Cold Front Sunfish at Midnight

[Matt Johnson]

Midnight gills! Gotta love it when you're best fishing times are from 11pm-1am, and the specie caught is sunfish!

Lastnight I worked over a pod of sunfish cruising a shallow, soft-bottom flat in 8 feet of water. From about 10-11pm I marked a stack of fish, but not many takers. Then around 11pm those marks on my LX-5 went crazy and starting devouring my size 10 Flutter Bug! Every single fish caught between 11pm-1am was a sunfish, and some nice ones at that.

To be completely honest I was a little surprised to see that type of activity from sunfish because of the given conditions. A harsh (relative to our recent temps and weather ) cold front moves through and I find myself in one of my better sunfish bites of the winter, and right in the middle of the night!

I've thought about this throughout the day and I'm interested to hear everyone else's thoughts on this.

Anyone experience anything similar in the past? Mid/post cold front, latenight sunfish?

I've caught sunfish after dark, and even sunfish at midnight, but not like this, and not of this size and not after our recent conditions.

Any assumptions as to what might have caused this?

I personally believe that because of the consistent warm spell we experienced in the past, that when we did get this cold front, it actually triggered the opposite response from the fish. We also saw some sunny skies during the day yesterday, something that has been missing for quite some time as well.

I would also go as far to say that the micro-organisms decided to expel into the water column due to the system that moved in, which then caused those large sunfish to feed at that time.

What gets me is that I believe I was marking those larger fish from 10-11pm, and the something triggered them to strike. It was very apparent and almost like clock-work.

I can tell you one thing, I'm going to give it another shot in the near future

[Deitz Dittrich]

Matt I have noticed this being a lake behavior. There was a lake in the bemidji area that too had a great panfish bite at about the time you are describing. It was at those times you would catch the biggest fish the lake had. I have tried it on other lakes with little success. And didn't feel that weather had much to do with it other than its normal patterns. As I repeated this pattern on just the one lake and the one spot many times.

[IceHawk]

Deitz is right on I have found certain lakes that tend to favor a bite similiar to yours Matt. I know certain lakes that you don't even start fishing gills until it's dark out. From what I have found lakes with ultra-clear water tend to be favor nite biteing gills. It's defiantely weird pulling gills in the evening but I have caught some serious Bulls fishing this pattern. I wonder if the full moon phase made a differnce she's been pretty bright out the last few nights.

[CALVINIST]

When I was out this AM, I tried one lake first...things were very slow except for a nice slab crappie. Then moved to another lake at twilight. I didn't think things were going to go too well because of the front. But the pannies-both gills and crappies-were SNAPPIN for about an hour...then shut off. Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted.

[eyepatrol]

Could be just what the fish do in that lake, but I also wonder about what Icehawk said. We're in the middle of a full moon phase right now, and, as I look outside at 10:05p.m., the moon is pretty high up in the sky...probably close to it's highest, which might occur between 11:00p.m. and 1:00a.m. when you were on the bite. Something to think about perhaps and a theory you might want to test over the next few days if you've got the time. I'd be interested to know what the action is like a week or so from now....if it's slow or non-existant, then maybe it was the moon phase. If it's still going strong, then it may be the lake's characteristics.

Things that make ya go hmmmmm....

[CrappieJohn]

Moon phase can play into the fishing game as much as weather can. The thing is, the moon can be hifdden by clouds and still affect what the fish do. The moon exacts a certain degree of "pull" on the earth, as supported by the tides in the oceans and even Lake Superior. This "pull" at the full and new stages can be pretty strong...we don't feel it but fish can.

Then throw in the amount of light given off during the full moon with clear skies. It can be uncanny as to how much better your vision gets on nights with the big ball showing.

And then of course is the weather. We can have cold fronts come thru without changing the barometer a lot. And with water temps at the most consistant levels of the year, these minor fronts might not have the door slamming effect that more definite fronts carry.

All told, it's a combination of factors, but money says its the moon phase that set up this senario and not so much the cold front.

[zepman]

I went to college in Fargo and we used to fish the Detroit Lakes area very hard in the winter. There was one lake that we found you could only catch these larger sunfish--and they were some bruisers--in the middle of the night. We would go out around 9-10 pm and sometimes fish until 2-3 am. Purple and black with red speckles would be the only color jigs that would put fish on the ice. We figured it had something to do with the movement of the microorganisms that these fish were eating. Funny thing is that we used to spread out all over this particular lake and fish it like a pack of wolves during the day and could only catch the smaller fish. Matt, this post probably won't help you out any but it brought back some great memories from times past for myself. Keep the midnight oil burning!

