The best time to surf fish is not a basic topic as it seems, an in-depth amount of considerations regarding different factors are to be accessed in order to get the answer to this topic right.
There exist diverse opinions from different category of people on the best time to go surf fishing. Some might recommend fall as an ideal time for surf fishing, while others might recommend spring or winter. The stated seasons are all ok for surf fishing but as usual one or two always stand out amongst others.
What Would Be The Best Time To Surf Fish?
Regarding this topic the ideal time or rather, the ideal season for surf fishing is known to be fall and spring. Unlike the usual and more common boat fishing, a person who intends on going surf fishing cannot just swing his baitcasting rod anytime he feels like and expect to make a huge catch. Surf fishing entails that one has a broad knowledge of factors that affect surf fishing conditions like: moon phase, tide, current, wind, weather condition, time of the day, the year, etc.
Before we delve into these conditions, understanding the term surf fishing is key to grasping the best time to surf fish. Surf fishing, basically, is the sport or act of catching fishes by merely standing on the shoreline or wading in the turf.
What Is The Best Time Of The Year To Go Surf Fishing?
Like all animals, fishes come out in masse during certain times of the year. This certainly differs based on your geographical location and the genre of fish you wish to catch.
In Providing answer to this question, we won’t be considering any certain locations.
Going by the general rule of thumb, it is ideal to say that spring and fall are the best time of the year to go surf fishing. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore fishing in the winter or summer, you can as well fish in these periods but you shouldn’t expect a high yield. That being said, it doesn’t denote that fishing will be surplus in the spring and fall, what it simply denotes is that by comparison, provided similar set of circumstances, fishing will probably be much better in the spring.
Surf fishing also depends in your location, if your location is ideal for fishing you are certainly good to go.
What Is The Best Time Of The Day to Surf Fish?
This particular question is quite easy to answer. The best time of the day to surf fish is in the early morning just before dawn until 9 or maybe 10 AM during sun down and an hour or two before night break. This is in line with the nocturnal feeding customs of fishes. During the summer season, when there are several occupied beaches, you might want to consider surf fishing during dusk when the beaches are less occupied.
In some regions, fishing is not allowed when life guards resume work, until the time they close.
What Is The Best Moon Phase For Surf Fishing?
The moon and not the sun boasts of more influence on the ocean of the earth because it is less farther. When the moon and the sun work in harmony, they yield both the biggest and smallest tides of the year.
The moon is known to produce the most intense tide changes which is known as spring tides.
The spring tides can be visible during the period of the new and full moon. The water flows rapidly during the alteration in tides from high to low tide and the overall alteration in depth is the most extreme. This time is also regarded as the best time to fish the surf.
There also exists this belief that fishes feed the most during full moon.
What Are The Best Weather Conditions?
Weather condition plays a huge role in surf fishing. These conditions are also regarded as difficult to address because of the diverse category of weather factors. A soft onshore breeze is definitely a plus, but cold fronts are regarded as obnoxious factors. High winds are likewise bad because it dampens water clarity thereby making it difficult to fish. Also, low pressure is far better than high pressure during a spring tide.
In situations where weather conditions gave been bad for the last one day, you are very much unlikely to make an outstanding yield until the fishes have been opportune to gather around. This might sometimes take a day or two depending on the weather condition.
What Are The Best Tide Times?
Tides are the rise and fall of the sea level and they play a crucial role in saltwater fishing. They are known to determine the hang out region, the feeding routine of fishes, amongst others. High tide is ideal because it is much easier to cast out and get deeper water. The most suitable time is two hours prior high tide and two hours after.
Slick tide which is in between high tide and low tide is not favorable for surf fishing. In some regions, low tide is usually good for scouting beaches for the perfect fishing spot.
What Are The Best Front Conditions?
When considering the ideal time to go surf fishing, fronts is a crucial factor that has to be considered. Storms and altering weather patterns have a great influence on fishing success because fishes are very attuned to alterations in barometric conditions.
With several fish, feeding heightens during the hours, immediately after a nippy front, but reduces during and after a storm or front hits. Surf fishing after a nippy front is poor and the trend continues for about a day or two.
Surface water temperature increases because of warm fronts. Fronts like this often puts fishes into a feeding mode, thus providing the best surf fishing.
What Are The Best Cloud Conditions?
Cloudy days enhances surf fishing since the cloud stops the penetration of light. A cloudy sky causes fishes to hunt for food often, more often than they would during bright days when they tend to hide.
On overcast or cloudy days, fishes are likely to be in a certain structure region and very likely to be dispersed throughout a certain waterway.
Cloud cover should also be considered when choosing the best time to surf fish, as this factor can determine if your surf fishing adventure ends as a fruitful or a frustrating one.
What Is The Bet Rainfall Condition?
Another factor to consider when the thought of surf fishing crosses your mind is rain. Even with the best fishing accessories, heavy rainfall can mar your surf fishing adventure.
Rainfall, at the wrong intensity can obstruct the view of the fishes, it can make it loose sight of your bait or lure. This occurs because the rain breaks up the view of the fish through the surface of the water. This doesn’t apply only to surf fishing but Wade or boat fishing as well. Therefore, considering the rainfall or rather, the intensity of rainfall, the best time to go surf fishing is during a light rainfall, especially a summer rain or a warm spring.
During light rainfall, insects and baits are washed into the water, which creates the perfect feeding binge for fishes. Light rainfalls rapidly warm the water to cause these feeding periods.
Picking your fishing accessories and heading to the shore to surf fish during periods of heavy rainfall is a bad idea because heavy rains can muddy the water and make it hard for fishes to locate baits or lures. Heavy rainfall also leads to heavy runoff which can clog the gills of fishes. So, the ideal time to surf fish when putting “rain factor” into consideration is during a period of light rainfall.
What Is The Best Water Temperature?
Since water temperature affects the willingness of the fishes to come out and feed, surf fishing at a period when the water temperature is not favorable for the fishes will end up as a frustrating surf fishing trip or adventure.
Fishes as we know are cold blooded creatures and are not able to regulate their body temperature. This means that the colder the water the slower the metabolism of the fish and the more torpid they will be. Because fishes require fewer calories to keep their slower body function, a slow metabolism makes the fish less keen to feed. In comparison, the warmer the water, the faster a fish’s metabolism rate and the more active they are.
In warm water, fishes are more likely to feed because their metabolism and energy level are significantly higher. When this happens, catching them shouldn’t be a huge problem.
Conclusion:
After putting all the best time to go surf fishing into proper consideration, it is quite easy to understand that these situations can work together when they occur simultaneously. If you decide to go on a surf fishing adventure, be sure to take full advantage of the period when much of these conditions overlap each other. By so doing, your surf fishing adventure would be more fun than expected.