Sunny Days Make for the Best Smallmouth Fishing

Have you ever observed that majority of our smallmouth photos from spring are on sunny days?

Sunny skies with warm southern winds that mixes with the lake’s cold water temperatures activates smallmouth bass, starting their spring spawning movements and influencing them to feed heavily.

Sunlight is so important to the underwater ecosystem and influencing the moods of smallmouth bass.

In May, each day grows longer by the minute. Every morning, the sun rises upward and higher to the northern skies. The climate warms due to a changing jet stream, channeling its southern and western winds northward.

Sunlight with its warming weather drives all fish activity in spring. High pressure systems bringing sunlight and humidity regenerates weed growth and triggers the feeding of shallow water largemouth bass. Meanwhile sunny skies with warm southern winds that mixes with the lake’s cold water temperatures activates smallmouth bass, starting their spring spawning movements and influencing them to feed heavily on baitfish. This is why it’s always important to prioritize fishing the warmest areas of lakes.

Good weather and climate in spring positively influences bass fishing. Bad weather can negatively impact bass fishing too. Spring cold fronts with cold northwest winds delay all spring movements including the spawn, and bass retreat away from the shallows until water temps climb again. Spring cold fronts are so detrimental to fisheries that they can shut down feeding at most lakes unless the current within a river system or flowage helps minimize the impact and effects.

Prioritize Sunny Afternoons

Our spring fishing season is a short, condensed 6 week period lasting from May season opener through the end of spawn in mid June. Years of fishing experience has led me to figure out the best days for spring smallmouth are under sunny conditions.

Peak smallmouth fishing during May revolves around sunlight and water temperature. If you look at the hundreds of spring smallmouth photos I’ve shot, nearly of them were caught during midday hours and afternoons on bright sunny days. Besides sunlight, optimal water temperature for best feeding and activity, and longest spre-spawn feeding windows is 48 to 55 degrees. This is a product of the warming days and comfortable southern & western winds the season delivers.

Want to experience advantageous fishing during the spring season? Prioritize sunny conditions and midday fishing hours.

There is very little incentive getting on the water at sunrise. With shortened feeding windows and cold overnight lows, you’ll get your day started off right with a little extra sleep or tackling household chores.

Unless I have a day off, or don’t have guide customers to host, I rarely ever get out on the water prior to 9am.

Camp on Lakes

During our colder spring and fall months, we often spend much of our day fishing a single lake. While doing so, we are also waiting for fish activity to happen and feeding windows to open.

At some point or another, we’ve all been guilty of leaving the lake too prematurely in the day. This is a huge mistake to do so during the spring season. In my opinion, you should want to be camped on whichever lake you’re on between the 11am to 4pm hours. While it’s difficult to predict good or bad fishing, this mistake will no doubt result in missing out on bites. It commonly happens in spring before giving sunlight a chance to warm water temperatures. It also happens any time, at any point in the year.

One of the most important fishing tools anyone can acquire is patience. Waiting for feeding windows to open and fish movements to happen resulting from a weather change, lunar period, or a water temperature increase can lead to an amazing outing if you haven’t left the water to go elsewhere. The fishing that may have been poor hours earlier just got good all thanks to patience and persistence, and being at right place at the right time.

The worst thing you can do is be on the road somewhere, or in a car while smallmouths are prone to be most active midday.

Smallmouths Love Sun

One common bass fishing misconception is how fish avoid the sunlight as much as possible. It could be true for largemouth bass at times, but smallmouth on the other hand beg to differ.

Our best smallmouth fishing takes place on sunny days. Sunlight stimulates smallmouth activity and drives their feeding patterns. Because they are visual feeders, smallmouth are most responsive in such conditions year round.

The sun turns smallmouth bass into a happy fish.