The Second Half of April: I can catch a few.

 

The First half of May: Fishing picks up.

 

The Second Half of May through the End of June: The Busy Boat Mornings of 40/50/60/70 bass. It's a big bass stretch.

 

July and August: Tough fishing. I work to catch 10-30 bass per outing.

 

September: Easier fishing. 20-40 bass per morning.

 

October: Unpredictable. I can have a 70-bass outing followed by a 10-bass outing. It's a big bass month.

 

 

How about you?

In NY…

 

Ice out: anywhere from late March to mid April. I usually do okay right out of the gate fishing deeper water with moving baits. 
 

Early spring: a couple weeks after ice out up to prespawn. Once the water warms to the magical temps of 45° the fishing gets hot in shallow timber and that’s where I focus. Lots of years my biggest fish come during this time. 
 

Prespawn-postspawn: usually early May to mid June, water temps in the mid 50s to mid 60s. Fishing is still hot, they’re hitting top waters and still in shallow wood. Milfoil and pond weed starts to grow in as well. 
 

Summer: July-early August. The fishing is the most predictable. The fish seem to mostly vacate the shallow wood. I spend most of my time fishing 8’ or deeper, mostly focusing on structure with milfoil or pondweed. Big ones mixed in often, but almost never shallow this time of year.

 

Early Fall: Mid August-Mid September. By mid August, the nights and mornings are cool, the milfoil has mostly disappeared, and things start changing. The big girls stay mostly deep, but they move to the pond weed that is still green. Walkers replace poppers. Lots of fish of all sizes this time of year, including my NY PB. 
 

Late Season: Mid September until freeze. Fishing can be unpredictable. Some good numbers days, so bad numbers days. It can be big fish, or a dink fest. Pond weed stays green through October, and lots of fish come from that. Shallow wood can be great on a warm sunny day, just like spring. It’s my favorite time to be on the water. The fall foliage, hot coffee, distant gun shots from hunters, the loons are usually still here and calling. 
 

 

In Central Az:

 

April - Early June: Bigger fish, good numbers. 
 

Mid June - Late July: Excellent Numbers. Pretty easy to pattern. 

 

August - September: Little tougher bite, but still pretty predictable.

 

October - November: Lights out, lots of reaction bites and shallow fish.

 

December - March: Cold, sluggish. Most go deep. 

I have two seasons.  Dry and Wet.  November - Mid June dry.  July- October wet.  The end of the dry season is best for me.  The water is extremely low, and the bass on concentrated on off shore cover and structure.  Rainy season is good fishing, but the bass can be spread out and be hard to locate.   Surface temperature does not get below 65 degrees, or above 80 degrees the entire year.  Rarely will a thermocline develope, making the whole water column a possibility any time of year.  The depth the bass will be at is determined on water level, whether it is rising or falling, and water clarity.

 

My work season dictates my bass fishing success the most.  December - March I will not be able to bass fish more than a couple of days due to my work.  July through October I have more time, but it is difficult for me to fish the best lakes.  They are two far away for a day trip, and camping is not pleasant during the torrential rains.  That leaves me with April and May.  Most of my big bass have been caught during these two months.  

 

My fishing is best in April and May, but the bass fishing is fantastic all year if a person has the time to fish.  The lodges are closed on most Mexico lakes during the rainy season, but big bass love buzz baits that time of year.

 

Ice out until mid May - can’t legally bass fish (but that will be ending in 2026)

Mid May - early June is prespawn.

Late May - mid June is spawn.

Mid June - October is summer

October - ice in, usually by early Decemeber is some resemblance of fall

December - April is winter and I don’t ice fish

 

Fall has mostly disappeared here. We go directly from summer to winter now. September used to be fall. Now it’s still summer.

 

I always thought that bass fishing season in Maine was three weeks in July sandwiched between months of freeze out. 🤣

Iowa:

March (or whenever is ice-out) is the best big bass fishing.  

April is when numbers pick up.

May-June-July is great.

Aug-Sept can be tough.

Oct is great.

Nov to ice-up is fantastic!

Anytime the water is below 50 degrees is my favorite time to fish.  I have started in Feb and fished until Christmas some years (not often enough).

@Swamp Girl  Katie, I heard that in Maine you take your Longjohns off on the 3rd of July and put 'em back on, on the 5th.  Is that true?  😁

 

Something I've been noticing the last few years in New England is true summer ends a lot sooner than I thought. Those first cool nights in August can have a lot of impact even if it still gets up to 85 or 90 in the day time. The milfoil starts to slowly die and even if on the surface it doesn't feel like anything has changed, I start to find fish pulling more to those "Fall" spots where the last areas of green grass usually are, or pulling to the hard cover amongst the shallow stuff. Usually I wouldn't key on this until September but it definitely happens sooner. 

VA -

April = biggest fish 

May = best month for quality and numbers.

June = good month for numbers 

July = slowing down 

August = slow, gotta go early 

September = unpredictable but as mentioned can be really good 

October and November = idk for sure, cutting wood and deer hunting takes center stage.

Northern Michigan ~

 

Jan ~ Iced in

Feb ~ Iced in

Mar ~ Iced in 99% of the time.

Open water routinely happens sometime in Apr.

I do keep track of this.

Apr &  early May ~ Numbers of Plus Size fish with a decent shot at a trophy Smallmouth Bass

Late May into June ~ We do Green Bass from the canoe

July ~ Don't fish much at all

August & Sept ~ Real Big Smallmouth potential again.  Just not the numbers seen in the spring.

