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The topic of Night Time Bass Fishing came up in another thread – this builds on that. The BR articles section has solid info regarding the subject and interested members can & should definitely check that out. I’m offering & directing this information to those bass fisherman who may have never tried it or even considered it. I say you may want to. Though the majority of this will revolve around angling from some type of vessel, some can be applied to fishing from the bank as well. Safety ~ Right off the bat. It's very important to understand that fishing at night - especially by yourself & in a remote area, is no joke. Safety is the primary mission every trip: Day or Night. Night time Bassing isn’t in my estimation, dangerous per se, but small problems have a way of compounding & becoming magnified at night. So it’s important to follow a few “rules”. Wear your Life Jacket all night. Only Fish bodies of water that you are Very Familiar with. Always operate at a slower speed than you normally would during the day. It’s Very Easy to lose situational awareness at night and speed in that situation is your arch enemy. Just like any trip on the water, make certain someone responsible (insert adult) knows where you’re going, what you’re driving, where you’re launching from and when to expect you home. And if you change plans – Let Them Know. Additionally, I’d encourage you to also leave them with the number & info of who you want them to call if you don’t return on time. (Police, US Coast Guard, Fire Rescue etc). Lastly, I do not recommend fishing at night on rivers, tidal water or any place with a moderate to heavy current. It certainly can be done, but Is No Place for a beginner. An organized / neat boat is a must. It will help keep you from tripping & going over the side and stray trebles will inevitably find some skin at night. Both are highly undesirable. I carry and use only 3 or 4 rods & reels at night. Without going into detail, this is much less than I’d normally use during the day. When I find the right night bass, they are usually very cooperative and experience has shown that a ton of gear on deck is rarely needed. (Probably could say that for daytime operations as well, but I will not because the bait monkey would blow up my house). A couple of flashlights & two head lamps are a must (I like red lenses to help maintain night vision integrity). Let’s discuss “Night Vision” - what the heck is it ? Basically, once you’re eyes have not been in the presence of white light, they are able to see surprisingly well. It takes upwards of 20-30 minutes to fully develop and each human’s adaptive time & final ability is different. But what one must remember is that once the eyes have full adjusted, ANY white light – even for 1 second, erases this ability and you’ll have to start the acclimation process again. So using a red (some use blue or green) light is helpful. Additionally, I’m always under the assumption that I’m alarming the bass to my presence using a white light even for a second. The Why ~ My night time operations were born more out of requirement than desire. As a younger human with family obligations & a career, the little & only “free” time I had available to fish was at night. And so there began a journey into an aspect of angling I personally feel is so awesome and so beneficial to day time fishing, I can easily state that I would not be even half the angler I am, so many years later, had I never tried it. More about that a little later on. Besides the above, the reasons one may choose to night fish can be many. To escape the heat, to escape the crowds, to catch more or bigger bass, all of these can apply. For me, I do it mainly because bass fishing at night is Intense. It’s a chance to experience the sport at a whole different level. If you do it enough you really come to trust & depend on your electronics, your intuition & your instincts. Because in the black of night, that’s about all you’ve got. The reduction of vision will allow one to tap into the senses that remain. Hone these at night and your day time ops can only get better. So there's no line watching - but all of this makes one so much better during the day - it's unmeasurable. When you can get them good in the dark of night – a bright sunny day might feel like cheating. When ~ A good way to start out fishing at night is to get out on the water before sunset and just stay out there. This offers an angler the chance to acclimate to the Night as it falls. Sort of like the opposite of getting to the lake before sunrise & waking up with the lake. I did the sunset to night deal several times in the beginning but as my abilities & confidence grew I shifted gears. I now prefer to arrive after dark. There seems to be 90 minutes or so after actual sunset where the bite is pretty slow. So I’ll arrive after that. If the fishing’s good & I have the gas, I’ll stay for the grey light & sunrise bite too. If not, I bail. I don’t think there is a “Best” night fishing season. If I can catch them during the day – I can catch them at night. It just depends on if I want to be out there. Very early & very late in the season are clearly less comfortable but I’ve had some very successful nights in both April & October. These results will vary depending on one’s local & legal fishing season. Once the dog days of summer hit - and the lakes are getting a fair share of recreational boating, jet ski & fishing pressure, mid-week night ops are often present the best opportunity for any decent action. Then there’s the Moon. Is it good or bad? Does it help or hurt ? And what about artificial lights like dock lights and street light etc. May be No definitive answer. The water's here in northern MI are for the most part Very Clear - often 15 feet plus of daytime visibility. As much as this plays a role during the day, it matters at night as well. Fish can still see me on nights with a big moon or in areas where there is sufficient ambient light. And the Shadow the boat makes on a brightly lit night sticks out like a sore thumb. If I disregard this, it definitely negates the effectiveness of being there after dark. Moonless nights are by far The Best for Fishing but were hardest to learn to fish in. Even nights where I can be out there before the moon comes up or after it goes down are always much better for both numbers & size. However, some my best nights have been Full Moon events BUT there was sufficient cloud cover to obscure it. Even a partially cloudy condition is often enough to do the trick. Clearly, some full moon nights are almost like day time. You may not even need a light of any kind, it’s so bright. These times are definitely easier to get around in, cast and fish in. I say cast because there may have been an occasion or two where a lure was launched across two or three docks or even 50 feet or so straight into the woods. If the waters you fish have color & / or limited visibility, you could be golden & be able to hammer fish while having the benefits of the moons brilliant glow. The Where & How ~ This may actually be the easiest (and that’s a relative term) aspects of night bassing. I use the same rods & reels at night as I use during the day. I can & do bump up my line size / mono leader a little at night – just because I can. When I first started my night ops, I fished the tried & true night time baits. The Black Baits ~ (Jitterbugs, Buzz baits, Spinnerbaits etc.) and they worked well and I still fish them today. But what I have found is that any bait (and any color) that will catch them during the day, will catch them at night. The caveat to that is, whatever bait you choose, still needs to be presented effectively. The reason many choose the baits I just mentioned is they are for the most part “Easy” to fish. The topwaters stay off the bottom. Out of weeds & snags and only need 2 inches of water to run. I can’t tell you the number of times in the early days I fished topwater and wasn’t getting bit. Come to find out I was fishing in 6 inches of water for 30 minutes. Laugh if you’d like, but it’s very easy to do on a pitch black night. Same thing with a spinnerbait - - strike detection is easier. Blade stops vibrating – set the hook. Crankbaits offer the same benefit. But learn to present the right jig, at the right place & time at night – you may never fish another bait at night again. I will admit that the spinnerbait is still one of my favorite / effective night baits. Although night time does hide some of the boat’s & the lures negative cues, please know that night time is not some magic witching hour for bass where all the trophies become suicidal and will attack any & every lure with reckless abandon. This is simply not the case. Lures still need to be presented with the same Stealth & Care at night as they do during the day to be effective. I’ve noticed a couple of things here. Bass seem to relate more loosely to cover at night (except in the presence of bright moonlight or artificial light, then it’s just like day time). They can & do still tuck into places but often times they’ll be “around it" rather than in the middle of it. This is a good thing because it’s not easy to make pin-point presentations when your depth perception is all but non-existent. Shadows are just as important at night as they are during the day, fish like them. Tips – in no particular order and this is especially important on the blackest of nights. Fishing down, along or over any weedline, surface (lily pads) or sub-surface (coontail, milfoil, cabbage) is best done without treble hooks. Handling a hooked fish is tricky at night. The bare handed reach is not recommended – use a net & a light to remove hooks. Windy nights are very tough to fish in effectively. Super long casts are generally not necessary and in the beginning should be avoided. A swimbait, paddle/boot tail type trailer on spinnerbaits, swimjigs & chatterbaits seems especially effective at night and the slower I can roll it - the better. Keep “Tools” accessible ~ pliers, scale, camera. If you take pictures of your catch, your “Flash” will Toast your night vision. If fishing conditions permit, set your trolling motor speed to “slow”. If you avoid that sudden burst in the wrong direction, you may also avoid wetness. That’s my story & I’m sticking to it. A-Jay

