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For you guys that keep a journal or actually have a good memory, what time period in the spring do you usually do best? I know some people are big fans of the moon phases, while others just fish when they can.
So when do you guys usually have your most success?
I had a really good friend who has passed on now he kept a record of every fishing trip he took good or bad he would log weather condition time of day and the catch or no catch his logs went back to the early 70's. He mainly fished Keystone and Fort Gibson as for him he always seem to do best during the second week of May in both size and quantity, year after year the log books would show the results.
I have kept a log for 56 years. The absolute best times for me have been when I got stuck in hail storms. The first time that happened was 50 years ago, fishing for trout in Montana. There were probably 25 people fishing the Missouri, nobody getting a bite. I had crossed the river and walked down, across from the crowd. When the hail hit, I figured it would be over by the time I walked/ran the 20 minutes it would take to get to my truck. I got 19 big trout, as fast as I could get the hook back in the water. I figured it might have been because the barometer starts shooting back up right after a front hits, but the fish quit immediately after the hail stopped. A few years later, the father-in-law and I got caught out. While the hail lasted, we killed brook trout, cutthroats, and a 2.5# grayling. I have had the same results fishing for blues and crappie.
A rising barometer is usually the best time to catch fish of nearly any species. I know guys who won't even go out if the barometer is dropping slowly. Trout and cats usually bite best early or late.
For crappie, it seems to depend on the body of water. At Ft. Cobb, the late evening/night bite is best. At Carl Blackwell, they start biting at first light and bite until just after sundown. At Hefner, whether float tubing or slip corking, the crappie would bite from first light until about 9:30 and during the winter from 4:30 to dark. In the 90's, we killed the 2.5#ers, fishing just one spot, a pile of rock or whatever that rose up about 6' above the riprap. When they dropped the lake way down, in order to place the riprap on the east side, they took out that pile.:(
For many people, the full moon is the best time to fish for crappie.
Sky,
I got caught in a heavy downpour trout fishing in MO with the same result. During the heavy rain, and during a short time after. It was one after another as fast as I could get back out. I was leaving when guys were headed back out.