I've pulled at lunchtime and still had pots with up to 16 keeps. Threw some back  in the pot occasionally and next pull they were mostly gone, but who knows whether eaten, escaped or "loaned" to unknown friends. Mostly I have 4-7 days between pulls and still do OK, at least in the past, but have no idea how many come and go. Mix of reds and whites, but maybe a whites run is different? As long as the pots had a good level of bait to start with I would simply wait until it is easy to go.

 I've gone two weeks without checking and pulled  up a good haul. The bigger the pots the better as they're quite happy to live in there. Time of day is not an issue imo

Only benefit of going early is beating the wind or pot raiders if they are about. Maybe occy too, but doubt crays would leave a pot in the middle of the day. More likely at night if no bait or it moves too much. Only reason I go early is to get back for work. Otherwise aim for late morning wind drop off. So much nicer doing pots with no wind!

 I've had a pot get stuck and it has been a month before a diver unstuck it for me, he took 8 crays out of the pot guessed that there were still 5 in there.