It is daylight at 5:55 AM. Top water action can be good until about 7:30. If we have cloudy days you can top water fish all day long. To me, there is no lockjaw time. Last week I caught the two big fish at different times and neither fish early or late. One of the big fish was caught at 11:00 AM and the other at 3:00 PM. We caught fish steady all day and never saw real peaks. For me fishing is about spending time on the water, eventually you will get bit. The real issues are, will you feel the fish, and if you do, can you get her to the boat. Fishing bluebird days with high pressure, east or north wind can be very tough. Pick days with a nice south or south west wind, and if you can catch a cloudy day before a front, your odds go way up. In conclusion, I don’t think the time of day makes a huge difference to the fish, the time of day is more important to the comfort of the fisherman and helps determine rather a top water bite might work or not.

“for me fishing is about time on the water” that is sage advice. My uncle was a “catcher"man when he fished and used small gigs almost exclusively. Another great friend fished top water all day and usually with the same retrieve and type of bait, he also caught fish, when told he would be “more sucessful” using other tactics He’d say “but this is what I like doing” enough said! Both men would Amen your sentiments, for them the fish were a bonus. My uncle caught more fish but the enjoyment factor for both men was time spent.

Our last two trips we have been at the boat ramp by 6:00am and had nice fish in the boat by 6:30 as the sun was making its appearance. I heard years ago the the top water action stops when the sun hits the water, so as sunrise approaches we head for shady areas on the east side of the lake. Then we go to shallow crank baits or shallow plastics then worms deeper until the wind or the heat runs us off the lake. That’s our usual “game plan.”