Thanks for the plug Turkey! It's a bit of an old thread, but thought I'd chime in with my two bobs worth ;-) First, this is my book. I wrote it because there are lots of misunderstandings when it comes to lure color selection. Tom, just so you're aware, I teach lure making, I'm not a manufacturer. So I have nothing to gain from steering people towards one color or another. This book was merely an attempt to inject some science and objective thinking into an area of fishing where it is usually lacking. Before I was a full time lure making teacher, I was an aquatic scientist. Actually, I have a degree with double majors in Aquatic Biology and Aquatic Chemistry, Honors in Aquatic Science and a PhD awarded for my research thesis in the fields of Aquatic biology and water chemistry. I spent 20 years working as a professional scientist on areas of fish management (among other things) and ran my own niche aquatic ecology consultancy employing a number of other scientists in the fisheries field. I have personally made numerous measurements of light and color in saltwater - and even more in freshwater - using some pretty sophisticated equipment. I've also been an expert witness in my professional capacity as a scientist. And before I wrote this book I did an extensive review of scientific (not popular fishing) literature on the subject. I reckon I'm probably qualified to give a scientific perspective ;-) Yes, I'm Australian. I've worked and fished around the world though, including in the US. And had you read my book, you would have seen that there are links to references to other scientific work from around the world too. Actually, in scientific terms, what I present in my eBook is very old hat, scientists have known and published this stuff around the world for years. Fishermen have just never caught up. You are quite right that different species often have the capacity to see different colors, or at least different shades than other species. But you have completely missed the point that environmental conditions often preclude fish from seeing a particular hue, or any color at all. These environmental conditions are physical, not biological, so they are the same irrespective of your geographical location. In terms of the capacity for fish to see color: Most freshwater fish species are hundreds of times better at seeing shapes and shadows than humans are. And many (but not all) are many times worse than humans at detecting color. We know this from the anatomical structure of their eyes. Walleye, to pull your example, have a retina is packed with rod cells. These are the photochemical receptors that are super sensitive to light. They're present and have the same function in every living vertebrate on the planet - they allow us to see shapes and outlines in low light. Human eyes have relatively low numbers of rod cells, which is why we struggle to see much when the light fades - fish can often see silhouettes sharply when human eyes fail. The other photochemical receptors in eyes are the cone cells, which detect different wavelengths (colors) but need much higher intensity of light to do their job. Thats why we can often see silhouettes but not colors at dawn and dusk or on a moonlit night. The ratio of rod and cone cells tells us a lot. As already stated, walleye have loads of rod cells. But they have a low proportion of cone cells. This reflects the environment they live in, as well as their nocturnal hunting habits. They don't see color as well as other species but they can make out shapes in low light when other species can't. Bass have a higher proportion of cone cells because they tend to live and operate where there is better light. Color can play more of a part here. But compared to humans, they still have a high proportion of rod cells, so they still see better than us in low light and worse (less color distinction) in bright light. And yes, before you say it, some fish can see colors that humans can't, such as UV. As for the penetration of light and the visibility of color at depth, I've worked on tannin lakes where the blue and green wavelengths are absorbed in the first 6 inches and only red colors are visible. I've worked on algae lakes where the red/orange wavelengths disappear within 12 inches and only greens and yellows are visible. So light penetration and color visibility can vary tremendously in a lake as deep as 20ft. Hope this sheds some light (pun intended) Greg

