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Morning bite or evening bite?


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     This topic has been discussed and evaluated as long as people have fished......at least as long as BR has been here for us to share.

 

     Do fish bite/feed better in the morning, or the evening? Here is what I have observed as a small pond owner daily observing a small pond ecosystem. I supplement my fish with a commercial fish food, and use a timer to throw feed three times a day. The feeder operates for two seconds at a time and scatters a hand full of feed 3/16 " wide. Here are my feeding times this time of year. 9:00 AM  2:00 PM and 7:00 PM.  Most of us would consider 9:00 AM to be late morning, and it is, but a tree line keeps the dock shaded at this time of day. The reason I feed so late in the morning is earlier feeding brought little activity. I adjust feeding times throughout the year according to seasons.

9:00 AM Shade

Feed hits the water and sits. Slowly, over the course of several minutes, the BG begin to nudge, then take feed. There is never a panic feeding and frenzy.

2:00 PM Full Sun

Feed hits the water and gets quick interest, but no sense of urgency from the BG's.

7:00 PM Shade

Feed hits the water and is immediately crashed by multiple fish, which continues for five minutes before the fish go into a feeding pattern that is not predicated by intense competition. After fifteen minutes, all feed has been used. During this time, there is often a green rocket smashing into this maelstrom, especially when there are larger bass in the pond. The clear indication on my small sample size is a definite preference for evening.

     I view many BR friends having terrific success with the morning bite and would like to know personal observations.

Thanks

 

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My general observations have been the colder it is, the better the sunrise/morning bite is.   The warmer it is, the better the sunset/afternoon and especially the night bite is.    

 

The bite is best b/t 530-1030am January through March down here.

 

Then from about May through August, the best bite is found from 530pm through the night.   

 

Those are the two best times of the year to be fishing down here, Winter.....Spring.....Summer.   As far as Fall goes, I let you know if I ever figure out Fall fishing 🤔

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Disclaimer: I do not keep records....of anything.  So, I have anecdotes clouded by crappy memory with zero context, like time of year, weather patterns, wind, grass levels, etc.

 

Sometimes I catch them good in the morning.   (I once won a tournament with entire bag caught before 7:30 AM), but generally, my biggest fish come between 11AM and 2PM.

Sometimes I catch them good in the last couple hours before sunset.

 

Right or wrong, I always assume a lot of feeding-related bass movement within a couple hours of sunrise/sunset.  I just figure if I am not catching,  they're eating somewhere else.  (I acknowledge I'm probably more wrong than right)

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From April to October I only fish at night. I generally start my night around 6:30-7:00 pm & end around 7:00-7:30 am.

 

Why?

 

To catch the morning/evening bite!

 

Which is better is subject to weather & water conditions. 

 

Right now our temperatures are in the triple digits with little to no wind. Every evening we experience a thunder storm that drops the temperature into the mid-70s where it stays all night. There appears to be an uptick in activity on the surface.

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I'll have to find the study but it basically said that there is no statistical difference on morning versus evening versus any other time of the day.  Anecdotally speaking vast majority of my largest largemouth have been smack dab in the middle of the day and for smallies pretty much all have been mid day.

 

This isn't to say that you won't catch them evening or morning but that it doesn't matter unless you want it to matter

 

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So morning's good.

Mid day's good.

Late afternoon's good.

And Night time's good. 

Interesting that I only catch them when I go.

:smiley:

A-Jay

 

 

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I generally prefer morning in the summertime because its more comfortable for me out there.  I don't do a lot of night time fishing because I don't have to - the air temps, humidity, and water temps are usually pretty nice here in the summer (although right now its warm because we've had several days of hot, humid weather).

 

At least for me the evening is less time to fish.  I only get 2-3 hours depending on when I get out there as opposed to when I start in the morning, I can fish for a longer period of time.  Also, when I go in the evening, there's almost always more recreational boats to deal with.  When I'm out there in the early morning, the only other boats are fishing boats which usually isn't as many.

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I prefer morning, but only because the evening fishing tends to be windier. All night long, the wind is generally dying down and all day long, the wind is generally picking up. However, if the wind weren't my master, I think morning and evening are about the same when it comes to bass feeding. 

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My observation:

 

cold weather - fish the middle of the day or sunset for more bites - why?  Water is the warmest it's gonna be and sun is warming things up in the middle of the day.

 

Warm weather - fish at night or the earliest part of the day for more bites - hour before first rays of dawn is best.  Why?  Water is the coolest it's going to be all day and the sun is just starting to make those bait fish a little easier to see for ole Sally.

 

In general for the really really big fish I like 11 am - 2 pm regardless of conditions or time of year.  Why?  Big girls ain't scared of nothing and they take full advantage of the middle part of the day being the easiest time to see their food - and potential threats too I'm sure.

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I almost always caught my largest fish when I lived in Florida within the first hour of sunrise in the Summertime. 
 

But, on the St. John’s River system the bite can occur at various times. In other words, you couldn’t predict the bite times. In Kentucky, I fish hard March and April and sometimes in May. The daytime bite definitely gets better with sunshine. Spawning fish etc etc, then fishing goes post spawn which at least for me had been better afternoon/early evening in deeper water. I’m referring mostly to Land between the lakes fisheries. 
 

