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Savage Voyageur
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02/23/2018 03:20PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I didn’t want to hijack Mad Anglers thread so I will ask a similar question here. Do you follow the Sun when fishing? An outfitter in Ontario told us how to fish on 3 different lakes last year. All 3 lakes were larger size lakes that were mostly long North/South lakes. He told us to fish the East side on the lakes in the morning and the west side of the lakes in the evening. That way you should be fishing mostly on the shady side of the lake in the morning and evening.

This seems like it’s just the opposite thing to do. I like to catch some rays too when I fish, also like to stand and see better into the water the bottom structure with polarized sunglasses. But we took his advice and caught many Walleyes.

What does the shade have to do with fishing, and do you practice this technique?
 
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02/23/2018 05:08PM  
I always try to start on the shady side of a reef in the summer when the Walleys have made it out to mid lake structure . But that is on the west side in the am, and east side in the pm. Hmm... maybe I’m doing it all wrong , but it seems to work out well for the most part . When fishing around the mainland shore, and islands I use the same approach. Again, this is for Walleye ,If smallmouth or northern fishing I really don’t think it matters much, but I don’t spend much time fishing for them specifically.
 
mastertangler
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02/23/2018 08:48PM  
Many fish, especially fish of size, avoid direct sunlight. They go deep or hunker in some shade. Of course exceptions abound.......I had been fishing the St Clair river for 2 solid days having spent the night on the deck of my boat, and was trolling in the clear waters of the St Clair river at about 2 p.m. In the afternoon of the 2nd day trolling a Grandma lure in about 15 ft. I had a nice strike and minutes later I had the walleye of my life. Three times I tried to stick it with a very good salt water gaff and 3 times the fish bounced off. The fish got away and a resident who had watched the entire fiasco from afar walked to the waters edge and asked if I had just lost a Muskie.
 
bassnet
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02/23/2018 09:44PM  
Predators will use the shade as “cover”.....shady side of a point, reef, log. Even at night, they will stay in the shade of a bright moon. While those dark shoreline pockets will hold fish, they could be hovering near surface, so try to not toss back a noise lure. A Sluggo/Senko will catch more than grandpa’s noisey Jitterbug.( a time and place for that grand ‘ol lure!)
 
QueticoMike
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02/24/2018 08:39AM  
I have caught numerous smallmouth in bright sun conditions with a multitude of lures and presentations. I've even heard KVD talking about how the bite would be better when the sun came out. I don't know. I do know the warming sun in the pre-spawn stage will bring big bass into the shallows to warm up. Maybe I just fish more than most people and catch fish in all conditions of light? All I know is the best time to be out there fishing is whenever you can get out there. You're not going to catch many fish sitting back at camp without a line in the water. Fish all you can when up in the woods. You can rest and eat when you get home :)
 
02/24/2018 09:34AM  
QueticoMike: "I have caught numerous smallmouth in bright sun conditions with a multitude of lures and presentations. I've even heard KVD talking about how the bite would be better when the sun came out. I don't know. I do know the warming sun in the pre-spawn stage will bring big bass into the shallows to warm up. Maybe I just fish more than most people and catch fish in all conditions of light? All I know is the best time to be out there fishing is whenever you can get out there. You're not going to catch many fish sitting back at camp without a line in the water. Fish all you can when up in the woods. You can rest and eat when you get home :)"
+ 1
 
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