Forecast  - Dec 11 - 13, 2011  -  Highlands Today Caption - "Daytime anglers facing challenge" 


Daytime Anglers start this week with plenty of negative factors to deal with before things improve here in the Central Florida angler’s paradise. Over the next two days, weather will interfere with daily feeding migration timing. The full moon phase will be leading fish to feed at night primarily. And, the seasonal fall-to-winter migration change will be prolonged due to inconsistent and extreme changes in temperatures during the past week.

For these reasons, daytime anglers will have to look to the most consistent of fishing factors for angling success, the sun. When all other fishing factors become negative and you’re determined to go fishing anyway the rising and setting of the sun can always be counted-on to trigger a few fish to feed regardless of other factors—why anyone would attempt to fish when odds are so stacked against them, I don’t know. Maybe for them, it’s the only peaceful place left on earth, yah, that’s probably it …, it has to be. Then when a fish happens to get caught during all the peacefulness, well that only validates the process, right?

The nighttime anglers are the ones who really get the advantage because of the before mentioned “Full moon” and the slight calming of the weather that usually occurs during the night; the winds die-down and become variable, thereby creating ideal top-water feeding opportunities on the slightly rippled surface. This feeding bite starts after midnight and stops two hours later. There is no peak period to speak of but the rating should climb to 6 without clouds and 5 with significant cloud-cover.

The solunar fishing-help charts are predicting the usual midday, midnight feeding bites that occur during a full moon, but I believe they will be wrong. This time of year the lunar events occur while the moon is in orbit apogee. Therefore, there is not enough gravitational pull to produce lunar-dominate factors. Instead, solar-dominate factors prevail in replace of the moon’s weakness, so to speak.

Therefore, the best daylight times to go fishing over the next three days are during the sunrise. The nighttime average one-in-ten scale rating will be in the 3-4 range as the sun starts to rise at 6:30 a.m. By 7:30 a.m. the feeding bite will be active and force the rating to climb to 5 or 6 but no higher. This peak period should last for thirty to forty minutes before dropping back to 3 for the remainder of the morning.     

The second best time to go fishing will be when the sun begins to set at 4:30 p.m. The afternoon fish-feeding rate should be dormant in the 2-3 range, and just as the light diminishes a small percentage of fish will feel safer and try to do a little feeding and end up on a being a larger fish’s meal. This small amount of action might raise the rating to 4, but not 5—trust me it won’t be that good.

The third time of day that someone in the world might catch a fish—time zones and hemispheres considered--and perhaps, I said, um, probably not, I mean, …um, the rating won’t go up much, but maybe a little, from noon to 2 p.m. And. that anglers, is the truth!

So if you’re on the lake at noon and you’ve caught nothing, (as I predict). There is a chance—like the one-dollar scratch lottery ticket offers—that 1-in-100 anglers will set the hook on one fish. Then promptly throw it back for being, “way too small”.

The worst time of day to go fishing is …. When the fish aren’t biting?  (Had to do it, had to “slap your face with a flounder” as they say in some New England towns when an old angler can’t seem to find ‘em). Yes, it’s when the fish won’t bite anything. And, anglers, …that will happen from 9-11 a.m. and again from 2-5 a.m. when the rating sleeps at 2 or 3.

Looking ahead to the end of this week anglers can expect an improving evening bite.  

News & Events

Lake Istokpoga’s level is currently at 39.48’ above sea level, with three S-68 spillway gates releasing 300 cubic feet per minutes (cfm) for the past few weeks to maintain a level below the maximum high-pool of 39.5’.

Istokpoga anglers should consult weed management treatment maps before fishing this lake due to a hydrilla treatment event last week. Maps should be supplied at the lake’s boat ramp kiosks (realtor style), if not, contact FWC biologist Steve Gornak at 863-462-5190. Istokpoga management information is available on my website, Istokpoga.info.