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

[cyclops2]

Cold water temperatures & less strong sunlight at winter Solstice  moves  my fish to mid day feeding.  Many local fish hang around a underground spring more often.

[Bird]

My biggest fish came in the dog days of August in the middle of the day, go figure. 

Morning top water in warmer months has always been effective and migrate to more finesse fishing in afternoon if the bite slows. 

Overall , bass fishing is similar to deer hunting where morning and evenings are better. Imo

BUT, in colder water temps I prefer afternoons and sunshine.....for me and the fish. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[txchaser]

I don't have data, just a pile of anecdotes. But mid-day if it is overcast has a pretty high concentration of bigger fish for me. And late day if sunny. A while back I stopped getting up early enough to be on the water at daylight because while I was catching fish, I wasn't catching anything with heft.

 

[RDB]

IMO, most people catch more fish morning and evening because most fishermen are bank beaters and as a general rule, those are the times when fish are more likely to pull up to feed.  Often you can relocate if you pull back.  If they have pulled up on a point in 1-5’ of water, they may pull out to 10’ on the same point.  If they pull up on a ledge flat, they may pull off the ledge and suspend (especially in the winter).  Some of my best days have been when I have found them grouped up later in the day.  Finding the juice just off those early morning feeding spots can be gold.

[Munkin]

I have caught big fish (For Maryland) at all times of the day. For some unknown reason March and August are the months I seem to catch my biggest fish. March I can understand but August I can't figure out.

 

Allen

[WRB]

You need to put Doug Hannon in context to where he fished, small isolated Florida lakes. These lakes are not reservoirs, they are natural lakes with Florida bass populations that Doug understood well. 

Applying Hannon's knowledge to deep structure highland impoundments doesn’t work. I know because I tried Hannon's tactics where I fish with little success. This doesn’t mean Hannon’s skills were in affective they simply didn’t apply to the lakes I fished. 

[Captain Phil]

I spent my entire life getting up before the sun to go fishing because I thought fishing early was more productive.  When I started fishing bass tournaments in the seventies, I had no choice but to fish all day.  I discovered that the time of the day or night has nothing to do with when a bass will bite.   You have to adjust your technique to the time of day. The top water bite is normally better in the morning and evening.  A bass will move farther to your bait when the sun is low.  By 9-10 AM, the fish are positioned differently.  They hold tighter to the cover.  This puts them under pads, deep in weed beds or around docks.  These days, I don't get on the water until 8 AM at the earliest.  I have always caught my biggest bass between 11 AM and 2 PM.  Night fishing is all about sound and vibration. 

 

I am starting to doubt that the line you use has any effect on bass.  People catch bass these days on some of the most awful ugly braided line they make.  Line colors are all over the rainbow.  I use mono, braid and fluorocarbon line and I don't see any discernible difference in productivity.  If you have confidence in the line you use, you will catch more fish with that line.   What do the bass think?  They don't....

 

I enjoyed Doug Hannon's videos, but he was fishing in a different time and place.  Most of his bass fishing was done in remote isolated lakes in the Ocala National Forest.  That is a completely different environment than a lake with hundreds of bass fisherman running around all day.  Bass adapt to that environment and become much harder to catch.    

[Bankbeater]

About 90% of my fishing trips are between sunup and noon.  Most of my bigger fish have been caught during that time.

[TnRiver46]

On 12/21/2021 at 11:37 PM, jbsoonerfan said:

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.

I like getting there at sunrise because you can’t fish all day if you don’t start in the morning 

[huZZah]

The only time I haven’t caught big bass (or much of anything) during the day is summer. It’s just too hot for them and me. 
 

But I got a 5+ just yesterday on a lipless crank at 12pm.  Got several more dinks after that. 

[CrashVector]

I mostly fish during the day from about 10am -3 or 4pm and I catch plenty.

 

 

[jcjunior]

Most of my big bass (over 5lbs) have been caught between 12pm-5pm. With that being said, fish when you can because you can’t catch them on the couch

[TnRiver46]

Let’s address the real problem with catching fish from 10am-3pm………..

 

work!!

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Let’s address the real problem with catching fish from 10am-3pm………..

 

work!!

I do not know of this 'work' you speak of.

 

(happily retired)

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, MN Fisher said:

I do not know of this 'work' you speak of.

 

(happily retired)

It was that thing keeping you from catching big midday fish from the 80s until y2k hahaha

[bowhunter63]

Billy Westmorland caught some huge Smallies on a Yellow hair jig . 

[cyclops2]

I know when to switch from Rapalas to   MEAT !!    ?

 

Protein ALWAYS produces.

[Chris Catignani]

 

13 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Billy Westmorland caught some huge Smallies on a Yellow hair jig . 

Its real popular in Celina....School Bus yellow.

 

[Koz]

I will say that when I was fishing lagoons that the overwhelming majority of the 5+ pound bass I caught were between 11 am and 2 pm. Dead times were 5 am to 9 am and 2 pm to 4 pm. I rarely caught bass of any size during those times.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Did you see the video on the “ old school fishing videos “ channel on youtube?

Doug Hannon was one of the first people I ever heard disputing the whole fish don’t have eyelids , so they hide in the shade thing. 

[slonezp]

PB was caught in the morning. I've caught plenty of 5lb+ bass between 10-2. Part of it might be targeting shade. Early morning and early evening, fish might be more likely to be cruising rather than hiding from the sun.

[Diggy]

Caught....Or Lost

I lost a 5+ when it jumped today, it was around 3pm. The hook didn't penetrate the plastic all the way, smh. Expletives flew out of my mouth and I had to look around after out of embarrassment 

[WRB]

Having been blessed to catch a lot DD bass over a 65 year time period a low % were caught between 10A to 3P. The exception is big swimbait bass that prefer mid day time period. I use my jigs, worms, crankbaits and rat wake baits early and late. When we had trout plants I would break out the trout swimbaits for the mid day bite period if the weather was mild blue bird conditions, light breeze.

The advantage of early and late low light periods during light rain or windy weather reduces boat traffic to hardcore anglers.

Bass anglers in general think of top water lures early morning and faster moving/lures. I think of crawdads and jigs replicate them when they are out and about in low light.

If you target numbers of bass I agree the mid day time period is better.

Tom

[basscrusher]

I read an interview with Hannon where he seemed to clarify his stats.  The interview was much later...late 1990s or perhaps early 2000s?  Anyway, he referenced those stats again about most of Florida's double digit bass coming between 10 and 2 (according to the anecdotal comments given by the anglers applying for the trophy program).  Hannon said very simply that it was because that's when most people are on the water (the early birds who were still out there, plus the late starters, the fair weather anglers, etc).  In other words, that when most fish were caught because that's when most people were fishing.   I can tell you for sure this is how almost any statistician (or anyone who uses statistical analysis as part of their job) would look at it, at least at first glance, before a deeper disaggregation of the data.

[scaleface]

I dont know at what time I catch the most big bass . I do like to get to the lake at sun up and beat everybody else there .