Best time of day for sunnies and crappies?

[bogwalker]

What time or times of day are best for Sunnies and Crappies?

[kittycatcher16]

In my experiences. Sunfish in the morning crappies in the evening. Some lakes are different than others though.

[paceman]

Lately the sunnies have bit really well right at sun down.....

[Fever]

This is quite a complex question as there are alot of variables. It really depends on the lake. If the water is stained or otherwise not clear, the day bite will normally be better than the evening. For a general rule of thumb for both species sunnies and crappies, activity levels increase the hour before and the hour after sunset. So in general there are about 4 prime hours per day, both morning and evening where fish feeding activity is at it's peak. Daily weather conditions, barometric variations, oxygen levels, bait fish activity, and fishing pressure all have effects as well. I personally have had more luck this winter so far in the morning hours from pre dawn till about 9:30 or so. Hope this helps.

[Jmnhunter]

i think early morning hours are overlooked by many for both species. getting out and set up by 1 hour before sunrise can produce some good action for pannies!

[buckhunter21]

Early morning and evening and sometimes a couple hours after sunset are best for me for crappies. Sunnies i usually pick up all through the day and then they shut off at sundown.

[project]

Here in s.e. MN the croppies are hittin hard at dawn, then shut off till dusk. The sunnies seem to be around all day!

[wbliceman]

This depends on the lake. I can catch either one all day

[jwhjr]

As others have stated it all depends on the lake. My favorite lake is crappies all day, but as soon as the sun goes down they're done.

[minnbowhunter]

My general rule is gills during the day and start thinking about crappies when the sun hits the tops of the trees. As others have stated there are a lot of variables.

[thedeadsea]

Don't usually fish sunnies, crappies 3PM to dark is best, but sometimes they bite all day long.

[Brad B]

I look for sunnies during the day and then starting at about 5pm switch to looking for crappies.

[Deitz Dittrich]

As silly as this sounds, this can change from lake to lake. Some lakes I know of have fantastic day bites for both crappies and sunfish.. And I even know of a couple lakes where there is a night sunfish bite...

However, I think the majority of lakes, if we were to lump them all together. The best bite is going to be low light situations. Morning sunrise, and evening sunset.

[dougger222]

Each lake is different and each day on that lake can be different.

One of my favorite lakes in WI has a good pannie bite early morning until about 10am and then from 2-4pm. Keep in mind these aren't your Twin Cities sunnies, these puppies average 8-10 inches and are rather thick and tall. The lake is private so that helps a lot. The lake is funny though. One day you can slam them the next you can't catch one to save your life. Regardless it's worth the drive.

Other lakes in the cites you can do really well on sunnies about an hour or so before dark and then right around dark they shut off and the crappies bite for a couple hours.

It would be safe to say about the worse time to ice sunnies and crappies would be in the mid afternoon close to lunch time. Most lakes I fish this is the down time.

[mr_jman]

If you find the right weeds you can catch fish all day regardless of species. In March this really holds true... The best day of crappie fishing I ever had on the ice was a solid bite over the weeds from about 11am - 3pm. They were still going when I left but nothing like catching crappies from 12" - 14 5/8" almost non stop.

However most lakes probably fall into the early morning and evenings for best action overall, but I fish for gills during the day and switch to crappies at dusk. However if your picking up an occasional crappie during the day I would tend to think if you focused your efforts on crappies you could get them... I also like to stay deeper during the day if possible and work shallower in the evenings, but again if I find a nice patch of weeds I'll set up there or work the area all day!

[Stickjiggler]

Any time you can find the time is the best time.

[Archerysniper]

I found a lake were the huge gills were biteing very well from 6pm till 10pm, last year we were catching them till 1 am so it just depends on the lake.