Best Time of Year to Fish for Bass: Fish Like a Pro!

When deciding to go on a bass fishing trip, one of the most important things that you can do is to understand exactly what is the best time of year to fish for bass. 

Going fishing at the right time can determine the overall success of your fishing trip in terms of the bass caught. Bass fishing is an exciting sport, so choosing the wrong time to go can be disastrous to your hopes of landing a big catch.

Here’s a quick guide to help you determine the ideal time for you to go fishing for bass.

Are you hooked? Let’s go fishing!

Best Times to Fish for Bass

In order to understand the most ideal time to fish for bass, you need to first have an understanding of the habits and tendencies of the bass itself. 

All You Need to Know About Bass

As you probably know, bass are a beautiful type of fish that can be found in freshwater and salty seawater conditions.

They are particularly known for having a distinctly delicious taste that draws scores of anglers and fishermen with polarized sunglasses for sight fishing to lure and catch them at every chance they get. 

It’s obvious that bass are cold-blooded creatures. This means that their inner body temperatures are in tune with the external environment that they inhabit.

Their heightened sensitivity to their surrounding temperatures thus makes them more likely to change their habits and general positioning across the differences in the seasons. 

Thus, we can see that in order to garner the best time of year to fish for striped bass, it’s relevant to consider their response to extreme temperatures.

The Response of Bass to Extreme Weather

You wouldn’t be surprised to hear that bass don’t bode well in extreme temperatures. They thrive when their surrounding temperature is between 55 to 65 degrees.

Anything that is higher or lower than this range makes the bass seeks deeper waters to escape the extremities. 

When to Fish for Bass During the Day

The bass fishing time of day, according to seasoned anglers and fishermen, is just before dawn and right before sunset.

During these times, there’s lower light around which makes it easier for bass to attack and catch their temporarily blinded prey. 

Moreover, the presence of direct sun rays tends to affect the overall heat of the water. During the night, the water grows colder, so the onset of the dawn allows the water to warm up, enlivening the bass and allowing them to come closer to the surface from the shallower watery depths. 

Similarly, fishing after the full-throttle heat of the afternoon subsides gives the surface of the water a greater chance to cool down, encouraging the bass to go towards the surface. Thus, dawn and dusk are the best times to fish for bass.

What Seasons Are the Best for Bass Fishing?

Though bass can be caught all year round, there are certain times of the year that are more productive in terms of bass fishing.

Here’s an overview of what it’s like to fish for bass in each of the four seasons; spring, summer, autumn, and winter, in order to help you understand the best time of year for bass fishing. 

Bass Fishing During the Spring

Fishing for bass in spring starts at a slow pace but increases steadily with the onset of the rainy season.

The rain allows the wintery water to warm up, slowly making the bass more active. As long as the temperatures don’t decrease unpredictably, the bass would move out from the depths they had retreated to during the winter. 

As the temperature becomes a constant in the range between around 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, bass will become more aggressive, allowing for a lot of fun catching them, especially at the time that they are spawning rapidly. 

The period before spawning works up quite the appetite for bass, making them more likely to attack anything they perceive as food, including your mackerel lures and baits.

Bass Fishing During the Summer

After the spawning season of spring subsides, as predicted, there’s a rapid increase in the amount of food that bass consume.

Irrespective of whether the water is deep or shallow, bass would be the most active due to the prevalent temperature arc. 

Keep in mind that extreme exposure to the heat would drive the bass to move towards greater depths within the water.

This highlights the fishes’ tendency to be caught in greater numbers during the times of low light intensity. It proves that dawn and dusk are amongst the best time of year to fish for bass. 

Bass Fishing During Autumn

One of the most interesting things about this particular season is the change in the temperature.

Though the decrease in temperature reduces the bass’s ability to be as active as it was at the height of spring, these fish still tend to chase and attack their prey in an attempt to ‘stock up’ for the cold winters. 

The season of fall is known as a good time for bass fishing. This is especially at the moment when the tide is at its peak, or when it’s the opposite.

Bass Fishing in the Winter

Not many consider winter to be one of the more prolific months in terms of catching bass.

Many people forget the potential of ice out bass fishing that is prevalent due to the extremely cold temperature. 

Keep in mind, however, that winter is the time when bass are the most lethargic as they are conserving energy to last out the season.

Conclusion

Since bass are extremely attuned to their external weather conditions, it’s always a good idea to choose the time when the bass are more likely to attack your lines.

Doing this would help you prove how the best time of year to fish for bass is spring. Now that you know when the best season to fish for bass is, all you have to do now is select a great fishing location –  make sure to check out this free interface map of all the top spots.

Happy fishing!