best time to fish...

[stapler]

Hey Guys:

I heard so many different times of day when the fishing is the best...for the merrit area over the long weekend, is there a best time to be out there???? first light, heat of the day, dust...i really have no idea...! thanks guys....

[chalupa]

Early season, till the start of dog days I seldom start fishing before 10 a.m. I will head out on the lake I'm fishing about an hour before that to observe what is going on and set up. Certain locations that produce one day, may not be so productive the next. If you are trolling around this is not so important, but if you are anchoring it can be paramount to your success to locate areas that insects are hatching off. There are obvious " hotspots" in alot of lakes that are easily located due to the concentration of anglers who are anchored up, but early in the season it is a good idea to try and locate fish and stay on them. If having limited or no success, it is always a good idea to move. I've been out of the zone by as little as 20-30 ft only to watch the guy next to me nailing them on the same set-up I'm using. That being said, I will usually go to a local that has produced in the past, anchor, and wait for the bite to come on (usually 10 a.m.) and give it till about 2 p.m. If the weather isn't co-operating ( i.e: falling barometer) the bite can be very sporadic if at all and is usually of short duration. I'll head back out around 5 p.m. and fish till dusk, but typically really good evening fishing happens closer to summer. If you wake up at 6 a.m. and the lake is boiling with trout, don't waste your time racing out there because those fish have been doing that (feeding) all nite and are about to take a break,..... till about 10 a.m. Good luck!!

[chauchey]

9am is a good time, just like chalupa said. Around 10am things start moving because the morning sun starts warming things up, and you want to be out there and ready to fish when that happens. Aside from that, I've found 1pm-3pm, and then again a couple hours before dark to be consistantly good times. That gets tweaked of course depending on the time of year, what the moon is doing, etc. etc.

[johnk]

There are many factors to consider here. Elevation? Weather? Last night's temperature? Pre or post-turnover?

If it were me and the elevation was similiar to Chataway I would be on the water by nine and not off until after dark. The hour before dark is a great time for catching the bigger fish as they move up onto the shoals.

[Ruger]

i generally have my best fishing in the evenings during the early season and mornings during the later season.

i would have to say though, throughout the year, i seem to catch most of my fish in the afternoon and evenings.

[macrib46]

For all the years we mife wife and I have been fishig the Merritt area, we have found for us that thw best times for us are from 10;00 in the mornig till 2:00 in the afternoon, then again in the eavening from about 7:00 till dusk.

dave