Back in the dark ages (1950's) when I was learning how to bass fish seasonal periods were simple, spring, summer, fall and winter.The experts of the era were Jason Lucas and Bob Page editors of national fishing magazines, Sports Afield ans Outdoor Life. Outside of spawning bass behavior was mostly unknown and related to human behavior. The calendar had 12 months January to December and fresh water fishing generally opened on May 1st and closed on November 1st. If you lived in New York and wanted to bass fish in December, you moved to Florida. Today we know more about bass behavior and have expanded the seasonal periods to relate more to how bass behave than humans.
During the 60's my passion for bass fishing was very high and logged information about the how, what, where and when I caught bass. What the water temperature was at the depth the bass we using, what area in the lakes the bass seemed to be most active and what prey types the fish were targeting. After several years it became clear to me that bass behavior was predicable based on water temperature and seasonal periods, just not the same calendar or seasons we related to at that time, regardless of where the bass was located in our country. In 1974 I started sharing this information by doing seminars called "The cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar". The following is a recap of that presentation. I have no way of attaching the chart.
Introduction: A cycle is usually thought of as a measure of time in which something starts ans stops. For example the sun rising to it's next rising is one cycle called a 24 hour period. This circular movement of revolving objects always having a staring point to return and start again is the basic law of the cosmic clock. This tells us that bass will return to the same locations every year of their life cycle. The pace that bass live is called rhythm. This pace is broken into five basic categories; Very active, active, neutral, negative and very negative. The rhythm breaks down into percentages somewhat like this: 70% neutral, 5% very negative, 10% negative,5% very active and 10% active. The basses life cycle is broken down into seasonal categories: Pre Spawn, Spawn, Post Spawn, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. The basses habitate, surrounding environment governs the calendar periods. Water temperature is the most important factor controlling most activity. The condition of the water, including weed growth, clarity, chemistry, dissolved oxygen, thermocline etc., determines their location.
Calendar period can vary depending on the type of bass and water condition, but basically the water temperature is the prime factor: 55 to 62 is Pre Spawn, 62 to 65 is Spawn, 65 to 67 is Post Spawn, 65 to 70 is Spring, 68 to 80 is Summer, 73 to 62 is Fall and 61 to 40 is Winter. Bass tend to school during Pre Spawn, Post Spawn, Fall and Winter. Scatter into small groups during Spring and summer, and into single pairs during spawn. Horizontally migrate during Post Spawn and Summer, vertically migrate during other periods. These are keys to determining calendar periods.
To determine the rhythm or activity of the bass you need to observe water and weather conditions. Are bait fish active chasing insects, birds active feeding on bait fish, bait fish activity usually is an indicator bass activity.
I will post details on each calendar period separately and presentations that have worked for me over the years for each period.
During the 60's my passion for bass fishing was very high and logged information about the how, what, where and when I caught bass. What the water temperature was at the depth the bass we using, what area in the lakes the bass seemed to be most active and what prey types the fish were targeting. After several years it became clear to me that bass behavior was predicable based on water temperature and seasonal periods, just not the same calendar or seasons we related to at that time, regardless of where the bass was located in our country. In 1974 I started sharing this information by doing seminars called "The cosmic Clock and Bass Calendar". The following is a recap of that presentation. I have no way of attaching the chart.
Introduction: A cycle is usually thought of as a measure of time in which something starts ans stops. For example the sun rising to it's next rising is one cycle called a 24 hour period. This circular movement of revolving objects always having a staring point to return and start again is the basic law of the cosmic clock. This tells us that bass will return to the same locations every year of their life cycle. The pace that bass live is called rhythm. This pace is broken into five basic categories; Very active, active, neutral, negative and very negative. The rhythm breaks down into percentages somewhat like this: 70% neutral, 5% very negative, 10% negative,5% very active and 10% active. The basses life cycle is broken down into seasonal categories: Pre Spawn, Spawn, Post Spawn, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. The basses habitate, surrounding environment governs the calendar periods. Water temperature is the most important factor controlling most activity. The condition of the water, including weed growth, clarity, chemistry, dissolved oxygen, thermocline etc., determines their location.
Calendar period can vary depending on the type of bass and water condition, but basically the water temperature is the prime factor: 55 to 62 is Pre Spawn, 62 to 65 is Spawn, 65 to 67 is Post Spawn, 65 to 70 is Spring, 68 to 80 is Summer, 73 to 62 is Fall and 61 to 40 is Winter. Bass tend to school during Pre Spawn, Post Spawn, Fall and Winter. Scatter into small groups during Spring and summer, and into single pairs during spawn. Horizontally migrate during Post Spawn and Summer, vertically migrate during other periods. These are keys to determining calendar periods.
To determine the rhythm or activity of the bass you need to observe water and weather conditions. Are bait fish active chasing insects, birds active feeding on bait fish, bait fish activity usually is an indicator bass activity.
I will post details on each calendar period separately and presentations that have worked for me over the years for each period.
