Summer Fishing Hiatus -- who takes them?

[SirSnookalot]

Weather wise this has been a tough year in south Florida.  Hot and humid with little no morning breeze, flat seas, and the west wind brings the no seeums out real bad, afternoons not much better.

I fish ocean or icw every single morning, but only about 4 hours (summer fishing is good) and only bass fish for an hour or so in the afternoon.  We get excited when the wind blows from the east at 20 mph with 4' surf.

Sept or October starts the fall mullet run until end of of Nov, that's when you want to be here, after that it's dead so I bass fish from Dec thru March.  Probably average 5 hours a day thruout the year.

[Fishing Rhino]

But, I feel your heat. We went to Old Williamsburg, and a few other of the sites, including D.C. in June. I'll never do that again.

You should come back during a hot summer! This summer has been very mild relatively speaking.

It wasn't this summer.  It was twenty some years ago, '83 or '84 would be my guess.

The only thing worse, heatwise, I've experienced was lobstering on dead calm, hot humid days with a mile or less of visbility.

It was like being in an oven.  The heat from the sun, the glare off the water, the heat from the exhaust of the 8-71 Detroit Diesel combined were hellish.

But, I got relief by filling my hat with seventy degree water from the lobster tank, then quickly dumping it on my head.  Did that several times an hour on those kind of days.

Thank goodness there were only a couple of them per year.

One day, my deckhand asked me to keep one of the six compartments free of lobsters.

When we finished up hauling, and the boat was washed down, he stripped off all of his clothing, took the cover off the tank, and settled down to his neck in the compartment with no lobsters.

During the day, he kept dousing himself with the deck hose.

[Crestliner2008]

Nope! Never off the water in summer. 70% of my fishing is for small mouths, so I use my electronics and fish deep, off-shore structures. And the fishing is darn good too! I do wear a soft, wide brimmed hat and wear a thin, long sleeved shirt. This way, both can be soaked in the lake water to cool me down for quite some time.

However, 2009 is going down in my record books as the worst fishing year of my life! They've shut down one of the best bodies of water in our state (Quabbin Res.) for fear of zebra muscle infestation. And more waters are following. So, my boat sits in the back yard, gathering spiders.

Also, here in MA, we've had an extraordinary amount of rain fall; 6.5" in June and so far this month, 7.5". What waters are open to fishing, are very high and muddy, including the CT River, which use to be a good fall-back plan.

Count your blessing and get out there and FISH! Wish I could!

[bigtimfish]

I launch at 5:30 am, fish till 11 or 12, go eat and cool off. If I am staying at a lake house I will go back fishing from 3 till dark. If I am not staying,I will fish until 2 or 3 with no break and go home.

[Raul]

I'm starting my summer fishing hiatus. Not only do I not catch many fish, I'm getting to the point I can't take the heat and humidity. I might go out for a little on a morning or evening, but fishing through the day for me is pretty much over for me until September. I find its a good time to clean gear, clean the boat, etc.

Anyone else do this?

Not me.

The only time of the year I take a "break" ( not because I want but I have to ) is in December.

Here 's why:

December 7 .- Significant other 's B-day

December 19.- Her wedding anniversary

December 24-25.- Xmas eve & Xmas

December 27.- Li Raul 's B-day

Dec 31-Jan 1st.- New Year 's Eve and New Year.

We celebrate b-days and anniversary not the exact date but the next immediate Sunday, for Xmas and New Year we 're too busy preparing house and food n 'stuff for the celebration.

[Under the Radar]

Another from Central FLA.  I pretty much keep the boat in the garage and beat the banks from 5:30-9:00 am and 6:00-9:00 pm Jun Jul Aug. I spent 21 yrs running charter boats & private yachts. Nowadays, no one is paying me to stand out in the heat & bake my brains out so I don't.

Ahhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!

That feels better..

Oh! God I feel just a  good as if I had attended a 12 step meeting.

NEXT ? ?

[RoLo]

LOL, come on man, i am in FL and fish through the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in central Florida, but fish nonetheless throughout the summer and through the middle of the day.

I did the same when living in Jersey and Georgia, where the summers are just as uncomfortable,

in fact, Georgia was more uncomfortable than Florida.

Although we hear a lot about the improving fishing conditions in September,

I find the fishing in summer to be far more predictable and stable that fall fishing.

Roger

[Dan:]

But, I feel your heat. We went to Old Williamsburg, and a few other of the sites, including D.C. in June. I'll never do that again.

You should come back during a hot summer! This summer has been very mild relatively speaking.

Ahh, gotcha. When you said you came down in June I assumed you meant this June.

[Fishing Rhino]

I'm starting my summer fishing hiatus. Not only do I not catch many fish, I'm getting to the point I can't take the heat and humidity. I might go out for a little on a morning or evening, but fishing through the day for me is pretty much over for me until September. I find its a good time to clean gear, clean the boat, etc.

Anyone else do this?

Not me.

The only time of the year I take a "break" ( not because I want but I have to ) is in December.

Here 's why:

December 7 .- Significant other 's B-day

December 19.- Her wedding anniversary

December 24-25.- Xmas eve & Xmas

December 27.- Li Raul 's B-day

Dec 31-Jan 1st.- New Year 's Eve and New Year.

