Who Has Gone Night Fishing In Spring?

[BassinBoy]

Guys,

 

I have a few ponds and lakes that I can only fish at night. I know in the summer the bass can be active at night and the bite can be pretty good.

 

Although, I dont want to wait until summer to fish these places...

 

Would fishing at night in the spring be productive? With lower water temperatures and the different stages of spawn taking place, I didnt know if it would still be productive.

 

Any thoughts would be great!

[A-Jay]

I grew up fishing in New England.  You have described what I was faced with several seasons in a row.

 

I started going very Early season at night - often times the air temps were below freezing but the water remained open.  Clearly not a time when Anyone else is on the water.

Several conventional methods proved completely unsuccessful.  Desperate to get bit, I started fishing topwater very shallow in front of any inlet, small creek or run off I could find. 

 That was it.  I could not believe just how shallow the fish were at night and this early in the season.  I'm talking March here.  I didn't have a thermometer back then so I can't tell you what the water temps were.  A wake bait crawled very slowly right along the surface was the best producer.  Stop and go was not as good.  A Mann's 1 minus  was the top producer - color didn't seem to matter; just get it shallow, make long casts and hang on. 

I chose to share this with one close fishing buddy only who had turned me on to a few "secrets", but I've never posted this up before and you Never ever hear about early season topwater at night - sounds crazy - but if the season opened early enough here in MI, I would definitely be out there. 

 

Good Luck

 

A-Jay

[BasskingKeith]

Done night fishing in spring a lot down here, almost to the point where I preferred it over daylight. Granted the water is clear and weather is warmer though. In my experience on a somewhat pressured small lake, night time was usually better.

[K_Mac]

Years ago my brother and I were fishing on a cold, clear early spring night on Bull Shoals Lake.  At the top of the bluff on which we were fishing (and catching good fish) was a cabin. The resident was on the porch/deck talking on the phone telling someone how he could not believe anyone was silly enough to fish at night so early in the season. Sound caries real well under such conditions. I will never forget how funny we thought his smug dismissal of something he did not understand. If night is all you have, fish at night-you never know. Good luck.

[BassinBoy]

A-Jay, awesome insight. I will be sure to try it.

Any other suggestions? Anybody?

[Bobby Uhrig]

Living in New Jersey it takes a lot of daylight/sunlight to warm up the waters after iceout. The warmer  southern winds blow the warm water in a direction of its choice for that day. The waters swirl and mix with the colder water . On an average -the water temps warm faster to where the warmer water is blowing by 3-5 degrees. . The flats near that area produce first. Try to be near the shorelines where the sun has been beating on as well.I have fished early spring at night for over 30 years. The scret is a wide wobble with slow steady retrieve. The buzzbait will do it a little later on as water temps are in the low 50's The colorado bladed spinnerbaits work well  but for the real early stuff the wide wobble swimbait is the top producer. Im not talking your average flat sided swimbait with a typical tail on it. Im talking wobble/thumper stuff. This wide wobble swim bait on a shake 2 head had been my top producer. I would cast  paralell the shorelines til I found what depth they were using., Like I said just slow /staedy thump thump thump. The flats near deep water produced best. This is not to push product but this is the swimbait/fatshad. It has a different action than the other swimbaits. remember -slow and steady-.Just turning the reel handle till ya feel the rod tip vibrating.. Hold on -the big fish are hungry at that time of year.

[wademaster1]

Nighttime bassin is great. I've already caught bass this year on top. Night time is perfect. Less heat, and the fish are more at ease in my opinion.

[wademaster1]

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/112324-bank-fishing-in-the-dark/

[WRB]

Guys,

I have a few ponds and lakes that I can only fish at night. I know in the summer the bass can be active at night and the bite can be pretty good.

Although, I dont want to wait until summer to fish these places...

Would fishing at night in the spring be productive? With lower water temperatures and the different stages of spawn taking place, I didnt know if it would still be productive.

Any thoughts would be great!

You really need to separate the ponds from the lakes, different ecosystems and the bass behave somewhat differently in each. The core water temperature impacts the bass greatly as the water warms from the cold period approaching pre spawn and spawn.

Bass in ponds tend to be shoreline oriented and cruise their domain on a regular routine, so they hunt the shallows and will begin the seek bed sights when the water warms about 60 degrees and spawn as it gets 62 and warmer to 65 in about 2' to 4' of water.

Bass in lakes react differently and tend to stay off the banks in deeper water as it begins to warm, they don't cruise the banks until it's very close to the spawn very often. Ounce the bass are up in shallow water they are focused more on spawning more then hunting prey.

It's not spring for bass until the water warms above 60 degree. These bass are in pre spawn about now where you fish and the bass are hunting for prey, so anytime is a good time to fish including night.

Ponds the bass are located within 20' of the bank most of the time, including nights. You need to offer lures the bass can locate easy at night; noisy large lures that push a lot of water and larger soft plastics.

Lake bass are usually out on the first break line and will move up to hunt at night and the same lures should work, just fish a wider area. Remember to stop and pause the lure longer as the water warms and you see bed sights. You can't see bass at night so anticipate a bass near a bed is guarding it.

Tom

[Texfisherman]

I've always loved night fishing. I've had fantastic success in both ponds and lakes at night.

I stick with finesse fishing and very dark colors. 

 

One of my favorites is a Zoom Shakey Head Worm. Color - Junebug or Green Pumpkin.

