When do largemouth bass bite

We stick to natural colors, like green pumpkin in soft plastics or gold spoons and blade baits. Light line is a must. I use 6-pound fluorocarbon because it helps me control lighter weight lures in deeper water and provide a more natural presentation.

I also suggest a facemask and a good pair of thin, performance gloves such as those liners used by downhill skiers. They give you free finger movement, retain your feel and keep your hands warmer than you think. One day, three of us sat in the boat and threw at the same spot. In a two-hour period, we caught 64 bass, including some nice ones! Kevin VanDam's column appears weekly on Bassmaster.

You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter. Tinkering with bass fishing gear is one of Patrick Walters' passions and something that has contributed to his successful career. Skip to main content. Cold fronts directly affect bass. In the hours prior to a cold front, bass will dine heavily on baitfish and frogs. Regardless of the time of day, fish this window heavily.

After the cold front has moved in, wait a few hours for the bass to adjust. Bass feeding will be much more sluggish now so fish slower and be much quicker with your hooksets since bass bites will be less decisive. Rain and overcast conditions will often spike bass activity. Both reduce visible light which gives bass that light-vision advantage over prey. Rain also is thought to increase water-dissolved oxygen, stir up nutrients and flush insects into the water, and drop atmospheric pressure which has been thought to improve bass fishing.

For a comprehensive breakdown of the best rods , reels, electronics, line, and baits for bass fishing, check out my recommended bass fishing gear list. Fishing for bass is better in the late afternoons much of the year over early mornings because bass are warmed up from the daytime high temperatures and have been waiting for reduced light of evenings to launch ambushes on prey. Bass fishing can be great both in the morning and in the afternoon.

In the spring and fall, bass fishing is better in the late afternoon. During the late spring and summer, the bite in the early morning hours following a full moon night can be very slow as bass who were feeding all night are now stuffed.

For these scenarios, wait until the following evening to fish for bass. If I had to choose, I would say evening bite is better overall than morning bite most of the year but the morning bite can be fantastic.

To learn the best time of day to catch largemouth bass , please check out this helpful article. The best time of year to catch largemouth bass is early morning until 2 hours after sunrise and late afternoon 2 hours before sunset until dusk.

Truly large female bass who are chasing trout, shiners, and bluegills will actually bite best during the middle of the day as the overhead sunlight gives them the greatest field of view. Early morning is the best time of day to catch smallmouth bass, especially during summer and fall. Smallmouth bass prefer clear, cold water and rely heavily on their vision to locate and hunt food.

Early morning offers these bass the best reduced light conditions to ambush prey. During the summer and fall, fish for striped bass early morning from dawn until 2 hours after sunrise.

This is when they will be most active following schools of baitfish and blowing up on the surface. If you are fishing in the late spring, try fishing at night when stripers are blowing up spawning alewives. Depending on the size of the pond, mornings and later afternoons are usually best for bass fishing. Bass will seek out cooler water where there is greater oxygen content. Early mornings, especially, have good cool water in shallower water where they can attack frogs, fish, and mice.

As the day moves along, bass will head down to the deeper parts of the pond chasing baitfish and more oxygen-rich water. For big bass, late winter and the middle of summer is the best season for solitary females using swimbaits.

If you are open-minded about bed fishing, the spawn is dynamite with jigs and bluegill swimbaits. If you like pure numbers and want to catch a ton of bass with the occasional big fish, mid-to-late September is when bass will school up pushing baitfish in preparation for winter. During this time, they will gorge themselves on baitfish to fatten up for the leaner winter months. Most times of the year, bass fishing is best around dawn and dusk. Focus on the hours of dawn until around 8 am and pm until dusk in the late spring, summer, and fall.

During the late fall, winter, and early spring focus fishing efforts around midday for bass. The night bite can be big during the summer on full moon nights as long as you use noisy or large baits to incite a reactionary bite. Research for this article was gathered from 2 scientific papers cited below to ensure the most accurate information possible. Hanson, K. Assessment of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides behavior and activity at multiple spatial and temporal scales utilizing a whole-lake telemetry array.

