surefire baits for smallies?

[Gavin]

Photoperiod does make a difference sometimes. Smallies seem to like afternoons this time of year. Brown trout eat around first light most consistently.

[Al Agnew]

The problem with fishing this time of year is that it's a 9 AM to 3:30 PM thing, which makes for a rather short day.  Although today the fish were still active up until 4 PM, and probably would have been active a little longer than that but I ran out of time to get back to the ramp.

Photoperiod makes a difference in spring and fall.  The fish will move to wintering holes by length of daylight, even if water temps are still fairly warm, though they may not hunker down in the pools yet.  And they'll move to spawning areas in the spring by length of daylight even if the water temps are still colder than you'd think would be spawning temps.