Your Questions About Bass Fishing At Night by Mark White

Your Questions About Bass Fishing At Night

Sharon asks…

How can I find out my local water temperature on the internet? I need to know if it’s above 50° for bass fishing.

LMBassFish answers: I don’t think it’s actually possible to find this information anywhere, as water temperature depends heavily on specific factors such as time of year, time of day, depth of the body of water, and weather conditions. If you are looking to go fishing in a well-known lake or park that has a website, they may monitor and post the water temp. If not, here are a few basic guidelines: Water takes in and loses heat a lot more slowly than the air. Therefore, it will cool down at night and will begin to slowly heat up throughout the day. On a sunny day the temperature of a pond will be comparable to the air temperature sometime in the late afternoon/early evening. So if you want to go out fishing when the air temp is only 55 degrees, wait until at least 3pm before giving it a try. Also pay attention to how cold it got the night before. Even if you have a beautiful, 70 degree day, if the temp dipped into the low 40s, you will still need to wait until the afternoon to go fishing. Once the weather gets to a point where the lowest temp at night is ~50, then you can go fishing any time of day, as long as it’s not particularly windy or stormy. So basically, on a sunny day, expect the temperature of the water to “lag” behind the current air

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temp by about 5 hours (or more, if the pond is particularly deep). Another thing to make a note of is how the pond is getting its water. If it is fed into by only a river or stream, then the above applies. If it is being fed by a lot of ground water, you may need to wait until even later in the season to start fishing. Although generally speaking, when the lowest nightly temp is consistently above 50, the pond’s temperature will be higher than 50 on a sunny day. Edit: If by chance you are going bass fishing in the ocean, here’s a good site for surface temps: http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/

Nancy asks…

Why do people say bass are more active during the day? From my experience, I cannot catch LM bass during the day. I only catch them during late afternoon and night. (fishing different lakes). I use a jitterbug lure as well as spinnerbait. Am I doing something wrong or am I just unlucky?

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LMBassFish answers: There is a different technique to catch bass during the day. So, heres my theory. Bass are easier to catch at dawn and dusk for 2 reasons 1. It’s cooler, so they’ll be more active. Only applies to summer 2. The water isn’t lit up, so they have an advantage over their prey because of their superior sense. During fall, bass are definatly more active during the day because at dawn and dusk, it’s around 40-50 degrees outside. And bass being warmwater fish don’t like that.

Carol asks…

What are some good places to go fishing? I want to go fishing with some friends and we want to go to a quiet place where we can fish, hang out, maybe have some beers. That doesn’t require a license, and it has to be anywhere within the Los Angeles county area in California. Thanks in advance.

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LMBassFish answers: Santa Ana River Lakes, Anaheim Lake, Irvine Lake and Corona Lakes all have what we cal “pay to play” you pay their preset fee you keep only the number of fish they allow they have boat rentals and you can fish from shore and it’s trout season. All have bass, crappie catfish bluegill and Santa Ana River Lakes has a lake full of Whiper(the effect of cross breeding stripers and white bass. For trout use kastmasters from shore and the sierra cocktail from boats the bass are well fished for and still take almost all baits (no one keeps them though) and mini jigs and flies for the sun fish work. Santa Ana river lakes even has all night cat fishing nights and Irvine too. As far as fishing from the piers, no drinking! Even in Newport Harbor on docks with blue rails (they are county owned) and on community piers in the ocean no license required all (any) other place you gotta have it! If you all should get fishing licenses for Christmas at Davies Locker in Newport/ Balboa Peninsula you can rent skiffs and there are Halibut all over in the bay till march.

Mary asks…

What is the best rig to use when fishing in a fresh water pond? i have been fishing in a pond behind my house and i use spinners and spoons. what else is good to use.

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LMBassFish answers: I lot of people think a fly rod is for trout, but I think its highest and greatest use is for a large bass. I caught an 8lb and a 5lb last night on a large white popping bug. Rubber legs, black and white feathers. I lost another that looked to be in the 7 to 8 lb range. It was the finest fishing day of my life and it all happened in less than two hours before dark. You don’t need a fancy set up. Decent rods are available under $100. Pay more and it just for show. Get you some popping bugs, and sinking spiders, woolly buggers, black and red ants and bream flys. You will have a blast.

Joseph asks…

What color fishing worm should I use in the evening? I am going fishing in the lake soon. There are three colors of the same worm. I know that it has to due with the time of the day that the fish can see a certain color. But I am not sure the order. There is dark blue, neon green, and white. Any fishing pro’s that can help me out?

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LMBassFish answers: FishSteelhead and Alex are absolutely right. When night fishing for bass, it’s not about color. They can’t see it very well anyway. You need a color that is “DARK”, something that silhouettes. You want them to feel like “something is there, but what is it?”, and get a “curiosity” bite. The fish don’t want to pass on a “would be meal”. Black, purple, red shad, black neon, black with blue flake, even green pumpkin are good. Thumbs up to FSH and Alex.