most big bass caught during brightest part of day, 10am to 3pm? doug hannon video

[fishhugger]

it's an hour long 1985 video, "doug hannon the bass professor", that i found on youtube. at about 15minutes, he begins talking about seeing colors, how night hunters don't need color vision (owls) but that bass have excellent color vision... so they have evolved as day light hunters - he says. he advises that bass don't strike during the day light hours because they might be able to see flaws in the presentation easier.  his own records indicate big bass are mostly caught in the middle of the day.... (uh,... when i rarely fish....lol)

 

at about 20 minutes, and a little before, he talks about the bass hearing vs lateral line... interesting....

 

so does anyone here try to fish for bass in the bright daylight hours? 

[WRB]

I have caught a lot of big bass at all hours night and day.

I believe the most anglers catching teeners (bass weighing in the teens) are bed fisherman and the sun overhead gives the angers a clearer view into the water.

As far as giant bass over 15 lbs, a rare bass anywhere, I haven’t caught a non bed fish during the high sun periods.

All my giants listed were pre spawn bass caught before 10AM under low light conditions on jigs.

Tom

 

[king fisher]

     Dough Hannon also wrote an article in the late 70's stating that bass were repelled by the color yellow, and attracted to the color green.  Of course I believed him.  After all he was the bass professor.  It didn't matter that my PB was caught on a yellow lure.  I quit using yellow after reading the article.  I told my friend I fished with he shouldn't throw his favorite yellow spinnerbait because the bass professor had done extensive studies proving bass didn't like yellow.  My friend just kept catching fish with his yellow lure, while I remained skunked.  Every time he caught another bass he would tell the bass to read more about fish and quite biting lures he wasn't supposed to bite.  He said Hannon could fish with him any time.

         Even to this day when picking out chartreuse lures I try to get ones with more green than yellow in them.  I simply can't get that article completely out of my mind.  

       I'm not saying that Dough Hannon wasn't one of the most knowledgeable bass fisherman ever, or that I know even a fraction of what he learned.  I am saying, I wouldn't believe everything he  said.  My biggest bass have come at all times of day, and all moon cycles, and my friend still catches bass on yellow lures.

       

[MN Fisher]

Caught at 10:30 am

 

Caught at 11:28 am

 

Ya - I fish when I can, don't pay attention to those who say "gotta fish at these times to catch them".

[Bird]

When I set out to fish, it's usually all day regardless of moon phases, solar eclipse , blue bird skies or whatever. 

 

BUT my biggest bass to date was actually in the middle of the day on a culprit worm. 

[jbsoonerfan]

I ALWAYS thought you had to be there when the sun came up to catch fish. I have heard about light refraction, angle of the sun, etc. but in my experience I have had a lot of success when the sun had been up for about two hours till through the next 3 or four hours. Depending on the time of the year, this could be 8-12 or whatever the case may be. I know for a fact I caught more fish closer to noon than I did closer to sunrise last year and I spent about 120 days on the water, most of the time arriving before daylight.

[Bluebasser86]

Of my top 5 biggest fish this year, only 1 was caught after 8am. 2 of those before 8am were caught in January before it had even thought about starting to warm up for the day. 

 

I like to catch them whenever they'll bite. 

[ironbjorn]

My best fishing has always been in the heat of the summer in the middle of the day. ?‍♂️ I don't pay much attention to the books anymore.

[ironbjorn]

2 hours ago, king fisher said:

     Dough Hannon also wrote an article in the late 70's stating that bass were repelled by the color yellow, and attracted to the color green.  Of course I believed him.  After all he was the bass professor.  It didn't matter that my PB was caught on a yellow lure.  I quit using yellow after reading the article.  I told my friend I fished with he shouldn't throw his favorite yellow spinnerbait because the bass professor had done extensive studies proving bass didn't like yellow.  My friend just kept catching fish with his yellow lure, while I remained skunked.  Every time he caught another bass he would tell the bass to read more about fish and quite biting lures he wasn't supposed to bite.  He said Hannon could fish with him any time.

         Even to this day when picking out chartreuse lures I try to get ones with more green than yellow in them.  I simply can't get that article completely out of my mind.  

       I'm not saying that Dough Hannon wasn't one of the most knowledgeable bass fisherman ever, or that I know even a fraction of what he learned.  I am saying, I wouldn't believe everything he  said.  My biggest bass have come at all times of day, and all moon cycles, and my friend still catches bass on yellow lures.

       

I'm watching the video in the OP right now. He is very against yellow line and very for green lines (about the 15 minute mark). It made me think of this post (I had read the thread before starting the video). Are you sure this isn't what you saw? And it showed him using a yellow spinnerbait.

[LrgmouthShad]

9 hours ago, king fisher said:

I quit using yellow after reading the article.  I told my friend I fished with he shouldn't throw his favorite yellow spinnerbait because the bass professor had done extensive studies proving bass didn't like yellow

I did okay on a yellow and black spinnerbait yesterday. Seem to remember this being one of your previous favorite colors?

[BrianMDTX]

I catch more bass on topwaters in early morning without question. But looking back, I’ve probably had better catches between 10:00-1:00 than any other time of day. Time stamps on phone pics tell the tale. 

