Time of day

[Squaretail]

Most of the Flyfishing year, especially on those days when I'm "away" on a fishing trip I really enjoy getting up before the sun is up; fishing until 10 or 11AM and then going back to the campsite or cabin for the warmer hours and then heading back to the river or pond at 5 or 6pm for the evening hatch and fishing until after dark. ( another topic someday for discussion is night fishing- where it's legal). Anyway- this time of year what do you think, generally, are the beat times of day to be on the water? If I had to chose 3 hours to fish I think I would be there 4-7 pm. The trouble is in past years in April I get all fired up to be standing knee deep somewhere at 5 AM and the water temp and the air temp are in the 40's and the fish don' t seem to be turned on to feeding. Anyone care to jump in for Early fishing preferences??

[Squaretail]

Sorry Fessie- I remember the "spelling" post on the FFIM board. I just re-read my post here and I apologize for the ""beat" times of day" and the "if I had to "chose" line. I guess I need an EDIT option. It does make you lose interest in the post when you're trying to figure out what someone is trying to say. Anyway...what time of day do people like to river and stream fish this early in the season ?

[Gerry]

I remember reading many years ago a "how to" book on fly fishing. In it the author stated that he followed the rule that fish bite best during the "most pleasant time of day" for the season. that means in mid-summer, fish very early or very late. Early and late in the season, fish mid-day. It probably boils down to optimum water temps, which is what I go by more than time of day. Fish (trout) metabolism is best either side of 60F. Below 45 and over 70, they just about shut down, all things being equal.
tight lines,
Gerry

[MJ]

Myself, I am a bit of a morning person, and that has little to do with the optimum time to hunt trout. I just like mornings quite a lot. I guess it's due to there tends to be less people about earlier, less traffic, less noise, a whole day stretches before me full of promise, the earth is warming, birds are singing, blah, blah, blah...

All kidding aside, I do just prefer mornings. Evenings are lovely too, again, disregarding optimum fishing/hunting times. But for general living experience, I'll take early morning anytime. It broke my heart, and taxed my patience, when I had to give up years of working 2nd shift to return to the day shift...such a waste of good morning and early afternoon time. Nonetheless, I heartily agree with Gerry, that when it comes to trout fishing, it's the water temp that rules. Still, in spite of that, I have often opted for the time of day, in and of itself, rather than the optimum water temp and other conditions in choosing when to fish. Catching fish is always fun, but it isn't always the reason for fishing. :)

Mark

[Blake P]

Mornings, definately mornings.
Food for thought, in the the evenings it doesn't have enough time to cool off. Water holds the heat. By the time mornig comes around it is defiantely cooler allowing the trout to have more tome to feed.
I notice the same thing for the salt. How often did I ever catch a Tuna at 3 in the afternoon.
Its nice to watch the sun come off and watch the sun come up.
However I do notice much better hatches in the late afternoon or dusk.

[sbeausol]

My best dry fly fishing has always been late evening. Although I haven't fished as many mornings as evenings, my personal experience has been that evenings are most productive -

I think Blake makes a good point of temps not cooling fast enough, but I wonder if light levels turn on feeding fish in a similar way as water temp...

[bmik]

Water temps do factor in, but I believe that light levels are a trigger.
In low light the fish are more active because they do not fear attack from above (birds) as much as in full light. This applies to salt as well as fresh water. Ever notice why so many striper fisherman always look tired?...they're out all night casting for the big ones!

In rivers during full light, the fish are there but they are in deeper holes, undercut banks, around rocks, behind logs, close to te bottom, etc.

anyway...that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

[Tommy Boy]

So far this year, my best luck has been right up til sunset, but after sunset the fishing has died off completley. I was catching some small brookies in a pond last evening and at around 7:30 as it started to cool the fishing completley shut off. Perhaps with the water still cool the trout are playing sunfish?
Also another interesting thought, I was fishing next to some peepers who were peeping really loud. The small trout were rising like crazy and I was doing pretty good. 2 guys came down to me from the peeper side of the pond. The peepers stopped their peeping and the trout also immediatley stopped. There was no way the trout saw the people (I would of been much more obvious to be seen anyways) The guys fished for about 1/2 hour then left. Neither of them or me got a strike. As soon as they left the peepers started up again and so did the trout. Could the trout hear the peepers, and when the peepers stopped, did it tell the trout something was wrong? I could not think of any other explanation. The fishing vastly improved when the guys left. Any thoughts?