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When do fish start to venture out?

Started by Guest_SunfishGuy99_* , Mar 14 2013 05:22 PM

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9 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_SunfishGuy99_*

Guests

Posted 14 March 2013 - 05:22 PM

When do fish start to come out of hiding for the winter and start to be active? Acceptable answers are date estimates(please, no months estimates. Limit estimates to periods of 10 days(i.e. march 20-march 30th) or less), temperature estimates(again no broad temp. estimates, maybe within 5 degrees), or water temperature estimates(for a third time, no broad temp. estimates, maybe within 5 degrees). If it helps these are the fish that I am after.

-Redbreasted Sunfish
-Bluespotted Sunfish
-longear sunfish
-all other sunfish
-bass
-pickerel

Thanks!!!!!

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#2 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 14 March 2013 - 05:26 PM

In Georgia they are out all year... we were out almost every month and there were always sunfishes and minnows and darters (oh my)

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#3 Guest_fundulus_*

Guests

Posted 14 March 2013 - 05:30 PM

Yeah, in Alabama a bunch of species are already spawning, especially the darters.

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#4 Guest_EricaWieser_*

Guests

Posted 14 March 2013 - 05:42 PM

In North Carolina we went out in January and there wasn't a single bite on the rod. They bite less when it's cold. I think that's because they've got decreased appetite and metabolism to hibernate. You might still be able to find fish with a seine and by dipnetting into leaf clumps.

There are only a few species that are annuals. Fish like pygmy sunfish dramatically decrease in number overwinter. There are simply more of them in the late fall than there are in March. But most species aren't annuals like that. The lepomis sunfish species you mention in particular don't die off in the winter. You can always find them by netting. You just have to be careful; in NC you can only legally keep a lepomis you catch by rod and reel.

Edited by EricaWieser, 14 March 2013 - 05:46 PM.

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#5 Guest_Subrosa_*

Guests

Posted 14 March 2013 - 06:54 PM

People too addicted to realize that when your bait bounces off the frozen surface of the water that it's time to go ice skating catch Pickerel and Lepomis species year round.