[Catt]

Our understanding of bass behavior has changed a lot since the late 70s - 80s.

 

I'm kinda like everyone else, I've caught em morning, noon, evening, & at night. 

 

Can't catch em if ya ain't on the water!

[A-Jay]

Morning 

Noon

And right before dark

A-Jay

 

[Spankey]

All my bigger bass I believe were caught between 4:45am and 8:00am.  Bigger in being relative to other parts of the country. But this is my favorite time in being out. 
 

I’ve caught bass @ 10:00, 12:00, 2:00 & 3:00 but my most memorable didn’t occur during those hours. 
 

Some nice river smallies between 7:30-8:30 pm before sundown also. 
 

Probably truth to the video, most likely my approach. 

[Diggy]

I believe Butch Brown said something similar about his swimbait catches

[Team9nine]

11 hours ago, fishhugger said:

so does anyone here try to fish for bass in the bright daylight hours? 

It’s the only time I fish  Hundreds of trips and thousands of bass these past many years, and not a single one before Noon…I don’t do mornings.

[king fisher]

8 hours ago, ironbjorn said:

I'm watching the video in the OP right now. He is very against yellow line and very for green lines (about the 15 minute mark). It made me think of this post (I had read the thread before starting the video). Are you sure this isn't what you saw? And it showed him using a yellow spinnerbait.

     The article I was referring to was written in 1977, long before he made any videos, and he definitely said that his studies indicated, bass were repelled by the color yellow, and attracted to the color green.  He recommended against using yellow lures.  At the time my favorite lure was a black and yellow spinnerbait that I had caught my PB on.  He might have changed his opinion by the time he made the video.                                                                                                                                                  I was young, impressionable, and believed everything I read.  My friend didn't like to read, and was gifted with the ability to observe nature in a way that made him a natural outdoorsman.  He would notice things while fishing and hunting that just passed by me.  I thought I could learn everything by reading about bass fishing by experts such as the Bass Professor, and he thought he could learn how to bass simply by fishing and paying attention to what the water, and bass were telling him.

      He still uses the same old lures, including his yellow spinnerbait, and yellow Heddon Sonic, and he still makes fun of all my expensive gear, and what he calls fancy book learning.  I cherish the days I out fish him, because they are very rare. 

     It took many years, but I no longer take as gospel everything that is written in a magazine article about fishing.  After all, now I  have the internet, and if it is on the internet, it has to be true.

      

[Johnbt]

"Can't catch em if ya ain't on the water!"

 

So true. The best advice I ever received, back in the '70s:

 

Me - When's the best time to fish?

Them - When you can.

 

Second best, also in the '70s and about bass fishing:

 

Me - What's the best color?

Them - Chartreuse. And black for worms.

[cyclops2]

Schooling fish in tiny creeks q1uickly learn not to bite what just pulled Harry out from under a big tree root.  Sunfish to be exact.

The GREAT Mepps would catch the first one on the first cast. 2nd guy took 3 or more casts.  NOTHING after 2  C & R .  They do sound the alarm. With C & R in a area.

Anybody else want a OOWWWWWWWWWWWW  ?

 

   Best time has been 1 hour  after sundown and 1 hour before sunrise.  All else is random conditions.

 

At 84 guess who does not fish early mornings ?.

[Catt]

I'm often asked if I catch more at night, my answer is IDK I don't fish as often during the day!

[contium]

The vast majority of my large bass catches have been at night. Unfortunately, here in Southern California, we don't have much opportunity to fish from boats at night. 

 

As far as colors go, bass see red and green. Yellow looks white/gray to them. I see a lot of problems with Doug Hannan's statements from way back.

[ironbjorn]

1 hour ago, Catt said:

I'm often asked if I catch more at night, my answer is IDK I don't fish as often during the day!

My senses are still too caveman to fish at night. I freak the f out and ready myself to destroy the branch that rustled. I haven't evolved.

[gim]

Most of my big fish in recent memory have come in the morning or evening because that is when I spend the majority of my time fishing.  I don't usually fish during the middle of the day because its usually too hot and the sun is beating down on me.

 

Given the right conditions, like right before or during a low pressure front, the middle of the day would likely be very productive.

 

Just my personal experience.

[thediscochef]

19 hours ago, fishhugger said:

it's an hour long 1985 video, "doug hannon the bass professor", that i found on youtube. at about 15minutes, he begins talking about seeing colors, how night hunters don't need color vision (owls) but that bass have excellent color vision... so they have evolved as day light hunters - he says. he advises that bass don't strike during the day light hours because they might be able to see flaws in the presentation easier.  his own records indicate big bass are mostly caught in the middle of the day.... (uh,... when i rarely fish....lol)

 

at about 20 minutes, and a little before, he talks about the bass hearing vs lateral line... interesting....

 

so does anyone here try to fish for bass in the bright daylight hours? 

Yes

 

This is especially true for big catfish and gar, too in my experiences this year. My philosophy for cat spawn this summer was "no monsters before 10am". I theorize that this is in relation to the chaos of morning feeding.

 

[T-Billy]

Midday is only the best time during the cold water seasons in my experience. 10-3 is primetime when the water gets into the 40's and below, especially if it's sunny. I look for shallow wood on a clay bottom with deeper water nearby.