TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

FISHING: Weather Trumps Full Moon

Courtesy photo/Highlands Today

The many lakes in the Heartland provide natural beauty and some of the best fishing in the world.

ADVERTISEMENT

Dave Douglass

Published: October 25, 2007

The full moon occurs at 4:52 a.m. Friday, but fishing conditions improve very little from what normally occurs during this lunar cycle.

The reason for this is that the water temperature has not dropped enough — allowing a higher oxygen level which cooler water provides. Instead, lake temperatures remain between 78 to 82 degrees, which is five degrees lower than the summertime highs.

Once the water temperature norm arrives in the mid to lower 70s, nighttime oxygen levels stay nearer the daytime high, and this means early morning at 4:52, bass are able to feed as they naturally would be inclined due to the full moon event. Remember, the higher the oxygen, the greater the ability of larger fish to feed and digest as their metabolisms operates on a more constant 24-hour level.

So then, the major bite happens between 9 a.m. and noon, when the sunlight causes photosynthesis (vegetation oxygen production) which in turn reverses the process of the plants using oxygen at night. Weather always trumps lunar cycles, and so it is in this case in a negative manner — prolonging the start of the peak feeding migration.

Fishing Facts

Bait colors do matter to the fish. If you find that you are hooking fish in the corners of their mouth no matter how quickly you set the hook, chances are high that your color selection is slightly off. So the question is, what determines which way to adjust bait color?

The answer is easy, sun rays change in accordance with our seasons which happens because of the Earth's position to the Sun. Since we are heading into the fall season — further from the sun, the spectrum of light the sun provides changes from a blue/green to a blue/red and/or purple.
This translates into the bait colors of black and blue, black and red, junebug, purple and black.

Now, the angler has to factor in the water clarity and color into the situation, which is adjusted for using bright lighter colors, such as white, yellow, chartreuse, watermelon, for clearer lakes — and dull dark colors such as black, brown, pumpkinseed, for stained murky lakes. Also, remember, it's not how well you can see the color as you lower it into the water, it's how well the fish can see it from their position looking up through the water column which has a back-drop of the waves and the sky color.

Bait companies have all types of color combinations, as I am sure you all know. And a hungry bass will eat anything near it — no matter which type of lake it swims in. For instance, I have tried a blue black Yum Dinger 7" worm in every lake I've been in and caught bass, however more successfully — a higher percentage — in stained lakes with murky water due to suspended solids, such as Lake Istokpoga.

I am sure someone's grandfather has a secret bait color, which transcends all this biological data and therefore is far better than this advice offered here, but until you share that secret bait color, the rest of us have to make due with the basics.

Fishing Report

I have heard very little news over the last week, but what little news I have heard, sounds like a broken record. Bass sizes are from 1-5 lbs. and big bass are no where to be found. Specs/Crappie fishing offers an occasional good day when the weather is ideal, but if not, they are, "few and far between — go deeper."

Bait action speeds should be slow, slower, and stop for three minutes, then move it one foot and do it again. Find some vegetation on the lake bottom and let it sit there until you can't stand it anymore, and then move it two inches and start the process all over again.

If you're fan casting and cranking baits, the slowest speed at the deepest levels has been reported moderately successful along well-known migration routes. The chances are lean for catching a fish, but not for you losing some weight by casting twice a minute for a full day — the angler must look at the positives in all situations.

This time of year requires the game of patience to say the least — the angler's test.

Dave Douglass is a Bass fishing guide and teacher, Bass tournament fisherman and also an officer of S.O.S.-Florida Lakes, Inc. You can reach him at (863) 381-8474, e-mail davedouglass@sos-floridalakes.org or visit the Web sites reds-bass-fishing-guides.com and sos-floridalakes.org/.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT