The pesky null hypothesis will get ya every time 

I’m not sure who that author is or that of any of his statistics but on many occasions putting in before daybreak, super overcast, calm air to light wind at most, then rain starting have been some real terrific days. 

12 minutes ago, Spankey said:

I’m not sure who that author is or that of any of his statistics but on many occasions putting in before daybreak, super overcast, calm air to light wind at most, then rain starting have been some real terrific days. 

My best day in terms of numbers was in a light drizzle late spring day using a Torpedo over flooded timber. Sometimes I would miss one bass and get another on the same cast. I was getting so many bites I was hoping for a double.

My 2 best days by numbers both occurred during inclement weather. One was an early April snowstorm, the other was at night during an August thunderstorm. 
 

I don’t think there’s any “right” answer, the best time to get on the water is whenever you can. 

I'd like to hear the stories of your two best days, ElGuapo.

49 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

I'd like to hear the stories of your two best days, ElGuapo.

The snowstorm one was in 2022 - it was cold and cloudy when we left the house, but I wasn’t going to let my day off be a wash. I told myself that I’d just fool around in the cove right by the ramp until the sun broke through the clouds and then run up the lake a ways to hit some shallows.

First cast with the spinnerbait got a 3, then for the next hour it was fish after fish - mostly little bucks (1-1.5 lb).  After that died off, fired up and ran across the lake to a big flat and started throwing the spinnerbait again, and started noticing the snow blowing in. Ended up pulling another 25 plus off that flat before it settled down. At this point the snow/fog was settled in enough that I pretty much had to idle back across to get on the trailer.

 

The thunderstorm incident was a night tournament on Canyon Lake (which is notoriously stingy for numbers) in 2005. We launched at 7:00, headed to our usual starting spot and immediately dropped our “secret” weapon (single tail Hula Grubs on a dropshot). Within 30 minutes we were already culling, and headed to a submerged point to try and get some bigger kickers. Between my spinnerbait and my partner’s jig, we picked 10 or so off that point, but nothing over a 5. With the wind kicking up and lightning starting to show off to the south, we went to the marina to try and get our kicker before we got ran off. My partner got an 8.2 on the Hula, I got a couple quick hits that didn’t connect…thinking it was either yellow bass or bluegill, I switched to a Westy Worm and started flipping it toward the bridge pilings. I ended up with another 16 fish, unfortunately totaling about 15 pounds. By the time we weighed in at midnight, we figured that 60 fish had come in and out of the boat, yet we came in one place out of the money (6th). Big fish ended up going to an 11.3 tank, and there was a 5lb catfish that won the goon pot. 

SoCal is a dry Mediterranean climate about 10 out of 12 months with a few weeks  between November to March with cloudy weather. If we didn’t fish with high blue bird bright sky we wouldn’t fish very often. We do get wind most of the time and that helps as long as it isn’t high winds. 
For numbers of bass bright sky works fine as the sun brings up the Threadfin Shad feeding on phytoplankton and the school bass can be easily caught.

The big bass get very selective ignoring artificial lure during bright light and target the  live shad. 6lb to 7 lb LMB are caught occasionally but the big girls can occasionally be caught at night on lures during the summer.

Pre spawn coincides with cloudy weather prime time to catch big bass.

Tom

I have always found that in south Florida  bass will be tight to cover, or structure points during bright sunny days.  They are not out in open waters casing baitfish, but hunkered down in ambush points under shady spots. Docks, lay downs, under thick green vegetation, or hunging the shady spots on ledges, or big rocks.

 

On cloudy days, and low light conditions they seem to loosen up for cover and enter open areas chasing bait fish.  I will go to working out side weed lines with faster moving baits, like Zara spooks, lipless crank baits, devil horse, swim baits.  Open areas close to drop offs are a favorite.

 

The special addition down here is the abundant supply of peacock bass in our waters.  Unlike largemouth they love hot water, love bright sun, and love fast erratic movement of top water baits.  So crystal clear  sky’s with 100+ temps, is a great peacock day!  Ripping a big Zara spook with just constant movement provides explosive hits.  The only bad side is it wears this old guy out!

I have not noticed a real big difference in sunny vs cloudy. I do believe wind makes more of a factor. Dead calm, light breeze, or wind and waves, changes everything by moving water, bait, and breaking up the surface. I do not fish when real windy, but I have noticed I generally get more bites when it goes from calm to light breeze.

My largest bass have all been caught on bluebird sky’s sunny days. In the middle of afternoon. 
 

now my super productive days have usually been rainy or overcast windy all that business. But the big girls have all bit on a nice day sunny and buried in cover.  

A  calm overcast day with a slight drizzle is buzzbait time. Back to Backs. One on a buzzbait the other a spinnerbait. The month of June.