Excellent, kudos. Get a large life insurance policy. Watch the wife's attitude change.

I had the chance of getting my dad down to Mexico for the 5 night/4 day package. We ended up getting rained out on one of the evenings so we fished 4 days, 3½ nights. I wanted to do a detailed write up to share the experience with anyone who feels like reading. While this wasn’t an epic trip in the sense that we blew away Lake Baccarac records or standards, it was incredible for me and my dad. I also wanted to give a special thanks to Dwight, A-Jay, and Jeff for providing me details to consider for the trip. The flight out was long, but the destination was on your mind at all times. We flew commercial and arrived in Los Mochis around 7:30 PM on Memorial day. We had Rodrigo the cook pick us up with a cooler of drinks ready for the 2.5 hour drive back to the lodge. Rodrigo was a humble man and an incredible person to meet for the beginning of our Baccarac experience. At the lodge, Yessi and Senolida (I know I am probably not even close to spelling their names write, let alone pronouncing them right, but we tried nevertheless), had a pina colada waiting for us. They were a bit confused when we told them that we did not drink alcohol, but they quickly made a virgin pina colada and gave it to us. The adrenaline was rushing in us just being at this lodge that seemed like it was tucked away on a mountain in the middle of nowhere. But wow, you could feel the excitement that surrounded this place. We were greeted by Narlin who mostly manages the lodge now. We quickly realized that he was an incredible man and sincerely wanted us to have a great week. Despite getting in late, they made us some dinner. We walked around the dinner area and admired the pictures of giant fish and the huge mount on the side of the wall. The bass looked 30 pounds, but was just a very very big bass from the lodge. We decided to rent the poles there at the lodge instead of bringing our own. That was a tough decision, but realized, if the airport broke my rod, I would have to rent anyways and would have spent the extra couple hundred flying the poles there only to break them. We selected the rods that fit the needs of our fishing. They were really cheap rods and I am still trying to decide if that was the right decision. I believe I lost some fish because of the rods that I had selected, but I also landed some good fish with them. The rods were 10 dollars a day so I rented 3 a day. It fit my needs and quite frankly, they did the job well, just made certain styles of fishing more difficult. So we told Narlin that we wanted to fish early in the morning and requested to have Manuel (known as Mexico’s finest). He told me that we would not be able to have him but said he would have someone for me the next day early on. I was too excited to sleep. The air was hot, the lake was nearby and all I could think of was 5 hours from then, I was going to be fishing a world class lake. Comparitively speaking, I really don’t fish much (especially while getting my degree the past 11 years), and when I do, it is usually out of state in Minnesota at our cabin, so I have never had access to waters that have a lot of big bass. 5:30 AM arrives and of course I was awake before my alarm woke me up. Luckily the room had AC so I did get a catnap in. Baylar was ready to pack our bags when we walked out. We were too excited to eat breakfast so we skipped it. This seemed to confuse Rodrigo the cook, so he eventually made sandwiches and had Narlin bring them out to us on the lake around 9 AM. The drive to the launch ramp was exciting. It was dark, the road was very sketchy, but everything was just right. We arrived to the ramp to see several boats in the dark and then noticed these dark silhouettes sitting in each boat. The guides were sitting there quietly, all ready to start the day. We introduce ourselves to our guide and informed him, “no mucho pescados, yo quiero grande pescado.” In my mind it made perfect sense and in spanish, it probably sounded stupid, but that was the best I had, and I think he understood. We always have 100 to 200 fish days in Minnesota. That experience can already be checked off my bucket list. I like hunting for relatively big fish and so does my dad so we were all in agreement. For lure selection, I had kept in contact with Terry the owner of the lodge and had read every fishing report from 2005 – 2016 in the months of Mid May to Mid June. I had decided that the swimjig, jig, and crankbait would be the bed I slept in. Of course I made sure I had a plethora of other lures as back up. Nevertheless, picking your starting lineup was almost as hard as picking the right women to marry. You finally had to make a decision and stick with it. A short 5 minute ride brought us to our first spot. Still dark outside, we passed 30 tilapia boats trying to pull in their nets for the morning. We probably passed 4 or 5 other bass fishing boats who were there from a different lodge. At our first spot, we parked adjacent to a point, cast down in 30 feet, and dragged up our baits. Dad was using his jig, I had my swimjig. Within the first 10 minutes, I had already missed a fish and had another 5 pounder jump off right next to the boat. But this was not painful. We had already decided that we will only weigh and keep track of 6+ pound looking fish. Within the next couple of minutes, I hooked into a better one and the first fish in the boat for our trip was a 7 pound 7 ounce bass. I just giggled to myself, high fived my dad, and smiled because I knew that this would be an incredible trip for us. By the end of the first day, we had probably caught a total of 25 to 30 fish combined. This would actually be the most fish we ever caught in one day. There are stories here of the 100 – 300 fish days. That will just have to be for another trip. There were some spots where we would start to catch little fish (4 pounds and under) on every cast, but would then leave those pesky fish alone and quickly leave. I think it is tempting to fish these areas and hope to catch big fish with them, but it seemed like a trap and I think our guide agreed with us. So we left and searched for other spots. Fishing with Sixto was a different experience. He was more of the run and gun type and the jig fishing I wanted to do, I soon realized that I would have very few opportunities to do so. There are so many spots on the lake and he knows that if he keeps running, we will run into spots (in theory) that will be loaded with big bass; however, we never found a spot the whole trip that produced as such. When it was lunch time, we ate quickly and were back at the ramp within the hour. I don’t think Sixto liked being back on the water so quickly, but he was a good sport. While we were fishing a point (very quickly), my dad found a good position to fish the jig that even with the boat moving, he could get a few lifts in. Using a ¾ ounce jig with a green pumpkin brush hog, he caught the first giant, a 