviously barometric pressure would be number one.  If you are simply talking about the pressure itself, not the change in weather resulting from a change in pressure, then like I said I don't care.    Low light depends on the lake and time of year.  One lake has consistent strong afternoon winds, and that is when the bass feed.  Another lake the consistent bite is first and last light, regardless of wind, which is usually unpredictable and light.

      The biggest factor for me right now is a bum shoulder, which has kept me off the water.  I blame that on the moon, placing the moon on top of the list for now.

[MGF]

15 hours ago, BassNJake said:

As a former tournament angler you find that no matter the conditions someone is going to win

fishing the same conditions.

 

To become a better tournament angler I focused on situations where locating and catching fish was the most difficult as I felt I had enough skills to compete with the better anglers on days when everyone was catching them.

I haven't fished a tournament in many years but it changed my fishing. I had always focused on early morning and evening and rarely fished at all in the middle of the day. When I did I caught fish but thought it was some sort of freak occurrence. 

 

Then I started fishing tournaments and it seemed late when we started and early when we quit and the majority of the fishing was during the worst time of day...I thought. But we saw some good action...and I don't shy away from middle of the day fishing anymore.

 

In fact just yesterday I was off work and visited a local public pond. It was a last minute decision and I didn't get there until almost 10 am. In a little more than an hour I caught 7 LMB and a couple of them were pretty good size for that little pond. I caught the two largest and most of the fish on the sunny bank without any real obvious cover or source of shade.

 

The area where I caught the most and biggest is the same area where I always catch the most and biggest. The fish didn't move the short distance to get to the shady bank. I can cast more than half way across the pond in that direction.

 

I know it's just a pond but I found it interesting anyway.

[Catt]

16 minutes ago, MGF said:

I caught the two largest and most of the fish on the sunny bank without any real obvious cover or source of shade.

 

We call it sunning themselves, it's very common to see bass just hanging out in the direct sunlight.

[MGF]

37 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

We call it sunning themselves, it's very common to see bass just hanging out in the direct sunlight.

I'm not sure that's what was going on. They hit near the bottom. I'd guess between 4 and 8 ft. The water is a little dirty from the rain we've had with maybe a foot and a half vis and there is some patchy weed growth.