I have wade fished the St. John’s river in February and seen and caught bedding males and females whenever I could and whenever they would eat. 
 

On Lochloosa and Orange lakes where I’ve fished extensively, the biggest fish for me and the guides I’ve witnessed with clients has been in the first two hours of daybreak. I’m referring to this time as an active bite. You can flip and work for hours into the day and you can catch them, but generally. First two hours..

Kentucky fishing and Florida fishing are vastly different. I can absolutely attest to that! I catch them in ponds around my home and one small river where we catch 2 1/2 pound smallmouths, but my heart is always on big water. Big water is where it’s at for me..(ex Navy dude go figure ) 🤣

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Great thread, btw, Bob.

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16 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

cold weather - fish the middle of the day or sunset for more bites - why?  Water is the warmest it's gonna be and sun is warming things up in the middle of the day.

 

Warm weather - fish at night or the earliest part of the day for more bites - hour before first rays of dawn is best.  Why?  Water is the coolest it's going to be all day and the sun is just starting to make those bait fish a little easier to see for ole Sally.

 

I agree with these two.  I don't fish in the winter here (frozen) but in the early spring before the water has had time to warm up, midday when the sun is highest is often better than starting early in the morning.

 

Fall is a bit of a mystery though as @AlabamaSpothunter stated.  I consider fall here to be the second half of September through the first half of November (after that its winter here).  I don't remember who stated this but the overnight low air temps seem to be a key aspect.  If its mild over night then the fishing is pretty good right away in the morning.  If it drops to a colder air temp, around freezing or so, then its not so good right away in the morning and its best to wait until things warm up.

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Fall is a blast for me here in Indiana, Patoka and Monroe lakes get very good in the mid fall. As water temps begin to really drop the Sunlight again becomes important. The shad on these two lakes move shallow again with the warmer shallows.. rocks hold heat and can be important too, predatory fish follow the shad schools..The days are beautiful with the colors and the weather is fairly stable. It’s my favorite time to fish and catch them. Fishing pressure is greatly reduced because most guys are Bow hunting or preparing to do so. There are multiple feeding frenzy’s that occur. It’s so much fun and so very pleasant. That is my experience with fall fishing. 

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Yeah fall here is just 'Spring 2 : Shad Massacre' ©™ coming to a lake near me ~ 9/30 😀😀😀

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Spring time - anytime 

Summer - early morning 

Fall - anytime 

Winter - midday 

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8 minutes ago, alonerankin2 said:

Fishing pressure is greatly reduced because most guys are Bow hunting or preparing to do so.

 

Oh yes, that's true.  Once Labor Day shows up, there is significantly less recreational boats and once hunting season starts, there's far less fishing boats.

 

You won't ever see me on the water the second week of November because I'm deer hunting.  😎

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5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

Oh yes, that's true.  Once Labor Day shows up, there is significantly less recreational boats and once hunting season starts, there's far less fishing boats.

 

You won't ever see me on the water the second week of November because I'm deer hunting.  😎


I hear ya there, I don’t hunt them anymore but I understand you loud and clear.. 💯

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1 hour ago, alonerankin2 said:

I hear ya there, I don’t hunt them anymore but I understand you loud and clear.. 💯

 

I only get 9 days to do it.  Gotta take advantage of it.  Can't just "go next week" because the season's not open.

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I agree with Catt. get both evening and morning bite........can't beat it. 

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I consider all three times as well known and accepted bite windows. I don’t do mornings any more, so I target midday and/or evening bite windows on nearly all trips. Combined with weather/water windows, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything, especially some good sleep :snore:

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Interesting that you asked this right now.  Mine just flip flopped three weeks ago.  Up until then I was getting up and on the water before the sun was up.  I would absolutely slay them with topwater for about 1.5-2hrs and then go home.  Loved it.  Then suddenly it came to a screeching halt.  The water hit it's peak temp and the humidity moved in with no wind to speak of.

 

I switched to evenings and a spinning rod and started catching big ones under stuff and in shade.  In a couple hours in the evening for several trips I've caught at least one over 3lbs, sometimes 2 or 3.  11 fish in a few hours with a couple 3+ pounders is a great way to end a work day around my neck of the woods.  I just sent my wife a pic of "bass thumb" a few days ago.  

IMG_2992.jpg.6df85f6d1b23ac01225ec7c80a8346d1.jpg

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Two things I do differently (y'all knew that was coming).

 

When the majority of anglers think early morning or evening bite, they're thinking shallow topwater bite.

 

I'm offshore in 15-25' of water where there is the same early/late bite but the overall average is bigger.

 

Second during winter most anglers head for the shoreline that is exposed to sun light the longest.

 

I've caught some hawgs in the coldest water around & in the shade.

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6 minutes ago, Catt said:

Two things I do differently (y'all knew that was coming).

 

When Pat is thinking about a bite, he's always thinking about a frog bite.

 

😎😎😎🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼♥️♥️♥️🥹🥹🥹😂😂😂

 

Yep that's about right 🐸🐸🐸😂😂😂

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