10 lb even fish. This was the first time I had seen one in person. Let me tell you, for those who say they have caught one and never weighed it, or to those who have never caught one, they are a different looking animal. Earlier in the morning I had caught an 8 pound 5 ounce bass that I thought was 12 pounds. This fish looked different. Its body just kept going and going and it’s mouth seemed fake. Looked like a tarpon of sorts. My dad was so excited. He of course did a celebratory dance, high fives were thrown everywhere, and then length and girth measurements were taken. The fish came in at 26.5 inch length and 19.5 inches girth. What a beauty. We just wanted to hold it for a while, but knew it was time to let it go. None of the Baccarac boats had livewells, so we had to take pictures, measurements, and then let them go. We ended Day 1 with our top 5 fish being: 10 lb (dad), 8.10 (dad), 8.5 (me), 8.2 (me), and 7.7 (me). Top 5 Total= 42 lbs 5 oz Day 2 was as awesome as the first. We did not catch more than 20 fish the whole day. Sixto was confused with the numbers and let us know throughout the day that it was rare for the fishing to be this slow. We didn’t care, we were still getting a decent 5 fish limit. Perhaps my favorite fish this day was one I caught pitching a 6 inch lizard in a 40 foot forest of trees. This one came in at 9 pounds 2 oz. But of course, my dad had to out do me again. As he slow rolled a swimjig over a tree in 30 feet of water, a giant struck it again. I watched to see what would surface. I then watched this giant fish come out of the water so far, but still manage to have half of it’s body still underwater. Never had seen that before. After a good battle, he gets it in and it is a 10 lb 3 oz bass. Wow. I was becoming the paparazzi. The top 5 fish of the day: 10.3 (dad), 9.2 (me), 8.5 (dad), 7.14 (me), and 7.14 (me). Top 5 Total= 43 lbs 6 oz. Was funny, I wanted a 10 pounder so badly that when I hooked the 7.14 and got him in the boat, I had truly convinced myself that this fish was over 11 pounds since it truly looked like that to me. I would like to think I am good at guessing fish within the ounce at times, but I was playing a big boys game here with big fish and was clearly not acclimated enough to guess within 4 pounds!!! I must have sounded like an idiot to the guide. Day 3. Started real rough. We had 4 fish by 11 AM and nothing was over 4 pounds. No bueno. We pull up to a wind blown island. We cast the same time and my dad quickly hooks into a decent one. I hear him saying it is nice and to get the net. At the same time, I got a good bite, fight him for a second and then see him surface...his head was huge. It was just so big...was it my turn? Si Bueno! Get him in after shouting at the guide and I am literally shaking I am so excited. Weigh her in at 10 pounds 10 ounces! So excited. It was literally everything I had hoped for it to be and more. My dad’s fish was 6 pounds. It was our first real double of the trip. I swore to myself that i would never use the word "Grande" when in Mexico fishing since every white person says it and it must get extremely annoying to the guides and staff....but, when i started catching bigger fish, the word just kept coming out. I now no longer judge when i hear it on the Baccarac fishing videos and accept that it is a side effect of catching bigger fish down south. Later that evening, we had another double with each of us having a fish over 8 pounds. Top 5 of the day: 10.10 (me), 8.8 (me), 8.7 (dad), 8.5 (me), 7.10 (dad). Total weight = 43 lbs 8 oz. Day 4. Last day and half of the evening was rained out. It was my last day and it seemed that the fish had lock jaw. They wanted nothing unless it was dropped on their head or if it was swam past their face at lightning speed. So I went with the crankbait. My fingers were already swollen from fishing the previous 3 days. I ended up making a good choice. I fished that crankbait till it hurt and then I kept casting more. Towards the end of the night, my dad tied on the crankbait and happened to snag me in the face on the cast. Lucky and unluckily, the crankbait slid up my face and snagged my gopro and threw it in the lake. Lucky that my face was ok, unlucky that it ruined my new gopro. But, it was at the end of the trip. All my footage was already saved on my computer and the memories were already documented. I missed several of our big fish on the camera through not filming when I thought I was. But still got most on film. By the end of the day, good ol’ cranky got the job done. I ended up catching our top 5 and another grande!!!! Top 5 fish of the day was: 10 pounds 12 ounces (me), 8.12 (me), 8.5 (me), 8.3 (me), and 7.11 (me). Top 5 fish= 43.11 Again, we did not catch more than 20 fish for the day. Altogether, we caught less than 90 fish combined the whole trip. Our top 5 fish went 50 pounds 11 ounces. My top 5 fish in one day was 43.11 and my top 5 for the trip went= 47 pounds 12 ounces. A 10 pounder was seen in the boat each day. That is living for me. I know others have better luck there at times, but for it being a slow week according to the guide, my dad and I were happy. I guess I am not sure how well we could have done there. I guess all you can do is compare yourself to the other boats present at the lodge. There was another group of 4 there that fished in two other boats. They were there the whole time we were there (and had an additional half day) and only one 10+ was caught. They also reported very few 8s and I think only one 9 between the 4 of them. A lot of it is luck and they were all great fisherman. Point being, I think my dad and I made out well given the slow fishing conditions. As Sixto stated, “me fish here for 30 years, me no understand this place...no se why it is slow this week.” According to him, a couple weeks earlier was on fire. He stated that every spot had biting fish. He believed it was because the water levels stopped dropping and leveled out, which just put the fish in a weird funk. For the bigger fish we had, we went really slow or really fast. It was a grind and those bigger fish did not come for free. I loved this place. It was hot. Very hot every day and in the 100s. But, they had water and a cooler so we just kept drinking. I loved every bit of this trip. It was a dream come true. As others stated, you cannot wait to come back and just hope you arrive there when the bite is on and they are loaded at spots. Lake Baccarac should be on everyone’s bucket list. Even if you live in Florida, Texas, or California, there is just something about being in a different country, being tailored to by people who are TOP CLASS, and catching fish. I loved it. It was another life changing experience and having my dad with me was better than any fish caught. The fellowship, the fishing, the pictures, the food, the people, the culture...start saving for this place and I hope to see you there some day. We will be the ones taking short siestas. Videos Here: and Part 2

