Favorite Time of Day: Morning or Afternoon

[MathGeek]

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?