fish movement

[charlie1959]

anyone else seem to have this happen best northern fishing spearing or otherwise , best fishing 11am to 2 pm not much before or after this seems to be apattern for me for years anyone else?whats your experence?

[kdawg]

The only time I was out this year was up north (grand rapids) and we got on the lake by 9:30 on the 26th. We had pretty much non-stop action from 9:45 to 12:30. We went in the resort for lunch and got back around 2-ish. We saw a number of 'em from then 'til 4:30. The morning was definately busier. It was the best day of spearing I can remember. In all (3 houses) we saw around 40 fish ranging from 2lbs to 6lbs. I had on a very old white w/red nose and tips decoy and I was extremely active with it. A few fish torpedo'd it, while most of them would stop just outside the hole and then some would slowly come in, while others were very cautious.

Funny aside: the third time my son threw the spear, it stuck in the bottom unattached to the broken rope (my brother gave me the spear to use) in about 12 feet of water. The house we were in had 2 reels on the ceiling so I dropped each one down separately and wrapped them around the spear, enabling me to pull them up with both lines at once.

[mrpike1973]

i think your right 10;00 to 2;00 has always been the best for me summer or winter. i have hardly ever speared or caught a pike after 3;00

[bassNspear]

I would have to agree. I have seen the most fish between 11-2 and then again from 3:15-dark.

[Fish&Fowl]

We are seeing the majority of our fish between noon-3:00pm. We may see a couple before and after those times, but we are probably seeing an average of 3-6 fish/hour during that time.

[Gordie]

the best times for this season is 9:00-11:00 and 3:00-dar. I tried today for about and hour and a half 10:30-noon and didnt see a thing.

[bassNspear]

Maybe you dont have the right decoy!

[Pooh]

sat down at 2 saw my first second and third fish by 230 and didnt see another till 415 all smaller fish (less than 3 pounds). white on red decoy is the only thing the fish would look at.

[DinnerPail]

Mornings have been the best so far this year, until yesterday didn't see a fish all morning. Late afternoon, last hour have seen quite a few walleyes but not many northerns. This has been pretty typical for the lake I spear on over the past several years. Have kept a log and found this is the usual pattern for this peticular lake. Most of the northerns we have seen have been in the 3#-5# range. A few 35" plus and they are still swimming. Bigest problem is getting to the house this year, snowmobile is the only option right now.

[Gordie]

been trying lots of differnt decoys and spoons personally I think its the traffic on the lake the last few times I've gone its like a freeway at rush hour.

Moved my shack to the other side of the lake today this afternoon and cut hole sat down and in fifteen min I saw 6 crappies 3 perch and about a 5 lb bass no pike but we'll give her a run in the morning.

[sandbagger]

There was an interesting article in a recent In-Fisherman regarding the movement of pike. In my experience mid morning and just before dark in the evening have been the best times. Now, in this article, the author, Gord Pyzer, talks a lot about the affect sunlight has on pike activity in the winter. He says that when there is a lot of snow, the fish become real active when the sun comes out in the winter because "the quality of light on bright sunny, winter days is optimized as it passes through the several inches of ice and snow, transformed so that the conditions become identical to what exists during the peak feeding periods of early morning, late evening, and overcast days during the open water period." In lab tests, the article said that when someone played with the dimmer switch, the fish immediately became active at the light level equivalent to a sunny day on snowy ice.

So, have you found that during sunny days, you get more movement during the mid-day periods than on cloudy days? Would be interesting to experiment or pay attention to this.

[Gordie]

sandbagger I have read the same article and cant say that its on tract with the lake I,m on YET but still have to do more research my self. and that means more time in the spear shack baby

[sandbagger]

Elwood: I'm jealous. I won't be in the spear house for nearly two more weeks. Withdrawals kicking in. Either way, I'll likely be doing my spearing in the morning or late afternoon hours, but it would be interesting to see what happens mid-day. I've just not paid a ton of attention to sunlight in the winter periods - mostly because most of my fishing is done at dawn or dusk.

[browning_gold]

I usually experience my best luck in the mornings from about 830 to noon.. I usually dont have the best luck in the afternoons

[merkman]

interesting sandbagger

[Huey]

In terms of seeing fish, I had my best day yesterday from about 1pm to 3:30pm. Sunny day, set up a long ways from anybody, almost zero traffic. Saw lots of panfish, northerns, and muskie. Then I went in for the Vikings game. That was a mistake.

[Fish Toys]

Yea Huey you should have stayed fishing being the biggest pike in your life cruised thru the hole when you were gone! Just think it MIGHT be back?

[Gordie]

stuck a 26 incher this morning and it was cloudy it was at 8:45 then saw nothing had to leave around 10:30

[bassNspear]

Nice work! You out on that mystery lake?

[Gordie]

no mystery its little elk

[Huey]

Elwood-

I want your job. You're out on the ice all the time. I'm jealous.

Thanks for reporting, btw, is always good to see someone is out there.

Huey

[Gordie]

yea Huey I'm in the consrtuction buss and it really gets slow in the winter so got to pas the time some how. I know its tough but someones got to do it