Lighting for safety: I don't bass fish at night but I do walleye fish. LED deck lights look nice but more important allow me to see the perimeter of the deck clearly during low/no light conditions. Locker lights are nice for choosing tackle but a headlight is still necessary for tying knots. Amber doesn't attract bugs and its effects on night vision are minimal. Adjusting the brightness and or background color on the graphs is important as well.

Shallow vs Deep I've found shallow water offers more opportunities to use different techniques. My love however lies offshore! The one advantage deep has over shallow is the same as during the daylight; bigger bass. Well that & most anglers don't like fishing offshore during daylight let alone at night. I've spent all night on deep water structure without ever seeing a boat all night. One piece of equipment you'll need on offshore structure is an anchor. I setup shallow & cast deep with Texas rigs, Jigs, Carolina rigs, or deep cranks.

Sigh - I wish I could fish at night...my wife won't let me...she thinks I'll drown or the boogeyman will get me... Maybe one of these days I'll get a "permission slip" to give it a try ! Great post Andy !

Good article A-Jay. There isn't any debate on white light affecting humans night vision, we can see better with good lighting and it takes time to recover night blindness after seeing white in the dark. My personal experience with tournament night fishing challenges the affect of white light on bass. Some very experienced night anglers use no light, some use extreme amount of lights to luminate the shoreline, while others use black light etc. All lighting combinations seem to work and have won tournaments. Bugs are drawn to white light and always a consideration where Mosqiuto's are a problem. I have used a 25w 12cDC bulb in a clip on shop lamp with big reflector to luminate the shoreline when casting crankbaits and caught a lot of good size bass. Also use a powerful bright underwater light used to float squid at the transum of my bass boat with good results, luminates the water about 30' around the boat with indirect light. Use a clip on LED hat light in total darkness for re tying and finding things in the dark. Tape a flash light onto the net handle to help net hot bass at night. All these things work, just experiment and come up with what works for you. K.I.S. Is essential at night, keep it simple! Single hook weedless presentations catch bass at night and you will spend more time fishing, less time swearing. Follow A-Jays advice, be safe, slow down, make sure your running lights work and stay on when it's dark. Tom

So I've never been one for jumping on every new lure or technique out there. I can barely keep track of the tackle I do have, I don't need to worry about adding more. However, I ran into a situation the other day that no matter what I threw.... no takers. In over 6hours of fishing, I was well on my way to getting skunked. Now usually, I would just move to some guaranteed spots I have to salvage the day...and my pride - but NO LUCK!! The entire lake/river was tight lipped. Chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, T-Rigged soft baits (weighted and none), etc.. nothing worked. So there I was, pondering, and I decided to try; for the first time,.............a wacky rigged Senko (weightless). BOOM! That's all I'll say to that.

