Someone in one of the fly fishing forums was looking for
suggestions regarding why they weren’t catching as many fish as they expected. They were fishing a few U.P. Michigan
Ponds/lakes for brook trout. He had put
in long days starting the day at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m., and fishing to 5:00 -5:30. OF course, the days were not a total loss -
beautiful scenery and several loons to keep him company.
My initial response, although I had never fished the ponds/
lakes mentioned, I will say, I've been fishing for a long time, in alot of
different places for alot of different fish. One of the biggest mistakes I
generically see folks make - fishing at the worst time of the day. Most folks
are coming out just as the fishing slows down, and go home just as the fishing
starts to pick up.
I have found you are best off to fish early in the morning, and late in the
evening. Having been doing this for a long time, I can say it is often dramatic
what a difference if makes. The difference is sometimes lessened on a cloudy
day, but on a sunny day, you are much better off taking a mid day nap and
resting up for an evening of fishing. Someone may be able to come up with an
exception, but day in and day out, fishing the low light times of day is the
way to go.
So wrote Rudyard Kipling - “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day
sun”
My advice was pretty much solely based on my own personal experience. But as I thought about it, there are a number
of factual reasons to support my claim.
In a given lake or
pond, trout may indeed be at the top of the aquatic food chain. That's probably true as long as they don't
have to worry about what's in the air.
In ecosystems where loons, herons, kingfishers, fish eating raptors, etc
are present, fish drop down a notch or two in the predator/prey pyramid. Since the birds are all sight feeders, if
they are present, fish learn to stay scarce when they are highly visible from
above.
I'm not at all familiar with the biology of U.P. lakes and
ponds. Down in my neck of the Michigan
woods, zooplankton forms the basis of the food chain in alot of lakes. Many species of zooplankton exhibit a
behavior known as diurnal vertical migration.
In the evenings, the zooplankton swim toward the surface; at
dawn, they sink back down thru the water column. The stuff that eats the zooplankton tends to
focus their feeding behaviors during these migration periods. Zooplankton is particularly vulnerable during
these migrations. Their swimming motion is often species specific and readily recognizable. That motion may certainly be a feeding
trigger for the species that prey on the zooplankton. That in turn causes the larger fish to become
more active in terms of feeding on the smaller fish.
OF course the same thing applies to the aquatic bugs, fish
tend to become active when the bugs are active.
Alot of hatches occur during the early mornings and late evenings. Aquatic insects tend to avoid the bright sun
and mid day heat. Perhaps partially to
avoid detection, as well as avoid dehydration.
During the middle of the day from a prey fish perspective,
there is less activity going on, i.e. less chance of an easy meal, coupled with
the fact they are more likely to get eaten themselves by something in the air,
fish soon learn to retreat to the safety of the depths. Same way I use to tell my kid, not much good
happens after midnight, not much good happens to our fish friends at noon.
It really all comes down to risk vs. reward. Fish that make unwise choices about their
safety tend to get eaten, which in turn removes those behaviors from the gene
pool.