Developments in Fish Telemetry, McMahon, T. Foraging success of largemouth bass at different light intensities: Implications for time and depth of feeding. Journal of Fish Biology, 46 5 , I am an avid angler and outdoorsman. I grew up fishing for anything that swims but really cut my teeth fishing for trout, chain pickerel, bass, and bullheads in my teenage years.

Since then, I've lived across the country and have really taken that passion for fishing to a new level. This is a great time to catch big bass. Bass will wait at ambush points during bluegill spawning and readily eat lures worked past these points.

The best spots are shoreline points on either side of a spawning cove, shoreline pockets, the front and sides of a downed tree, dock, or any kind of large structure near the bluegill beds. When you find early season bluegill beds, know the bass are somewhere close. Post-spawn bass hold in shoreline cover as the spring weather stabilizes.

Weed lines have not yet set up, so bass are keying in on trees and brush. Article: Jerk Shads for Spring Bass. Summer bass fishing can be tough. The longer days, hotter temperatures and direct sunlight can send bass from the shoreline areas to deeper summer haunts. The best times to fish are early morning, the last two hours of daylight, cloudy days and nighttime. While productive depths during the early summer are dependent on the lake, I like 6 to 12 feet of water. During the height of summer, bass may move as deep as 15 or 20 feet, especially in clear water.

Weeds have grown by summer and bass will relate to them. Weed edges that are well defined, like a wall of weeds, will hold the best fishing. These edges are usually so defined because of a drop-off bordering the weeds.

Early morning bass will be positioned toward the outside, so pull right up to the weed edge and fish parallel to it. Use crankbaits, spinnerbaits or jigs. Try slow-rolling the spinnerbait along the bottom as close to the weeds as possible.

During the day, bass will move toward deeper water or deeper inside the weeds. When the sun is high, always fish the shady side of cover no matter how deep or shallow.

Cast a frog into the weeds, pausing and twitching the bait at any openings. Pitch a jig into the same openings—you may need a heavy jig to break through the canopy. In deeper lakes, some largemouths will seek out cooler water by moving to offshore structure such as small- to medium-sized gravel, hard bottom or shell beds. Underwater humps surrounded by deeper water, long points that lead to deep water, areas where the channel swings close to shore, sunken brush piles, fallen trees and channels or deep depressions in coves will also hold summer largemouths.

Fish these structures with drop-shot rigs, football-head jigs, Carolina rigs and crankbaits. Summer Tip: Get some good foul weather gear and make sure to be on the water when a low-pressure system is approaching as long as there is no lightning. As soon as it begins to rain, get to the best area of the lake—the big fish will start feeding soon after. As the water cools in the fall, bass move shallower to feed and pack on weight for the lean winter. Once the water drops to 55 degrees, the bite can turn on.

Another bonus is that few anglers are still fishing at this time of year. Dress properly and you will have awesome days all to yourself. There are large fish still to be caught as well as large quantities. The bass will stack up in prime areas and you can catch them one after another. Early in the fall, before the lake turns over, bass will move back into the same shallow areas where they were feeding before the spawn.

A small- to medium-sized spinnerbait, like the War Eagle, and a square-billed crankbait will work wonders in the month of September. Points once again will be sure spots for fish as well as any cover adjacent to deeper water.

Article: Deer Season Bass Strategies. I have three go-to lures for fall—a medium-diving crankbait, a lipless crankbait, and a jerkbait. Topwaters, spoons and spinnerbaits can also be effective. As the lake turns over, fishing will be tough for a stretch. After turnover, when the lake has settled and cleared up again, bass will move to the steepest ledges leading to flats with the last remaining weeds on them. Pay attention to the weeds that get stuck on your hooks. Bass pile up next to the last remaining living green weeds.

Dying brown weeds will deplete an area of oxygen, and bass will not linger in these places. As the water gets colder, bass will start ganging up on steep slopes; you can leave flat shorelines alone once the water is in the 40s and 50s. Look for the sharpest drop-offs all around the lake and you can be fairly certain that these will be early- and late-season spots.

Article: Fall is Crankbait Season.