We often give too much credit to the bait we use. Regardless of what anyone says bass are not the brightest critters on earth. Bottom line is if you can put it in front of their face, they will often bite it. When things get tough, go too the bait you have confidence in, and enjoy throwing, and work the crap out of it. My go to bait is the 4" senko. I can fish it deep, fish it shallow, I can fish it fast, or I can fish it real slow. I can throw it weightless, or with different size weights depending on the wind. I can throw it the thickest stuff, or in open water. I can wacky rig it, Texas rig it, or Carolina rig it. I can flip it or pitch it using a spinning rod. It will catch fish of ALL sizes. If you throw it in front of a ten pounder, she will slam it just like a 12 inch worm. The key factor is placement, and targeting spots. There just is not one magic bait, there are just better fisherman that get it done with what they like to use. I used to be a top water guy and then turned to plastics. As a Devil Horse, Rapala guy, I enjoyed the top water explosions but was neglecting a vast amount of the water column. I turned to plastics and never regretted the change.

You and me both. It's "only" 90 outside right now...but I knew it was going to be warm enough today that I blew off having a " boat day"... Bank fished this morning, got a little bass, mission complete. A bass a day keeps the doctor away...

Bass fishing can be as simple or as complicated as you make it . The vast majority of the time I use a six inch plastic worm . Shallow ,deep ,wood , rock ... Craws, Lizards , tubes ... will all work in the same places too . Whatever floats your boat .

Ok, I just watched 30 mins of Baccarac and I am ready to go back RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!! Congrats you two. Hell of a trip by any standards! I would take that type of trip over the 100 fish a day 5lbers anytime! Jeff

Though I may have done a poor job of explaining it but that's the period I'm referring to. And a few hours after that - you might get your arm broke. A-Jay

I agree with you 100%! I understand many people hate snakes because they fear them,but snakes shouldn't be hated.Snakes are a important part of the ecosystem. They eat rodents,insects, and other critters.I might be part of a small group of fishermen by saying this,but I enjoy seeing snakes where I fish.

Great question Goose. Yes, my night ops have all recently been in the Old Town. Accordingly they are all on smaller bodies of water where I was The ONLY guy on the lake at night - and my Navigation light - is a white flashlight. On larger bodies of water now in the Pro-V, I'll run a 225 degree red/green combo light up front and the mandatory 135 degree white stern light while U/W. While on the trolling motor and fishing off the bow, that white stern light is well behind and point aft - so that's good. State Regulations here require an all around (360 degree) white light when anchored or not under command (drifting). Not good. So while fishing (and on the trolling motor) I'm calling that underway and will show the red/green running lights and the stern light. So no blinding white light on a stick in my face. A-Jay

Great Info....Good read....You are so right about safety, I learned my lesson as a young kid when I went striped Bass Fishing at night with my Father and older Brother, and the Fog came in and you could not see 6" in front of your face...Lucky for me, My father was very savvy on the water, had a loran back then and he decided to find a Channel Marker and tie up to it since the Ferry would not crash into the marker but with huge swells he was afraid it could hit a boat not picked up on radar. Turns out the Ferry ended up hitting a boat that same evening, But Freshwater Lakes are just as dangerous as Montauk Point on Long Island. I would agree, Safety and being prepared, never go alone, and Fog is no joke at any time, neither are waves, if a storm starts coming, it can be hard to leave, but be safe, fish from shore, the bass will be hitting anywhere if they are active and that is why night fishing can be amazing....Find a spot that holds bait, and you can sit in one spot all night long and get wave after wave of new fish replenishing, you don't have to go find them, they find you...Not always, but when it happens it is the best fishing imo you can do even if fishing for Crappie or Catfish. I fish at night in the summer more than during the day because I love top water fishing....It is great at Day, but it is awesome at night, and it is so much fun when you get one of those nights when you can throw anything and get bit on what seems like every cast since you get in a "Zone" at night that is completely different than during the day....Hard to explain but the anticipation of a strike can make a night with only 3 fish in 5 hours seem like a Fantastic night... In Florida, I don't start going until June since the Gators are spawning when the Bass are, unless you know the lake really well and are in a big boat, I would stay away from lakes with lots of gators only because you can have issues with gators in the spring if you make a decison based solely on catching more fish which is easy to do and realize how risky it was...I stay out of tall grass and never go under trees since you need to be aware of Snakes as well...Everything feeds and roams at night. Anyone use Glow baits at night? My buddy keeps telling me to try them, but I can't do it, I just feel it looks so un natural, am I missing out? I use the same dark colors we all use during the day....To me Green Pumpkin works as well as black, flash helps however.......At least imo...Add some glitter to a frog and watch it get slammed if Moon is shining....That is what the Phat Frog color "Color Me" is for....Night Fishing...

I'm a plastic kinda guy. Baits and binder arsenal, two Lew's a couple weeks old. Got a bunch of tungsten weights, but no photos.

Really funny that OP complains about youtube people selling out to sponsors then says he will stick to the pros...

Great write up A-Jay! As I type this we are sitting at 95 degrees with "Real Feel" of over 100. Night fishing sounds pretty cool right now

Hahaha, it was unbelievable. It is hard Jeff cause unless people have been there, you really don't know how amazing this place actually is. I hope the videos do some justice of triggering memory lane. I have found myself daydreaming of this place every day since i left. I want to get back as soon as possible. It would be a blast to team up with the Bassresource Baccarac crew down there. Just an unbelievable place. I want to wake up tomorrow and be at the lodge...

