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Early Morning Best Time To Fish

LUNAR CYCLE ADDSTO FEEDING MIGRATION

Dave Douglass shows off this 6.8-pound Bass he caught on Lake Istokpoga on Monday.

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DAVE DOUGLASS

Published: September 6, 2007

We are in the midst of a fantastic early morning bite session, which by this weekend becomes the start of a major mid-day feeding migration, which peaks on the Tuesday the 11th.

Today the best time starts at 9 a.m. and finishes near noon. This lunar session ranks at the top as compared with other peak periods in terms of the amount of fish moving in similar patterns all at the same time.

In late afternoon, a modest migration occurs from about 5 p.m. until sunset. Not near as many fish as during the morning bite, but never the less, enough to warrant taking the boat on the lake to your favorite fishing hole. If you know where fish have been recently, then you're in for a great time.

Fishing Facts

Bait choice is a matter of choice, however, darker colors in stained lakes and amber browns for clearer waters, and bright radiant colors for the clearest lakes. All types of plastics work great, keep in mind that the larger the offering, generally the larger the catch — big Bass love big meals.

Spinnerbaits of all types work well in and around vegetation, worked a variety of methods –– dropped to the lake bottom and slow rolled through vegetation or popped at the surface as you use a medium retrieve out from the center of cover.

Lipped swimbaits designed to hold at a variety of lake levels are sure to attract plenty of strikes when presented at the right speed, depth, and action. For instance, the closer you mimic a live shiner with a swimbait type lure, the better your chances at confusing even the most careful experienced Bass in the lake. Remember, the biggest Bass got that way by following their prey slowly, watching every move for a period of time before making the choice to strike.

Rattling jigs and trailers are a wise choice in a majority of situations. The reason for this is that it mimics the natural predator of Bass eggs and therefore causes a reactionary strike more effectively than other baits. I have seen a 6 inch Bass hammer a ½ oz jig with a extra large trailer displaying an attitude like an assassin going for the kill. Many times, I have caught Bass smaller than my bait –– a 7-inch worm.

Try working a jig through vegetative cover using an aggressive rod popping action –– quickly moving the rod 6 - 12 inches several times then real in the slack and repeat the process again –– causing territorial females to react and protect their area.

Once the female Bass decide the jig is a natural predatory enemy, which eats their eggs during the spawn, they attack out of the sheer principle of the survival of their race.
Note: The rod position for the popping action is from 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock (12 o'clock = straight up, 6 o'clock = straight down).

Use short quick pops of the rod - several times depending on the thickness of the cover –– from 10 - 12 o'clock which moves the jig a few inches at a time.

This also causes the rattles in the jig to sound off creating plenty of disturbance; and in turn the attention of the Bass you came to the lake to hunt for.

Fishing Report

I have received many reports of improvements in Bass fishing on all lakes. This will steadily improve as water temperatures return to lower 80s, and really turn on when the high water temperature for the day is eighty. Lakes retain a great amount of oxygen in the seventies than they do in the nineties. This means all fish migrate for longer periods of time when they do feed each day one or more times. The number of times they feed will drop from four or five times a day for short periods, to two times a day for much longer periods. Because of this significant change in pattern, anglers have a great chance at locating them in the usual places, greater more frequent catches occur as a result.

Last Sunday I headed for Lake Istokpoga at 6 a.m., had my boat in the water by 6:40 a.m.,and boated my first Bass at 6:50 a.m.

The plan of attack was to pitch Bulrushes with sufficient depth water using a "Daves Rattlin Grass Jig" and Yamamoto Fat Ika for a trailer. Both were black and blue color and as large and loud as possible. Extra rattles in the Fat Ika made for a very heavy bait when added to the ¾ oz jig - yes that's right ¾ oz - I only wanted Bass who feared nothing to bother with me that morning.

The "First Fearless Bass" weighed barely two pounds, but hit like a 6 pounder. Five minutes after him - I call all Bass under 17 inches "Him", if they grow larger they become "Her" -- I caught his little brother weighing in at 1.8 pounds. And once again, five minutes later their other two brothers also made it onto the boat deck; one right after the other as if they were lined up to take a ride at the county fair on the roller coaster. By this time I was starting to laugh at the fierceness at which they stuck the jig when it hit the water –– four explosions –– no technique needed.

