False Dawn Fishing Activity

[Monty]

In the years past fishing the areas I do the false dawn was my most productive time on the water for Bass and Blues for me. This year its been the dark of night for bass and later in the morning (sun up) for blues (even in the dark its been more productive for blues than the false dawn). Its also been a atrocious year for bass on pencils and any type of popper for me. How has your false dawn fishing been this year so far?

[finchaser]

Greatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttt

[Monty]

Greatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttt

Well kinda figured yours were great.
Like off the chart great.

[DarkSkies]

Greatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt ttt

I'm tellling ya's, ya can't take seriously what he says anymore....
It has nothing to do with sunrise....he rubs that stuff between his legs before he casts.....plain and simple...that's his sekrit weapon....it should be outlawed, I tell ya!





******
Back to the topic, serious side....
I'm not really doing well at false dawn this year.
I know some are.....

There is a good bait bite at false dawn as well...
But for me, and the fishing I do, the bite has ended way before that....seems to follow the patterns of the winter.




I think it's an interesting topic, Monty, thanks for bringing it up...
In years past it was almost a given that if you were out on the beach during that time, the false dawn would be one of the great opportunity periods to score some numbers......


for me, I'm finding that when bait is thick that is true...but if it isn't, it doesn't happen that way.....
And in a way I regret it.
For those who keep logs, go back and look at them over the years.
I think some of ya's might see a pattern where the biggest fish of the day hit during these low-light periods.

[DarkSkies]

False dawn and pencil popping....

About 5-8 years back is when I remember some outstanding false dawn fishing.

One day, in July, when lots of folks thought the fish were gone...I nailed a 22# bass at Sandy Hook....just blind casting and working a pencil popper.It wasn't even a fancy, expensive popper, it was one I had found beat up on a beach after a blitz,,,took it home, painted and epoxied it....It seemed that plug had some good mojo as I managed some nice fish with it.....only to eventually lose it to a big bluefish one summer.

[jigfreak]

.It wasn't even a fancy, expensive popper, it was one I had found beat up on a beach after a blitz,,,took it home, painted and epoxied it....It seemed that plug had some good mojo as I managed some nice fish with it.....only to eventually lose it to a big bluefish one summer.

Those are the best plugs, or the ones you find walking after a storm. Good mojo, catch some fish, and send it back to the sea again. I only got 3 bass in the teens this year on poppers. The bunker weren't around in the surf for too long. They didn't get hammered against the rocks for as many days as they usually to. That may have had something to do with it. In the fall when the peanut bunker are bigger and spill out of the bays for the october new moon, poppers may give up more fish.

[hookset]

I agree with jigfreak. I think from a surf fishing standpoint the bunker never gave us the activity with the bass they usually do. I hope the fall run is different.

[finchaser]

Rumor has it fish and fisherman always get horny at the crack of dawn

Tons of bunker were here this spring but the big fish are wiped out as in DEAD due to greed and ego

[DarkSkies]

^^ Fin makes a great point here, people.
There were times when we had bunker ranging up and down the NJ Coast for up to 15 or 20 miles....
Some very nice fish were caught, but with all the bunker around, and even the boaters having to travel through many "happy" pods to get to some feeding fish....it makes you wonder why this happened this way?


If the bass are truly as healthy as some claim they are, these pods would have been covered up with bass, and they could have feasted on them, here in NJ, for weeks.

Some blame the warmer water temps...but at that time the temps in the New England waters were similar, so IMO that was not enough to make the bass leave our area for NE.

At this point in July, the NE waters are definitely a bit cooler than in NJ. Friends in those areas are finding some bass in waters as cool as 68degrees. At times this water is 5-8 degrees cooler than the water in our ocean.

But back then, that wasn't the case. And if you have an abundance of bunker, more than some folks can ever remember, it's my contention that bass aren't likely to leave that food source so quickly. One of the conclusions that can be drawn from this, as Finchaser so clearly points out over and over, is that there are less bass.

[storminsteve]

Rumor has it fish and fisherman always get horny at the crack of dawn

Tons of bunker were here this spring but the big fish are wiped out as in DEAD due to greed and ego

When I was in high school we got horny at the crack of Stacy, she was the school tramp.
You knew Dawn? Was she hot or just easy?

[paco33]

Funny. In our school the easy girls were 2 sisters. I knew them both.
I think this year was a little different. Didn't get many fish pencil popping false dawn as someone said. I had better luck at the end of day. Could be because of the way the bunker staged just out of reach, who knows. Or maybe there are less bass. Definitely harder to catch them this year tho.

[paco33]

In the fall when the peanut bunker are bigger and spill out of the bays for the october new moon, poppers may give up more fish.

can't wait.

[bababooey]

Funny. In our school the easy girls were 2 sisters. I knew them both.
.

You dog, you dirty dog.


We must have pics to confirm.

[surfwalker]

I've always enjoyed False Dawn, as stated in other posts. I can't speak about this past year, but the past few years have been slower for me. Like Dark said, about 5/6 years ago the Bass did hug the shoreline. I am addicted to poppers, use them too much, can't resist an explosion on top. I could usually count on a rise or hook up at this time of the morning in the past, even in the summer when I use a very small popper. But the past few years my production out front has been terrible at this time, no matter what I throw. I have some crazy notion in my head that I can overcome the non-productiveness and try harder. I was excited last fall to see the Bass action in certain areas at False Dawn (wasn't happy to see so many fish walked off the beach though). Maybe some hope for the future, or like fin states-they're gone.

[wish4fish]

most of our fish we caught when it is totally black out. dont spend much time fishing false dawn until the fall maybe like october

[Rip-Plugger]

that time of day is very productive for me as well as the middle of the night too.
since I fish mostly rivers I know where to find fish stacked up and as long as the water is moving,they are almost always there.if not then the next holding area may hold them.
I do love the first sign of light though,it triggers feeding time,,,,


R-P

[plugginpete]

Mine was good in may. Then the fishing seemed to drop off on the south shore. So I started going at sunset and the hour before which was a little better. I guess you should factor the tide and water temperatures into that too.

[finchaser]

IMO dusk and dawn are the best.

Plus most experienced fisherman get horny at the crack of dawn

[bababooey]

Never had a Dawn. I prefer the crack of Ashley.

[finchaser]

they were all 18" to 24". First light has been key . Others were caught, my one friend had 10 and the other 6. Tomorrow will be the boat for fluke a fish you can eat and enjoy