Favorite Time of Day: Morning or Afternoon
 

I understand the desire to be on the water as the sun is rising and to get back to the boat launch before the wind picks up and makes it all harder. However, as I think back on my 5 best ever fishing days, they were all situations where things caught fire in the last hour before sunset. Even my best 10 fishing days were all after noon, and I can't even remember ever catching a fish over four pounds before 11:00 AM. Sure, there are those occasions when we've slaughtered the trout before 11:00 AM, but those were all under 2 lbs. That can be a lot of fun, but it's a lot more fun when there are larger fish in the mix and so many fish in the boat that a 100 quart ice chest won't hold them all.

I wonder if it's my style of fishing that drives my success in the last hour before sunset. I tend to fish bait (a mix of live and dead shrimp, crab, minnows, croaker, mullet, pogies) more than lures and encourage my kids to work a live shrimp under a bobber or popping cork while having a second bait on the bottom. I also tend to view the last hour as "prime time" so I like to try 3-6 spots throughout the afternoon to and return to the most promising location for prime time. Perhaps I can better read where the bait is moving and where the fish are laying in wait on a falling tide than I can read those details in the morning when the tide is rising.

Does the expectation of mediocre mornings and sunsets of fishing fire become a self-fulfilling prophecy or can I learn to do a better job in the mornings?

So what is your view? Have you experienced most success in the morning, midday, or afternoons?

I love to watch a sunrise in the morning don't get me wrong, but imo i have had better success late in the afternoon.

I wouldn't say one is better than the other, but I would say I catch more fish on a falling tide..

Maybe it just the over excitement in the mornings? Gets you fired up and expecting more, and maybe making bad decisions on where the fish are going to be. Then as you hang out on the water and figure out what the fish are doing, you make a better decision in the afternoon and get on the fish?

Long back as I can remember, only maybe one or two days were best in the morning, every other day has been trumped by the afternoon bite. Both Fresh and Saltwater.

The only thing I don't like about afternoon trips is the clean up that night or next morning. During the dog days of summer I find the bass fishing to be better in the am. Other than that I don't notice a difference.

If I am fishing alone....sunrise to sunset

Depends on the tides.

I like my evenings.

Any time I can go. Lol

When the least amount of boats are on the water....

I eat atleast 3 times a day! BRING on the samich when the sun is low!

I usually don't fish all day and plan the day before whether to make it a sunrise or sunset cruise. However, I think you are onto something. The morning decisions are made with less information. It's barely light when the first spot gets picked, and there is no prior experience to use when picking baits and techniques. On a sunset cruise, the last spot of the day gets arrived at with all the earlier experience of the day: spot, bait, depth, technique, etc. I've had most of my deer hunting success in the afternoons and evenings also, perhaps for the similar reasons. (My wife, in contrast, has most of her deer kills in the morning, including the monster buck hanging in our living room. Maybe I need to bring her on more of the AM fishing expeditions!)

I like to be throwing a top water before the sun comes up n taking a nap by 11am then back out throwing a top water from 5-9 pm in the spring/summer