I decided they had used up their tickets so I moved away from them to see if perhaps there might be an older sister somewhere in the area who might want a ride too. After thirty minutes, sure enough, their older sister exhibiting the same family traits, struck as the jig hit the water and took off for deep water as fast as possible. She was a welcome challenge as compared to her little brothers, for she fought well for the better part of thirty seconds before I swung her onto the deck. The measurement came to nineteen inches and 4.8 pounds on the scale - a "Tournament Fish" - meaning, five of her size and you are in the money. Not too bad for two hours of work, which is all the free time I had on Sunday to allow for fishing - however Monday I had already planned to spend the entire morning.

Monday my wife and I where up early and again fishing by 6:40 am however today's strategy was to work the Hydrilla areas where I have caught fish before. The fast start of the day before did not happen as early but like the guy in the paper said, it started thirty minutes later and lasted longer and in greater intensity. At 7:30 a 7" blue black Yum Dinger produced a heavy 3 pounder to warm me up and prepare me for much larger Bass. A few minutes later I switched to a different color worm -- same type however - and experienced something I had only seen one other time. As my worm hit the bottom six feet below the surface, I felt a small thud on the rod and quickly checked the freedom of the worm. The worm felt like it was stuck solidly on the bottom - no movement, no pull, nothing, dead weight - so I set the hook. Now if you have fished Hydrilla you know that that type of "Feel" can happen when the weight hits a heavy matted clump of the thick weed and becomes hung up - thus the reason why I set the hook using only half strength. The result of the hook set clearly revealed a huge Bass had my worm, for she started very slowly swimming away pulling the braided line through the very thick Hydrilla with ease. I pulled back harder all the while thinking for sure the hook was set very good - no way a Bass could pull through those conditions without being hooked - "Wrong Answer." I managed to pull her back to the boat side after thirty seconds and once I had a good look at her she opened her mouth and swam slowly down out of sight as my hook went flying over my head - no hook set - she had pulled like that using only her jaw pressure. My worm did not even have the hook all the way through; it was exactly as I had set it when I started using it - amazing.

I continued working the area and within a few minutes again the same exact type of "Thud" sound occurred. I wasted no time setting the hook with what I call, "The Dyer Death Set" -- this is the type of hook set where the fish is knocked out if it is under eight pounds. The result was the same again, she swims down slowly away pulling the drag and Hydrilla with it on its way to deeper water. The battle lasted longer this time, about forty-five seconds and I started to lift her near the surface into view. Once in view; six feet or so from the boat I could easily see a 13 plus pounder's huge mouth -- hook between the eyes -- and then she turned one last time - having rested for ten seconds - and with authority swam down again bending the rod to the maximum.

Since I had already tightened the drag all the way there was no way she was going anywhere - "Wrong Answer" again -- my hook went sailing by my head and into the water behind me. I quickly turned in amazement to see if the line broke or to discover some reason this happened again - a hook shank was all that was left; a complete break at the curve of my 6/0 extra wide gap heavy duty hook.

My wife looked at the hook and then me and said, "That was the biggest fish I have ever seen, it broke your hook?" Upon examination, the break was all one color so I concluded it must have been a defect and not a crack, which finally broke after corrosion. Never the less, I am sure she was in the fourteen-pound range or more.

A few minutes later I switched to a spinner type bait and boated a 22 inch Bass weighing 6.8 pounds and lost another one slightly smaller in a battle through the thick weeds as the hook tore out of the corner of its mouth.

It's days like that which make me think of mounting a video camera on the back deck of my boat - maybe I should change hook manufactures.

Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next Event: September 12th on Crooked Lake. Time: 7 a.m. to noon. Pay at ramp - entry fee $30 per boat.

One person may fish alone if you do not have a partner. For information, contact Paul Tardiff at (863)385-8007 Home, Cell (863) 446-1310 bassbutchie60@aol.com or Dwight Ameling at (863) 471-3305.

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/.

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