Day Bite

[panfried]

Seems everyone I talk to this year has been getting there crappies during the day with only a flurry of activity in the eve then nothing. I can attest to it being slow after dark. Three out of the four times i have made it out this year it was after dark and very slow. Alot of the pictures i am seeing here from Cory, Matt, and Tom are also during daylight hours. Is this the trend for this year and if so WHY?? It doesn't make sense. With the lack of ice and snow cover we have had for most of this season you would think the night bite would be awsome.

[mark n]

The conditions you describe are consistent with my experience fishing crappies on this side of the state as well.

Far different than what I'm used to based on years past.

Mark

[CrappieJohn]

This is a weird year, period. Quite honestly, last summer was strange and it never relented until we got that brief cold in December, then it got goofy again.

Where I fish there is no really hot night bite, ever. The lowlight periods are good and the daytimes are equally as good, but this is the norm here. I typically have to hunt for fish at this time of the winter season but this year they are easier to get into for some reason.

Late night hot bites from sunfish, daytime forrays with crappies, go figure. The fish are puzzling everybody.

[panfried]

Good to here i'm not the only one having trouble catching fish, at night anyways. Unfortunantly i am Mr. Mom wed - fri, so i can't hit the lake until 7:00pm at the earliest. Seems that i can't catch a break, i chose to go to blue lake last night and just read a post about some guys doing very well on rush from 7:00 to 9:00 last night. Picked the wrong lake again. I am headed down to the cities tomorrow to fish with a buddy who is having some luck on a metro lake. Never thought i would have to go to a metro lake again just to catch fish. Oh well, whatever it takes i guess.

[oil painter]

I to have been humbled by the day time bite went out 3 thurs. in a row only to find they just started slowing down,time 2:00you shoulda been here at 10 they were going good then!!Oh Well another season is almost over and we will look back at this one with perplexed thoughts of WHAT HAPPENED

[alwaysfishin]

i guess every lake must be different because i've actually had my best luck well after dark. but i fish a really clear lake though, i wont see anything on the flasher until sundown then it lights up and stays that way until i leave. my biggest crappie and gill of the year have come after 10pm, freshly charged glow lures are the ticket. as far as fronts i will usually go as small as possible and deeper when a cold front moves through, but with consistent weather or a new warm i will go bigger and fish more aggresively. and the migrating and feeding tables you see in the papers, sometimes it's like clockwork, other times it couldn't be more wrong. with steady weather they seem to be much more accurate. the key is to figure out how they react to certain variables in your lake. you can't catch em' if your line is dry.

[CrappieJohn]

Right now we will see starting to search for more oxygen- rich water in many lakes especially those with snow cover or heavily clouded ice, very few weeds, insufficient numbers of deep water holes and/or no form of water exchange. The lakes that maintain weed growth during years of thinner ice will also see fish relating more to the areas of that growth. The need for shallower water may have some influence on when the fish bite. Weeds need daylight to photosynthesize(?sp)the carbon dioxide in the water and when the weeds are doing their thing in this department fish may gather to soak up the extra oxygen.

Clear water lake definitely can show a preference to a night bite. Remember too that we are coming up on the full moon again. Look for good late bites if the skies stay clear.