The Best Time of Day

[roadwarrior]

I noticed that the poll on the Home Page is "What is the best time of day for bass fishing during the hot days of summer?" With 1161 respones, only 7% said mid-day.

Hmm...

This has been an ongoing topic in a variety of threads. Perhaps for most fishermen (45% of respondants to the poll), morning seems like the easiest time to fish, but is it really the most productive? I like to fish in the middle of the day because that is when I have been most successful catching big bass. If numbers were the criteria, I would think fishing at night might be best. The chances of catching better weights, especially for smallmouth bass fisherman, would seem to be in your favor after the sun goes down.

What are your thoughts?

[carySE406]

I think more people chose morning because the question was "what is the best time to bass fish" not "what is the best time to catch bass".  More people probably can and will fish in the morning of hot days opposed to the heat of the day or the late night.  But as for catching bigger fish at mid-day, the biggest fish I've ever caught was at 1:00 in the afternoon and it was almost 90 degrees.

 

 

[knkfiend]

i agree that mid day is the time to catch big fish, ive just now learned that this season. my first 4+ fish came on memorial day at 1:00. it was HAWT. my second came about 2 weeks ago ~11:00, and i just got my new personal best at 1:30! i fell that the morning is easier to fish, and it just seems like thats the time to go, but lately ive been doing the mid day thing and im catching less but bigger fish.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

So the question either had to do with comfort/convenience or efficiency. Mornings are by far the most comfortable and convenient for me, catching the tail end of prime bass feeding. But the best catching for me has been between an hour before dusk and around 8 am. The next best time is high sun, usually 11-1 pm, a time in summer when large bass concentrate around ideal structure or cover, mostly deep but can be located and caught. My largest bass came around noon in central Florida, my largest daytime stringer from the Arkansas River between tournament launch time at 9 am (fog delay) and 2 pm. But the most large bass in any one day consistently has been at night when it seems all the bass in a lake move shallow to gorge.

Jim

[5bass]

Good topic RW.

During mid-day when the sun gets up is actually a great time to fish,providing you have plenty of cover that will create shade.The sun positions the fish in a way that they are easy to locate.Be sure that you cast to the shade that an object makes,not the actual object.Say you have a log sticking out of the water,the fish will be in the shade that the log creates,not necessarily right beside it like you would think.Depending on the suns angle,that log sticking up could create a length of shade twice as long as the log.The fish get in that shade and wait there,they think they are hidden in the shade.....a perfect ambush point for them.

[Randall]

Fish all day then you will know you are there at the best time. All lakes are different though. On some I catch more and bigger fish early on some its later.

[el_jewapo]

I've caught some big bass in the heat of the day. 90% of my fishing is done when I get off work at 4:30-dark. I have had good success with catching some of my bigger bass in deeper water when I first arive at the lake before the temps start to cool down. I haven't caught many big bass in the early AM.

[cart7t]

Best times for me and big bass?

Pre-dawn, that hour or two before dawn breaks. My favorite time to be on the water because few people like to break out of a nice sleep to catch that time of day.

Dusk to an hour or so after dusk.  My second favorite time.

Midday.  From around 11 till 2 or 3 in the afternoon has been another good time.  If I'm staying at the lake, I'll come in around 8 or 9, eat, snooze and then go back out to try the midday bite.

My success rate fishing past 10-11 pm hasn't been great. I'll normally tie off the boat and catch a nap when night fishing.  The mid-morning and late afternoon bite usually isn't worth staying on the water for.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

Cart, I figure 99% of the time you and I would be found launching and loading at the same time.

Jim

[cart7t]

Cart, I figure 99% of the time you and I would be found launching and loading at the same time.

Jim

Ask me that question 10 or more years ago and the answer would be different. Unfortunately age and body aches and pains has a way of dictating just exactly when and how much time I spend on the water.  

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

It does get tougher    Well, we choose the same times to fish I suppose mostly out of experience fishing through the tough low production hours too many years and maybe will grow older about the same pace. Winter fishing is getting a lot tougher, sometimes getting so stiff I can't get out of the boat. I might turn to hunting in winter more since I can always bundle up more and not get as wet. I gave up winter fishing at night a decade ago, not because of pain, but the line guides freezing over and lap getting soaked from a wet reel. I've fallen off from my usual 120-150 trips a year on Ouachita, partly from several surgeries this year, and a month of dizziness from a medication conflict. It ain't fun going past age 50, but that's better than the alternative.

Jim

[Siebert Outdoors]

I think it does get alot tougher in mid day and it gets alot hotter for the fisherman.  So I think the poll is kinda swayed as when do you fish.  For most of us we probably dont fish all day so the truth cant really be said for sure.  When do I have the best luck.  That would be evening to about 10.  But I dont have alot of time then, so I am stuck fishing more mornings then evenings.

[gcaldwell55]

i am gonna have to disagree with you all am i younger and i have fished since i was six years old for bass with my dad, and the best fishing i get is from 9 oclock at night till bout 3 in the morning i have caught hundreds of bass doing this using buzzbaits or reeling a moss boss very slow  3 feet from shore and rite next to shore. The biggest bass i have caught doing this was just over 8 pounds in iowa .

[langs15]

WEll my pb was at like 3pm and was like 95 degress out...but numbers are earlier or later in the day..

[Guest avid]

I like to fish late afternoons to a little after sunset.  I love to watch the sunset from the lake.  The fish get active around that time, so it's win-win.

[Guest ouachitabassangler]

gcaldwell, you aren't disagreeing with all of us. I wrote above "But the best catching for me has been between an hour before dusk and around 8 am."  Your slot falls inside my slot, only mine stretches out more. You might be missing out on some fantastic fishing, though. Sometimes in the hour just before sunrise a topwater bite can beat all you did all night.

Jim

[j-bass]

I would normally say early morning or late afternoon, but that is not because the fish aren't biting, its because if it is 103F out there. Albeit, about a week ago, I went out mid day............sweatin like a rat at church, but I was catching steady. Whenever the fish are biting, that is the best time.

[Redtail]

I mostly use soft plastics and usually get out around 5:30 A.M. on week ends - I don't know why though because we always do our best between 10:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M.  (Shoulda stayed home and slept)

Lately we have been doing good after 7:00 P.M. also.

On any given day, there always seems to be windows of opportunity and then the window shuts down tight!  I think the fish need to start reading the same books and articles we do!