Summer heat and bass feeding

[helms83]

I'm finding the morning/mid-day bite to be terrible. But what I'm hearing from others at my local lake is that the late-evening night bite is awesome. I understand it's because of the cooler temps when compared to the day.

But I was wondering: could the cooler temps at night be throwing off the feeding times of the bass? If they are eating through the night, could the bass be 'fat, dumb and happy" by mid-morning, causing them to be less hungry, less active, and more passive? Is it possible that their feeding schedules have been thrown off due to the excessive heat this summer?

[helms83]

Same here, that's what led to me ask this question.

I went out yesterday evening for the first time on my local lake. There was alot more action around the lake.

The timber section that I'm so certain should be awesome in the morning hours has produced nothing. Last night there were alot of bass feeding. I seen several jump that had to be between 3-4lbs (which is big for this lake). However, once I got into position in the timber and started figuring things out, I only had 15 minutes to fish the area (the lake closes at sunset). Seven minutes were spent fighting a dink that I had to work out of the timber and get the hook out that she swallowed, but she ended my five trip skunk streak.

[K_Mac]

It has been near 100* here in So. Illinois for the last several days. I have hardly left the house. I talked to a friend yesterday evening about 7:30 who was on his way home from the lake. He, his son, and another friend had fished about 4 hours yesterday afternoon. They had just killed during the heat of the day on soft plastics in 10-15' of water, on breaks near the old river channel. They had 5 fish over 18", 3 of them over 20", and over a dozen in the 12-14" range.

I am not sure what you can learn from this. :-/ Maybe fish don't care how hot the air temp. is? Maybe several days of steady weather played a roll? Maybe all the stars lined up, and they were there at the right time? Many times fishing in that kind of heat has left me nothing but sunburned and dehydrated. I think the more I know about bass, the less I understand.

[Big-O]

I am fishing a split shift these days...5am to 9am then 6pm to 1am unless the fish tell me to stay and play  High heat and clear skies are especially tough for me on calm glass conditions. If I have good wind and the gusts are under 15mph allowing me to be able to stay on the structure, I can usually get the deep bite with regularity.

I will always try to stay on the water for longer periods when there is cloud cover or scattered rain.

Big O

www.ragetail.com

[K_Mac]

Big-O I forgot to add there was enough wind yesterday to put some chop on the water.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Bass feed all day, regardless of the heat.  The water temp in the shallows may be very warm, it can be significantly cooler just a few feet deeper.  It's just a matter of finding what the fish are holding in or around and what they're eating.

It becomes more of a matter of angler comfort.  If you dress properly and keep the sun off of your skin you'll be fine.  Down here in south Florida it gets downright hot during the day.  Throw in the frequent 90% humidity and it can be miserable if you're not dressed properly.  One of the best pieces of clothing I've bought in a long time was the Buff Headgear.  Keeps you noticeably cooler by keeping the sun away from your face and head.  Give me a long sleeved shirt and some decent shorts and I'm good to go.

Just make sure you stay hydrated.  Keep lots of water handy as well as some kind of sports drink.

[Raul]

You do bad during the mid day because you are not fishing where they are ( depth & location ).

[DINK WHISPERER]

Don't feel bad, i have not had a good day in months! I have tried early morning, all night, midday and everything in between with no luck! On a lake that regularly produces 30-50 fish days with 5-9lbers.

[Catt]

One key pattern to catching bass is timing, some days it's early, some days it's mid-day, some days it's evening, & some days it's nights. This does not mean inactive bass can not be tricked into biting any time, this is the times when bass are actively feeding making the catching easier. 

[Red Bear]

i was killing them yesterday evening from about 7:20-8:20 here in NoVa. It was still pretty hot out as i was pouring sweat. The power was out almost all day yesterday due to a vicious thunderstorm so after i got back from eating dinner out i decided to hit up a pond. fish were jumping everywhere, started off with a baby bass torpedo and caught one and missed like 3. feeling i could do better i tied on a red eye sexy shad and tore them up. ended up with 8 bass in an hour, most in the 2lb range, and they were hitting hard too. One slammed me at the bank as i was pulling my lure out of the water, i never saw it coming either. was pretty good for what was mostly a boring day. despite the heat, they were definately feeding heavy...

[evrgladesbasser]

You do bad during the mid day because you are not fishing where they are ( depth & location ).

Yep

Anyone one can catch bass when they are active and biting anything. Finding them when conditions are not ideal.. that's what seperates the men from the boys

[Paul Roberts]

http://www.bigindianabass.com/big_indiana_bass/2010/07/hot-weather-technique-guaranteed.html

See: Hot Weather Technique - Guaranteed

[Sam]

In very hot weather bite will end around 10 or 10:30 AM.  After that you may as well go home.

Evening bite is best from one to two hours before sundown and into the night.

Hit local pond last night and had three hits on a drop shot and caught one and had another bass hit at the buzzbait but it was a dink and he missed it.

Otherwise it was a pretty sunset! 

[Team9nine]

Bass feed all day, regardless of the heat. It's just a matter of finding what the fish are holding in or around and what they're eating.

Ditto this, with the addition that they feed all night, too We've been fishing local waters here anytime between 4AM and 10PM including a lot of time right in the middle of the day (1PM-5PM) with the sun beating down and temp indices in the triple digits. I'm convinced on many of our lakes that the daytime boat traffic actually helps the daytime bite.

There are always some nice bass to be caught regardless, as we haven't blanked yet. Certain days the timing is different as to arguably the "best" bite, same with certain lakes it seems.

Still, hot water or high air temps are no excuse for not catching. Just look at the recent U.S. Open for example. Match the technique to the basses mood or the water/cover conditions and you'll catch your share. Lots of shallow biting fish on our lakes right now sitting in the shade of docks  8-) Pitching jigs, skipping tubes and dropshotting have all been producing well the past few weeks.

-T9

[Paul Roberts]

Seems the more we look, and the more we share, the more slammed doors get pried open. As is too often the case, we can be our own worst enemy.