I tried the drop shot........oh wait, that was in the head! Jeff

Congrats to both of you! Welcome to the Baccarac club and I think I am the first to welcome both of you to the DD club! Sixto is a freak. "You have big problem my friend" Love the guy! Glad yall had a blast and maybe will make it back down with us on one of your trips! Slow fishing at Baccarac......hahaha....your ruined! Jeff

Thats a nice looking combo. I think i might get another carbon gold spinning reel

I hadn't thought of the light from the sonar - good tip. Like A-Jay said earlier about his night-ops in his canoe, in all likelihood I would also be the ONLY one on the water at night in my little lakes so I guess my "nav light" would be a flashlight as well. Or perhaps I could "legal-up" and get a mast light intended for kayaks and run that under the rule applying to vessels under 7 meters in length... Now, to work on forging my wife's signature on a "permission slip"

Pucker Power! Wide Open Throttle at night! Aint nothing more exhilarating than watching stumps fly by at 80 mph! No seriously Toledo Bend has 183 miles of boat lanes & river/creek channels marked with 10,000 buoys, stay inside the 40' wide lane ya safe! This is way we fish at least 2 in the boat, one operates the boat & one operates the q-beam!

@Nitrofreak After 45 yrs fishing Toledo Bend & experiencing this several times a year ya get a gut feeling when they gonna bite & when they aint! I've thrown every bait mentioned here plus some y'all aint never heard of. One's that were productive; Rat-L-Traps, spinnerbaits, Pop-R, Chugbug, Rink-a-Dink, Slug-O, Flukes, Senko; get the point? When they're biting it don't really matter what I throw & when they aint biting it really don't matter what I'm throwing!

I was in a similar spot to the guys wives above. I started fishing a couple years ago with a $15 cabelas Combo, the upgraded to an ugly stick, then tried a st croix avid and it was a game changer. The ability to feel what was going on with my bait changed my fishing and has definitely put many more fish in the boat. In you analogy to golf the $500 driver is like the $500 rod. Both tend to be for the avid enthusiast. But the $100-200 rods are like a decent set of clubs that fit you. Yeah, you can hit the ball with some Walmart clubs, but getting clubs that are appropriate to a persons swing will make a big difference even for high handicaps.

I hear you but you're thinking small ball. Short game. My advice would be to spend enough on this rod so that it is still worth selling when it's time to upgrade. If you buy a quality rod, you can fold some of that purchase price back into the upgrade cost, thus reducing the sting in doing so.

Shimano plastics binder.

Geez where to start! Lot of questions about lights so I'll start there. I do not use red or green or any other colored light. What I use is a "cap light" that attaches to the bill of my ball cap. With attached to my cap it ain't shinning directly in my eyes. I don't know if it's me or what but I find it only takes 30 seconds to a minute for my eyes to adjust. As for running lights If I'm night fishing it's usually on Toledo Bend, both Texas & Louisiana require you to have stern lights on when no underway. Most guys never do because it attracts bugs! Because the lake is so large you can hear a boat coming miles away & when they are close enough we flip all lights on. Game Wardens are OK with this. As for black lights or other lights for illuminating my line or the shoreline line I find the distracting. Case in point, my nephew, his friend, & I were night fishing out of his friend boat. It was equipped with black lights the reflected towards the shoreline. After 3-4 hours of beating up the shoreline we rounded a point into a cove. I heard a fish strike the surface behind us, I stepped to that side of the boat & fired a cast towards the sound. Result a nice 3# chunk! We were sitting in 8' fishing towards the lights & the bass were in 12' behind us! The only other light I use is a Brinkmann Max Million III; 3,000,000 cp it will light up your world! We do run WOT on Toledo at night

OK, One good bait for that is one of those larger underspin jigs with a good sized nickle willowleaf blade, (like a large road runner) and a blueback herring slugo, or swimbait. Toss in or near the middle of the mayhem, and steady retrieve it back just like a regular spinnerbait. If its a small school of bait they will just disperse. If the school is huge enough, this bait should work. I bought mine at a local tackle shop, but im sure basspro or one of the other "large" tackle dealers online should have some, mine aren't road runners, dont remember the make, saw them and instantly knew what to do with them, so I bought him out of the 1/2 oz size he had. I have used them a few times and actually had some good success with them Another trick I used to do in Salems harbor (saltwater) when the herring were busting the surface being chased by stripers, as far as you could see, millions of herring filling the whole harbor.,...(May be considered dirty, but very effective) drop a line in the baitfish with a treble hook and snag one, leave it there. And hold on, that struggling herring is gunna get slammed hard. Not allowed in any tourney mind you, but it sure is alot of fun when you match the right rod reel combo to it. I was using a 6'6" med action shimano bullwhip (old slow action whippy rod) with a 2000 sized reel and 12 pd mono and averaging anywheres from 2 to 20 pound stripers, what a blast!,...This was years ago before the herring ban up here....But,...that sure was a great season, I plum wore that reel out, caught a few "keepers", and every evening after dinner i'd hit the docks with that one rod, a small box in my pocket with swivels and trebles, a pair of needlenose,.. and have a blast

My wife is new to fishing this year. She has been out with me a few times fishing with one of my old BPS Bionic Blade rods. I bought her a MLXF St. Croix Mojo for her birthday and a Pflueger Supreme XT. She fished it tonight for the first time with a 1/20 oz Ned rig and caught six bass in the first thirty minutes. She said the reason she was catching them is because she was able to feel every little change in the movement of the bait and when she did, she would just set the hook. I was fishing with a MF BPS Carbonlite and relying strictly on watching line movement. i would say her rod was a significant improvement over anything else she had ever fished with and it put more fish in her hands. She wouldn't go back.