Early Oct ~ Good Numbers time for respectable Brown bass but trophies are rare.

Mid Oct thru November ~  Rolling the dice.  Average first snow fall here is 16 Oct.

Towing the Pro-V Bass on snowy roads requires at least 3 pairs of under pants. 

Instead the boat is winterized and goes into garage hibernation.

Rest of November usually too darn cold & windy.

December ~ We usually have hard water by then.

 Home gym see's a lot of action. 

Got to be ready for the next season, and so far I have been. 

A-Jay

 

I am in MN - so what @gim mentioned covers it

My comment is WOW @Swamp Girl - days of 20, 30, 40 up to 70 fish !!!!!!!

I am only in my third year of fishing - and with info/inspiration from you and the Bass Resource community I am chipping away at the stone - with that said I believe I have had one day of 20 fish (early June, most were 12" to 14", your "slow day" of fishing equates to my top day) - on the flip side I rarely get skunked (maybe a handful of times across those 3 years)     

     My Maine fishing experience for about ten years now.  Is the first week of September the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after Labor Day. It has been good to great bass fishing every time I have gone up. Looking forward to fishing Cobbosseecontee again soon.  

     Texas, fall, winter, early spring can be good to great. Summer into fall is usually smoking hot and night fishing can really shine. 

45 minutes ago, WaskaCrank12 said:

My comment is WOW @Swamp Girl - days of 20, 30, 40 up to 70 fish !!!!!!!

 

Yeah, I enjoy good fishing here. It helps that that I fish the same bodies of water again and again. It also helps that I fish from a canoe, which lets me be stealthy. However, you need more than a canoe to consistently catch lots of bass. There was a fellow canoeing angler on my pond this morning and he caught 3 to my 18. So, you have to have a nose for finding bass too. For example, I caught the bass below this morning when I saw some grass move ever so slightly. Some anglers might miss such slight movement:

 

 

1 minute ago, Fishingmickey said:

Looking forward to fishing Cobbosseecontee again soon.  

 

And i'm looking forward to your return!

 

My bass seasons are sesonal periods;

Winter, cold water period, below 50 degrees.

Pre Spawn is follows the cold water period and the best time to for me to bass fish, water about 55 degrees.

Spawn, follows pre spawn, about 62 degrees.

Post spawn follows spawn, about 70 degrees.

Summer the warm water period, 75+ degrees, good night fishing.

Fall follows summer before winter, about 68 or less, good for numbers of good size bass.

Tom

On 8/6/2025 at 8:46 PM, gim said:

Ice out until mid May - can’t legally bass fish (but that will be ending in 2026)

 

 

 

^^That's fantastic!  I'm glad the state finally listened.^^. I always felt bad for you guys that a non scientific law took away some of the best time on the water when we already deal with winter.

 

scott

2 hours ago, softwateronly said:

 

^^That's fantastic!  I'm glad the state finally listened.^^. I always felt bad for you guys that a non scientific law took away some of the best time on the water when we already deal with winter.

 

scott

It took years to finally happen. There is a slow, arduous process when it comes to these things in state government. Quite often, Wisconsin will change something like this, and Minnesota will follow years later. That’s exactly the case here.

 

Also bear in mind that bass are a secondary species in this state. The walleye is king. So virtually every fishing law is wrapped around regulation and management of walleyes, even if has nothing to do with the targeted species itself.

 

The amount of early bass fishing will be highly dependent on the weather too. Some years it might be a month, some years it might be days.

On 8/6/2025 at 1:56 PM, Swamp Girl said:

The Second Half of April: I can catch a few.

 

The First half of May: Fishing picks up.

 

The Second Half of May through the End of June: The Busy Boat Mornings of 40/50/60/70 bass. It's a big bass stretch.

 

July and August: Tough fishing. I work to catch 10-30 bass per outing.

 

September: Easier fishing. 20-40 bass per morning.

 

October: Unpredictable. I can have a 70-bass outing followed by a 10-bass outing. It's a big bass month.

 

 

How about you?

Unfortunately i live in the real world 😂 

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Unfortunately i live in the real world 😂 

 

I've read hundreds of your trip reports and have observed more than once that you are the King of Fun. You have so much fun fishing. We all should follow your lead, your Majesty. 

On 8/6/2025 at 1:56 PM, Swamp Girl said:

The Second Half of May through the End of June: The Busy Boat Mornings of 40/50/60/70 bass. It's a big bass stretch.

 

Again, no love from Massachusetts!   🙃

 

I'm lucky to live near Cape Cod, which froze over for the first time in five years last winter.  I'll fish year round if there’s open water.

 

January's a crap shoot.  I'm happy if I catch ONE bass in open water.

 

I usually catch my biggest fish in February and March.  Numbers are 'meh'.

 

April and May is mixed bag.  I find Cape Cod bass are on a different schedule than Plymouth to Canton.  I try not to fish beds.

 

June - August: is usually a dink fest.  I've never quite figured out where they go or what they want.

 

September - October: Numbers and size are better than Spring time, but I never seem to time the 'fall feed' right.

 

November - December: If Cape Cod doesn't freeze, I break out the blade bait box.  Numbers are OK, but the fish are bigger.

The season in Maine might be short but the bass fishing is stupid good. More and more it will become a big bass fishing destination in the summer months.

17 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

More and more it will become a big bass fishing destination in the summer months.

 

I hope not. I want to share the water with eagles and ospreys, not noisy boys.