All the rain the past few weeks has made fishing interesting in my ponds. Both ponds got pretty muddy and that made the bream bite better. Since I fish out there most days and let most of the bream go that I catch, I have taught the danger of a hook. I often see a bream, especially the bigger ones, swim up to a piece of food on the #6 hook and stop. It is like they are thinking “I know there is a catch to this, I have seen something like this before.”

Muddy water makes it harder for them to see the hook as does other low light conditions. Late in the afternoon and early in the morning the bream bite better. Some wind rippling the surface of the water also breaks up the light and makes it harder for them to see the hook.

Bass fishermen should take note. If bream can learn to avoid hooks, I am sure bass can, too. And bass get fished hard on our big lakes. One nice weekends you often have to take a number and get in line to fish a good point on many of our lakes.

There is an old joke that the bass at Jackson Lake know the Bass Pro Shops catalog number of each plug they see. That is one reason a new bait can be hot for a time when it first comes out then the fish seem to stop hitting it. They learn what it looks like and how it moves in the water.

Fishing for bass under low light conditions works. Early morning and late afternoon, as well as after dark, is more comfortable and the bass bite better. Wind blowing onto a point is a classic type situation to catch bass and the disturbed surface and water makes it harder for the bass to see the bait and more likely they are going to hit.

There is no bad time to go fishing but some times are better than others for catching. Go any time you can but take advantage of anything that makes it harder for fish to see your bait. Under those conditions fishing is more likely to also be catching.