Throw that worm on a Owner "Shaky" Type 1/4 oz. Hook.

Cast out and work it back slowly, popping it every now and then.

 

Texas-rigged ribbontail worms can be great, also!

 

If you're working ponds, see if there is any moving water, like a water fountain or pvc pipe pouring water into the pond.

That's where I focus most of my efforts. Otherwise, I just cast and walk, working as much shoreline as possible.

[Bobby Uhrig]

HMMM I disagree with some of that Tom - Ive been doing this a long time and its certainly not spring when it reaches 60-We have bass spawning here in 50 degree water as well.It is also governed by the amount of day light as well as water temp. Each body of water and demographic is unique to itself. Bass spawn at different depts according to the topography and the water clarity-Ive seen -witnessed bass spawning in 18 ft of water and  in lakes as shallow as 2 feet. The bigger bass always seemed to be deeper. They spawn at different depts as well and in different stages  to ensure the survival of the species. Just mother nature at its finest. Drought -storms -cold- all kill the spawn. If they all spawned at the same time and something like that happends -it is catastrophic The spawn is lost. .

 

Sorry about getting a little off topic

[merc1997]

i have always started night fishing as soon as the water temp hits 50 degrees.  nights after a warm sunny day usually produce the best.  bass move into very skinny water that has warmed up.  this is a great time to catch some real monsters too.

 

bo

[Snakehead Whisperer]

I love night fishing in the spring. In my experience night fishing in the summer, the bite will usually slow down to a crawl right after sundown and pick up again a couple of hours later. In the spring it seems that the bite is just warming up at sundown, and I usually find them shallow like A-Jay mentioned in his post. Right now the night bite is decent here in DC, and the water temp is high 40's or so. 

[iabass8]

I night fish almost exclusively in the spring....for walleye. TWO MORE WEEKS TILL OPEN RIVER WATER 

[Bluebasser86]

When I was probably 16 or 17  my dad was bragging to his buddies that I could catch a fish almost anytime. It was about 7pm in February and the lake we were at had just thawed earlier that week. My dad's buddies said they'd give me $20 apiece for each fish I could catch. It was already dark out and it was fairly warm but still probably only 40 degrees out. I went and drug a finesse tube across a rockpile in 10' of water near an area where warmer water was running in from a small pond. Managed to catch 3 or 4 and made a pretty good chunk of change. It isn't nearly as effective as it is during the warmer months but if you put a bait in front of them you can still get them to eat. 

[Bobby Uhrig]

THUS BLUE THE TOURNAMENT TRAIL WAS BORN  LOL

[Bobby Uhrig]

Freakn spell check -DEPTHS

 

[Catt]

Well I'm a little further south than y'all but I generally start night fishing in April but I have started as early as late February.

 

After a mild winter (something you Yankees don't get) I'm actually fishing pre-spawn.

 

Spinnerbaits, Traps, Texas Rigs, & Jig-n-Craws 

[bigbill]

I read as the ice is off and the water starts to warm up, the bass are in the most northern part of the body of water. Because it get the longer amount of sun time wise to warm up the water. I think of it as being closer to the woodstove?

 

being a shore fisherman most of my northern areas are private property so I can’t test out the theory. But I think it’s true because my hot spots at this time are dead to fishing. There’s nothing there yet.

[Angry John]

On 3/16/2013 at 1:23 AM, merc1997 said:

i have always started night fishing as soon as the water temp hits 50 degrees.  nights after a warm sunny day usually produce the best.  bass move into very skinny water that has warmed up.  this is a great time to catch some real monsters too.

 

bo

This is almost exactly what I do.  It's comfortable in a light jacket and if I fall in I'm not going to die at this point.  Poppers and jigs are first choice along with a wacky worm.

[soflabasser]

I fish at night often and have caught plenty of big bass at nighttime.There are less fishermen on the water, less pleasure boaters, and less people bugging you so its one of my favorite times to fish for bass. It might make you a better fisherman during the day since it will teach you how to feel bites better and teach you how to focus more with less distractions.

[Bassin' Brad]

On 3/15/2013 at 11:13 AM, Bobby Uhrig said:

HMMM I disagree with some of that Tom - Ive been doing this a long time and its certainly not spring when it reaches 60-We have bass spawning here in 50 degree water as well.It is also governed by the amount of day light as well as water temp. Each body of water and demographic is unique to itself. Bass spawn at different depts according to the topography and the water clarity-Ive seen -witnessed bass spawning in 18 ft of water and  in lakes as shallow as 2 feet. The bigger bass always seemed to be deeper. They spawn at different depts as well and in different stages  to ensure the survival of the species. Just mother nature at its finest. Drought -storms -cold- all kill the spawn. If they all spawned at the same time and something like that happends -it is catastrophic The spawn is lost. .

 

Sorry about getting a little off topic

 

6 hours ago, Bobby Uhrig said:

Freakn spell check -DEPTHS

 

Did you just correct a spell check FIVE YEARS after it happened or am I missing something?!? 

[Glaucus]

26 minutes ago, Bassin' Brad said:

 

Did you just correct a spell check FIVE YEARS after it happened or am I missing something?!? 

My thoughts exactly. That's a whole new level of grammar nazism.

[Bobby Uhrig]

LOL getting old 

 

[scaleface]

I always reserved night fishing for July and august . As hot as it has been around here I'll have to start earlier in the year just to get out .