Pike Lake, Mercer, WI · Green Sunfish
ChangeFishing report
Pike Lake Green Sunfish Fishing Report
Mercer, WI
Overall rating
Green Sunfish at Pike Lake — 2026-11-13
Poor · 35/100Best window: 4 PM (Fair · 48/100)
Some conditions data (cloud cover or barometric pressure) was unavailable from the weather service for this day — the rating above reflects only what was available.
- Season
- Fall
- Moon
- 19% illuminated, waxingWaxing Crescent
- Est. surface temp
- 34.4°F
- Pressure
- —Unknown
Est. water temp
34.4°F
v1 estimate from air temperature — not a sensor reading
Below Green Sunfish's 82-87°F range
Air vs. last week
9°F cooler
31°F now vs 40°F this time last week
Measured air temperature at the nearest weather station — not water
Sun & moon
- Sunrise
- 6:58 AM
- Sunset
- 4:30 PM
- Moonrise
- 11:21 AM
- Moonset
- 7:28 PM
Sky, wind & pressureat best window · 4 PM
- Cloud cover
- 96%
- Precip chance
- 20%
- Wind
- 5 mph N
- Pressure
- — Unknown
Free — no account, no app
Modeled from live National Weather Service data as of Nov 13, 2026 at 4:16 PM CST, plus solunar and sun/moon times computed in-house. This is a computed report, not an eyewitness catch report.
Species context
Why this score
Poor (35/100) for Green Sunfish: water is estimated at 34.4°F, below Green Sunfish's 82-87°F optimal range. Best window: Dusk — boosts feeding activity by about 10%. That hour also overlaps a major solunar period. Stable pressure modeled flat — no change from this fish's baseline. Light (5-10 mph) wind modeled about 10% above this fish's baseline.
What's driving the 4 PM score
Light window (dusk) is doing the most for this score, even at about 6.4 points below its best. The score gives up the most on water temperature — 34.4°F estimated, about 45 points below its best.
- Water temperature · hurting
- Light window · helping
- Solunar period · helping
- Barometric pressure · helping
- Wind · helping
Show the numbers behind this
Water temperature: 34.4°F estimated
0 of 45 pts
Optimal range 82-87°F
Well supportedWater temperature governs a cold-blooded fish's metabolism, so it is the largest term in the model (Christie & Regier 1988). The figure is a thermal-lag estimate built from forecast air temperature and the time of year — not a sensor reading, and not this lake's actual measured water.
Light window: Dusk
23.6 of 30 pts
Boosts feeding activity by about 10%
Well supportedLow-light feeding windows are the strongest timing signal inside a single day. How much each window is worth is this species' own cited response, sourced in its model file, not a generic curve.
Solunar period: Major period
5 of 5 pts
Not supported by testingPeer-reviewed testing of North American freshwater fisheries found no significant relationship between solunar values, lunar phase or lunar illumination and catch rates (SN Applied Sciences, 2023) — air temperature predicted catch better than any solunar table tested. It is shown because anglers expect it, and it is shown separately so you can discount it. We reviewed this evidence and cut its weight accordingly.
Barometric pressure: Stable
9.5 of 10 pts
Modeled flat — no change from this fish's baseline
ContestedThe barometric effect is real to most anglers but small and contested in the literature — several of the species studies cited in this model report null results — so it carries one of the smallest weights here.
Wind: Light (5-10 mph)
10 of 10 pts
Modeled about 10% above this fish's baseline
Moderately supportedWind stacks forage on windward structure, but both the size and the direction of the effect depend on the species and the water, so it carries a modest weight.
Then the whole score is scaled
Season: Fall — ×1.00 (100% of the ungated score)
How catchable Green Sunfish are at this point in the year. This scales the whole score rather than competing with the factors above — a fish that is dormant this time of year cannot score well no matter how good the hour looks.
Weather front: No clear front — ×1.00 (100% of the ungated score)
A multi-hour frontal pattern read from the day's forecast trajectory. No front is classified today, so this changes nothing and the single-reading pressure factor above does its normal job.
Those 5 factors add up to 48.1 of 100 points, and the two multipliers above take that to 48. The weights are tuning constants — solunar's was cut after peer-reviewed testing found no predictive effect, and the others are adjusted as we validate them — shown here rather than hidden so you can weigh them against your own judgement.
What this score does not know
- Water clarity. We have no source for it and do not estimate it.
- Measured water temperature. The figure in the breakdown is a model over forecast air temperature, not a reading from a buoy or a probe.
- Baitfish and forage activity.
- How much fishing pressure this water has had.
- Where the fish actually are. Depth bands are the species' published seasonal ranges, not an observation of this lake.
- What anyone actually caught. No catch reports feed this score.
Conditions read from the National Weather Service as of Nov 13, 2026 at 4:16 PM CST. Solunar periods and sun/moon times are computed, not fetched.
When best caught
It's currently fall. Green Sunfish typically hold 2-8 ft deep this time of year — at an estimated 34.4°F, this looks like a slower time of year to target them, since water temp is outside their optimal range.
Current depth
2-8 ft
This is the seasonal depth band from the species model, based on this species' typical behavior, not this lake's actual structure.
Today's solunar periods
- Major: 1:58 AM–3:58 AM
- Minor: 10:51 AM–11:51 AM
- Major: 2:23 PM–4:23 PM
- Minor: 6:58 PM–7:58 PM
Best times
When do green sunfish feed during the day?
Green Sunfish feed most actively at Daytime, when activity runs about 37% above the daily average across all four light windows.
- Dawn1.10x
Boosts feeding activity by about 10%.
- Daytime1.40x
Boosts feeding activity by about 40%.
- Dusk1.10x
Boosts feeding activity by about 10%.
- Night0.50x
Suppresses feeding activity by about 50%.
Hour by hour
Hourly bite forecast
| Hour | Bite score | Rating | Light | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 PM | 48 | Fair | Dusk | 5 mph N |
| 5 PM | 45 | Fair | Dusk | 5 mph N |
| 6 PM | 33 | Poor | Night | 5 mph N |
| 7 PM | 32 | Poor | Night | 0 mph |
| 8 PM | 30 | Poor | Night | 0 mph |
| 9 PM | 30 | Poor | Night | 0 mph |
| 10 PM | 30 | Poor | Night | 0 mph |
| 11 PM | 30 | Poor | Night | 0 mph |
Bite forecast
Pick a lake, a species, and a date to see the hourly bite forecast and the day's overall rating.
North wind at 5 mph — the south shore is windward.
Wind tends to push food, then baitfish, toward the bank it blows into — a rule of thumb, not a guarantee of where fish are. It says nothing about whether that shore is public or reachable.
Location
Pike Lake · 46.1747, -90.1196
Map data © OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles, OpenStreetMap contributors
Lake outline: WI DNR 24K Hydrography Lakes and Open Water