We celebrate b-days and anniversary not the exact date but the next immediate Sunday, for Xmas and New Year we 're too busy preparing house and food n 'stuff for the celebration.

I don't mean to be nosey.  OK, I do, but you listed HER wedding anniversary.  Did you mean OUR (yours and hers, not yours and mine) anniversary?

Dang, I take a break almost every weekend.  My wife works during the week.  She brings work home with her which she does every evening.  She is on 24 hour call.

But I do get out sometimes.  (If she is getting a manicure and a pedicure, then a facial or off to the hairdresser, I go fishing.  Some Sunday afternoons, she's tied up with hospital work, so I go fishing then.

But sans that, I'm off the water those days.

She and our older daughter are off on their summer excursion.  To Sedona this year.  They leave this coming Saturday, and return a week later.

I get to fish this weekend, and next Saturday, plus evenings during the week, as well as daytime.

Remind me to encourage them to do it more often.

[Lucky Craft Man]

LOL, come on man, i am in FL and fish through the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...while wearing a long sleeve shirt and jeans.

[Micro]

You should come back during a hot summer! This summer has been very mild relatively speaking.

Thank goodness.  This has been a really mild summer compared to past summers.  No 100 degree days yet, and only a few in the mid 90s.

[dday07]

i love bass fishing in summer. very predictable i love to topwater and get good action in morning or evenings

[Matt Fly]

I quit fishing when my body can no longer take it.   Until then, have rod, will travel.      

[cart7t]

Normally I kinda of slack off during the summer but next month I have 3 tourney's scheduled.   I usually prefer going at night.  

[Micro]

Tidal bass fishing is at its best now. Bass are easy to pattern and are found in schools.

You need to come down here and give me a lesson ;D. Other than one lake, I fish tidal water more than any other water. I'm not finding bass in schools at all this time of year (at least not any king of tight schools). I usually pick up one bass on structure and that's it. They seem to be spread all over. In fact, except for winter, there's not much difference between where I find them now as where I find them in late spring, early summer and fall - hard structure on the ingoing and outgoing tide. I just find that in mid to late summer, the bite is a bit more off and they are harder to catch. Maybe they just have more to choose from and can afford to be picky. I find smaller cranks, more subtle plastics and finesse baits are the ticket. Fall is when fishing really picks up on the waters I fish. You can catch them on just about anything then. Or maybe I'm just wrong, and that mid-summer heat makes me inpatient and I move on too quickly.   Probably the latter.

[Micro]

BTW, it's 73 degrees right now where I am.  Not bad for late July.  We just had a cold rain.  The stars are out.   My hiatus may be seriously delayed.

[Dan:]

You should come back during a hot summer! This summer has been very mild relatively speaking.

Thank goodness. This has been a really mild summer compared to past summers. No 100 degree days yet, and only a few in the mid 90s.

Yeah, I've been enjoying it, although it has been warming up in the past week or two, especially with the humidity.

Anyway, I would suggest some wading for those of you that find the dog days of summer to be too hot. If you are able to wade (no alligators or snakes or bum knees, etc...) wading can be a great way to fish and keep cool. Of course you have to scale the tackle down to what you can carry but it can be very refreshing.

[tnbassfisher]

It's supposed to rain everyday until Sunday here, so looks like I will be taking a break for the rest of the week.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Night fishing is great way to beat the heat, pleasure boaters, and get a crack at some big fish that don't show themselves any other time. Baits with dark color combined with sound/vibration will produce.

[slider head]

No breaks here. Night time is the right time during the heat and humidity. Most all of our tourneys are night tourneys June, July and August. Not only does this provide some relief from the heat. It takes away 243435097832 water skiers and 9897879878768765876599 jet skiers that you would have to endure during the day.

SML general rule: Never go to SML on weekends from Memorial day to Labor day. You can venture out there on a weekend during this time but dont be surprised if you do not get a filling or 2 knocked out! Weekdays during this period is really not too bad.

[BassmanDan]

I've been baking my brains out all day in the NC summer heat for 10 years now...but it gets harder to do every year. I normally go through a gallon of water, keep the Stetson pulled down, and fish the shady banks in the afternoons...oh yeah, and stay in the wind!!

[moby bass]

I haven't caught enough this year to take a hiatus from.  Fishing has been lousy for me, but with every cast, there's new hope! ;D

[roadwarrior]

In the summer my focus on the Tennessee River turns to

striper and German brown trout on the White. If I'm in town,

largemouth after work and weekends for a few hours at a

couple of local ponds. With rare exception, I fish year around.

8-)

[bass or bass ?]

Not me, and my last time out (2 weeks ago) it was 116 degrees. I do have a bimini top for shade though.

[drmnbig]

You need to take a weekend and make the 3 1/2 hour ride over here in the valley to fish the rivers for smallies.  I seldom take the boat out in the summer but just about every weekend I'm wading in the Shenandoah, Maury or one of their tributaries.  It's nothing to catch 100 bass per day and you have 75* water rushing over your legs the whole time.  I'm telling you, it gets no better than this.  BTW, hotels are CHEAP here in the valley too.