Most people like to eat their meals at about the same time each day. We like an afternoon snack at a regular time every afternoon, and many of us have a bedtime snack just before retiring. Have you ever wondered if game animals and fish feed on a pattern also? I have often watched wildlife get more active and related their activity to the feeding times in the Solunar Tables. If you have been around the ocean much, you know animals from crabs to tarpon schedule their lives around the tides. The Solunar Tables are based on the same forces that affect the tides. I believe in them enough to try to be on my favorite fishing hole at the best time.

Two August trips to Smith Lake last year seemed to point out a regular feeding schedule, at least at one place on that particular lake. My partner and I caught two good keepers on Saturday while checking out some places for new fish holes. Both those fish hit on the same point between 11:00 pm and 12:30 am. The next night at about the same time, we again started fishing from that point and caught two more good keepers. We knew fish were there because they showed up on the depth finder.

A couple of weeks later on a Sunday I returned to the same place and time as before, and again I found myself landing fish. At 2am, after about an hour of fishing, my partner and I were about ready to leave. As I eased the boat to the marker to pick it up, I thought I hung a stick on my jigging spoon. Imagine my surprise when not only was it a keeper Stripper Bass that came up, but a whopper that came to the top as well. As I reeled in this monster, I had to lean over the side of the boat to keep the fish from pulling the rod against the boat and breaking it. I must have been straining, as my partner Dennis warned me not to let the fish pull me in. I was sure I had a big hybrid on my spoon. Just about the time Dennis laid the net down to get his rod out of the way, the Big Stripper Bass came to the top right beside the boat. Dennis was able to net part of it because it was so huge, and I really started shaking. The bass weighed 27 lbs. 7 oz, and is the biggest bass I had caught in quite some time. We fished the point until the sun made its rise without catching another fish.

When we weighed in our catch, we might have only had four fish on board, but there were over fifty pounds of fish that we had claimed for just one day. It had been one of the best nights of fishing in my entire life! We fished many places around that lake, and it was tough to find fish- except on that one point for about an hour and a half. It was the same time they had been feeding there for several weeks. Fish do indeed follow a pattern. If you catch them at a particular time one day, check out that place at the same time the next day. It just might pay off! I caught my fish in an unusual way for this time of year, jigging a spoon around brush in about 45 feet of water. I lost all my spoons and searched all over until I found some more at a Wal-Mart. Jigging a spoon is a good way to catch fish in cold water and it seems to work year round as well. I always keep one rigged and ready!