[zepman]

One more thing Matt. I know from some other posts where you got into these fish the other night. The lake I'm referring to in Detroit Lakes saw very similiar pressure as the one you were on. I wouldn't rule out lake traffic and daytime pressure on these bodies of water for making some of the nicer fish in a system come out and play after dark. I don't see why it would be any different than a lake that sees high recreational traffic during the summer months. Just a thought.

[Matt Johnson]

Great insight everyone! It sure would be nice to pattern these latenight pannies... because I usually don't have plans around midnight and this could turn into a usual endeavor

I found that the sunfish on this particular lake bite much longer into the night after sundown as well. Left the lake today about 6pm and the sunfish were still going hot and heavy. I wonder how long they go on their feeding spree. The other day they wanted nothing to do with anything we threw at them from 10-11pm, so I'm assuming the start of that down-time begins somewhere between 6pm-10pm. I just might have to spend a long evening out there one night

[schr0563]

The reason I believe you got into these fish, which has been eluded to but not emphasized, has to do with food. All fish are drawn to food. Now if there is a nightly micro-organism "bloom", the fish will find it. When people refer to the night bite being one of the lake's characteristics, maybe the real characteristic is the presence of an organism that emerges after dark. And maybe not all lakes have this organism, and that explains why not every lake experiences a bite like this. I am definitely not an expert, but it makes sense to me. Remember, all fish have two things to worry about, (1) finding food, (2) avoiding becoming the food.

[CrappieJohn]

To add to what schro has offered here too is that many of the micro organisms that are considered food are driven by moonlight.

Moon phases play into the fishing scheme of things in a very big way and this is something that many people completely overlook when setting up fishing trips, etc.

I consider moon phases to be on of the elemental factors in how I gear my fishing.

Along with the moon/food relationship, traffic was brought up and certainly desrves merit in areas where it gets to be heavy.

Another consideration is that not all lake/river/pond bottoms are going to promote a sunfish bite after dark. I know of waters where you would not know sunfish were present if you fished only after nightfall.

All of this is good posting, guys!

[Corey Bechtold]

Tom, you da man!!! I am a true believer in moon phases as well. However I can't always plan my outings around the moon. I turn into a Werewolf on full moons so I have to lock myself in my house.

Seriously though, I have found it to be very consistent with different outings. There are times when most of my fish come at peak lunar phases (Outdoor News activity tables). It just so happens that I looked at the peak times for the day Matt had the Midnight run of fish and not supprising, it was on a peak.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket when it comes to moon phases. You definately have to be in the right place at the right time as well. Sunrise and Sunset times are typically good producers for me as well.

Good luck,

Corey Bechtold

[CrappieJohn]

Corey....

Your last paragraph speaks volumns. Finding where a particular bite will happen is a task itself and experience coupled with diligent attention to details is often the best way to determine this locational aspect. This is why note taking is such a must for serious anglers-it helps one to see patterns develope over time where simple memory would cloud 90% of what you'd really need retained to see those patterns.

Location is just one of the eggs in the basket you mention, though. Like anything else dealing with fish, you will have a whole pile of variables to overcome before predictability becomes worthy and then its only worth so much. Things with fish, as we all know, can change in minutes and throw the otherwise happy camper into a major funk.

I love threads like this where specific elements get brought up almost individually so they can be looked at without getting muddied by all the other considerations involved. Rarely is there a single, simple answer, but trying to answer one question with a simple post is hard at times. Look at how this thread has bloomed from Matt having caught some fish at night to perhaps why he caught those fish.

[nytelyter]

hey matt if you need any help proveing your theory. drop me a line. i could maybe meet up with you heheheh. get a few lessons in at the same time . ..... paul

[protrapper]

I believe the full moon has something to do with it. We have been on a hot crappie and bluegill bite the last week up north. Trophy gills at 9 p.m. 10 inch plus fish. I have never ran into this. The fish has been non stop from 2pm past midnight. With fish being highly competitive for our maggies and jigs. Plus the slabs where hammering un-baited small jigging raps. The full moon up here is almost like daylight. Can't wait for the northern lights to start dnacing. Get'em while you can.