I fault you guys for some of this. The YUM stick baits were brought up in another thread I think buy one get one free or some deal like that. One thread I saw mention they make a specific line for "casting" so I wanted to experiment. The Perko locks were for my boat I purchased about a month ago. The locks were no longer functional. Also only the rod locker and one large compartment in back locked. I wanted all large compartments to lock and the rod locker. Those are not cheap locks in my opinion. I ordered 2 locally and they were over $100 so I ordered these two on line for $30 each. The Fenwick crank bait rod is my second one as I wanted another once I tried the first one and found I liked it very much, especially for the money. The Fenwick Eagle is a Medium Fast 7' I will be putting together with a budget real I have for guests to fish with if they don't have a rod of their own.

I, too have found that different bodies of water have different activity periods. On some, the twilight is the trigger and on others, it is closer to an hour after all the natural light is gone. I have found that in shallower bodies of water around here twilight is prime time and many of the deep quarries don't turn on until well after dark. I'm close enough to a major city to have the benefit of its lighting in all but the most remote pockets on the water, so headlamps and flashlights are rarely necessary. I do keep a hand held spot light for emergency situations and illuminating the launch when approaching. Until one becomes familiar with night fishing their lake, though, portable lighting is your friend. Nice job A-Jay

Fished this morning and late afternoon for about five hours total. Don't know why, but the size was much better today. I caught 33 bass with eight over fifteen inches, and my best five weighed 12.4 pounds. I started out throwing a basspro slashbait that the bill had broken off of, and it actually has much better action without the bill and walked quite well. I targeted submerged weed beds in two to eight feet of water, and later on the docks next to the same shorelines. Around 10:30 or so the bass moved under docks where I caught them skipping the zeach-z underneath them. The heat (and pleasure boaters) were horrible this afternoon, I had to make sure I got snagged underneath docks a few times as an excuse to go swimming to get them out.

Yellow Bullhead

A question Andy. I know a lot of your "night-ops" were in your canoe. Were you running nav lights or at least a white mast/all-round/anchor light ??

Thanks - my head lamp use is for bait selection, knots, fish landing & hook removal and most importantly, to help me find & eat a midnight snack A-Jay

Double fluke rig

I don´t know why you are asking instead of getting one like ..... right now. They are much much better than all the reels you have been asking about for the past 6 months.

I'm at WVU for orientation, but when we drove up yesterday I couldn't help but stop for a few on deep creek lake in MD since it was so pretty. Also caught some smallmouth and largemouth on the river here in Morgantown.

I've always thought of shaky head fishing as trying to imitate a small baitfish pecking at food on the bottom (if you've ever had goldfish and have seen them pick up gravel off the bottom with their mouths that's what picturing). So a senko or worm, and lightly lift and twitch it.

Care to share the answer? Lol. I can't zoom into the pic on my phone. Looks like maybe a berkley tag. LC

This story is about a bedding fish, but a little different than what you asked for. I was out the first Saturday of this past April, with the spawn coming to an end and only a few stragglers on beds. At mid-day, I was coming back to my dock when a gardener working 2 doors down started waving me over. As I pulled closer, he pointed towards the water & said in broken English "He has been watching me all morning". Stuck between the seawall & a paddleboat, I see a bed with a small male & large female locked on, facing the shoreline & the gardener. I back the boat off, make a couple of casts but neither fish moves, they just continue to focus on the human standing in front of them. I go ahead & dock my boat at my house & walk over to my neighbors house to get a better view. As I do, a carp swims by the bed, only to get chased off by the male. About that time, my neighbors' 4 grandchildren come down to the dock. I lifted each of them up, had them put on my sunglasses so each could see the bed & the fish. I always try to teach these kids about the fish, so I was explaining why the bass continued to stay so close to shore when they obviously saw the gardener standing nearby. As the gardener finished up & left, one of the kids asked if I could catch the bigger fish. I told them I could try, but it was more likely the smaller bass would bite and that it may take a long time for me to get the female to take a lure. I wanted to set their expectations to not get frustrated when it took a long time to get her to bite. With the gardener gone, I went back to my boat, pulled around to the bed and cast a 5" wacky senko past the bed, up onto the seawall. As I pulled it quietly into the water & to the edge of the bed, the female turned towards it. I hopped it once up into the bed and she swam over & dropped nose down. I didn't see her inhale, but my line jumped, so I set the hook. She immediately took off for deeper water & I landed her a few minutes later as the crowd of children roared their approval. So much for setting expectations, she bit on the first cast!! I brought her back to my dock to show the kids and they were amazed at the size of her head & mouth. She weighed 5 lbs, 4 oz, but had already dropped most of her eggs and probably would have been well over 6 lbs just a few weeks earlier. The kids got to see her swim away, although she didn't return to the nest immediately.

So? Do not watch them if you do not like them. Rather easy solution.

My eldest son, several years back, was not having much luck bass fishing, so I took him out during the spawn in our canoe to catch an "easy" target, LOL. I positioned him near a bed with a large bass on it and for about an hour he tried everything I had to catch that bass. I finally told him to try a rattle trap, just jigging it up and down. I was ready to move along, but stuck in there for his sake. He finally caught that bass - all 5.9 pounds of it!! Was on cloud 9 for a week or so after that.