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Morning Best Time To Throw In A Line

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By DAVE DOUGLASS

Highlands Today

Published: March 8, 2009

Anglers lost an hour of sleep last night with the arrival of daylight savings time, plus they might also experience one of the affects that go along with it - such as feeling late for a safe-light launch but in the new reality you're early by standard time habit. It might be the case where you find yourself expecting to participate in a fishing tournament, standing at the boat ramp knowing the parking lot is full, but the ramp dock area is vacant - not a boat anywhere in sight.

It's ironic that we attempt to remember which way to set our clocks by using sayings like, "In the Spring we spring forward and in the Fall we fall backward," but in reality when we "spring forward" when setting our clocks the resulting feeling we experience is like falling backwards, and when we "fall backwards" setting our clocks we feel as if we sprang forward.

I have personally witnessed a tournament angler completely missing-out on the changing-of-the-clock events twice in one season. In the Spring he started the competition an hour late after realizing he was indeed at the right location, and in the fall he arrived with the early arrivers (who always get to the tournament event way too early for reasons only they can understand - or maybe not) thinking they all were as late as he was.

Ok, enough of the personal time-change perspective and opinion and on to the information you expected to find when you started reading this article - the last two paragraphs are just one more example of how the time change affects people, in my case it's a matter of contemplation, humor, and commentary.

The full moon occurs this Wednesday at 2:38 a.m. and the moon was closest to earth yesterday at 3:08 p.m., and the weather is forecasted to remain constant and seasonally normal for the upcoming week, so, what this means for the angler is as follows.

The early-morning bite will rate a 6 on the 1-10 scale and start at 6 a.m. and end at 8 a.m.

Expect the peak time to arrive at the beginning of that period - 6:30 a.m. As the week continues the bite will weaken both in intensity and duration as more fish feed in the light of the full moon six hours earlier.

The mid-day bite will rate a 6 or 5 on the scale and occur from 10-12 a.m., peak time should happen at the end of this period, I'm counting on an 11-12 a.m. peak-feeding migration. The intensity and duration of this daytime feeding migration should remain unchanged at best, but possibly diminish slightly if the nighttime sky is clear and bright. We can only hope that Tuesday through Thursday nights is cloudy causing more fish to work harder while finding less food resulting in "going hungry" until lunch time.

The late-afternoon bite will rate a 6 on the scale and occur from 6-8 p.m. with a peak period of 7 p.m. There is a possibility that if the winds remain mild or at the worst medium, and the days are mostly clear, that this could be the best daytime bite session. The daytime high water temperature will trigger fish to feed-which should reach the middle to upper sixties. By the end of the week the chances of this occurring are even greater as the current midday bite moves into the time-slot of late-afternoon and evening.

The best bite of the day happens in the light of the full moon. The best time of the month to catch fish happens "in the light of the full moon." Since fish normally feed heaviest at night, the additional assistance of the full moonlight will only accentuate the major feeding migration of the day.

The nighttime full moon bite occurs from 10:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. with a peak period of 11:30-12 p.m. Each night until Thursday night, this migration session starts later by thirty minutes and expands in duration by the same amount of time, however from Thursday on the opposite duration effect takes place. The rating will climb from a 6 today to a 10 by Wednesday and then decline slightly each day, arriving back to a rating of 6 by next Sunday.

Fishing Facts

The Florida Largemouth Bass heaviest feeding period of the month occurs during the Full Moon Phase, especially when it happens within a few days of the Lunar Perigee.

Fishing Fiction

Many fishing periodicals and various other fishing aids provide "Astro Tables" and "Lunar Times" charts for the purpose of informing anglers of the best times to go fishing. They all predict ranking or ratings of each day of the month, usually from 1-10 on a 10-scale, with 10 being the best. The majority of them always rate the full moon week as the best days of the month to fish, however what they fail to really make clear is this is only true if you fish at night. The fact is the rating of "10" on the night of the full moon shares only a few points of its rating during daylight hours.

The best daylight lunar phase of the month occurs during the new moon, not the full moon. A total lack of moonlight works for the positive for the daytime angler and the rating of a 10 during this lunar phase shares only a few points during nighttime hours.

Fishing Flash

Lake Istokpoga's level is at 39' above sea level (ASL) which is six inches below the maximum level of 39.5' ASL which is scheduled to be gradually dropped to 38.25' ASL by June 1. Due to the fact that this winter has been exceptionally dry - well below the normal rainfall - the agricultural community south of Istokpoga uses their SFWM permits to receive water allotments weekly.

Currently the lake is 6" below the allowed high of 39.5' and if normal rainfall doesn't occur within the next three months the lake will be in the middle of the max and min level of the hurricane schedule - minimum level of 37.5' and a max of 38.25'. Hopefully we experience a few tropical storm direct hits this rainy season or we'll be back in the clutches of the drought that started in 2006 and is still hanging around today.

Tournament News

The Outback USA Crappie Tournament is open to the public and will be held monthly. The third event will be on March 14 and 15. Entry fee is $5 and anglers can fish any lake of their choice and weigh-in on any day at Outback USA at 14021 US-27 South. Application can be picked up at Outback USA which is half way between South Sebring and Lake Placid, on route 27S. Store hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

The Monday Morning Lake Jackson Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public and launches every Monday morning at 8 a.m. with weigh-in at 1 p.m. Entry fee is $10 per boat with a "winner-take-all" payout. One person or two per boat, three legal (more than 14 inches) bass per boat, and one bass over 22 inches per angler. For information, call Paul Tardiff at 863-385-8007 (home) or 863-273-4062 (cell).

The Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next event March 11 at Lake.June Time: 7:30 a.m. to noon. Pay at ramp - entry fee is $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) or 863-273-4062 (cell), email bassbutchie60@aol.com or call Dwight Ameling at -863-471-3305.

Dave Douglass is a bass-fishing guide and CEO of S.O.S.-Florida Lakes, Inc. He can be reached at 863-381-8474, HighlandsBassAngler.com, or e-mail him at davidpdouglass@hotmail.com.

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