Night Fishing And Bigger Bass?

[hoosierbass07]

 I've not done any night before unless you count 9pm to 9:20pm night fishing.  When I go fishing in the evening, either in my kayak or bank fishing, I try to head home by 9:10pm.  

 

 Anyway, I went bank fishing at a strip pit pond/lake this evening.  I has three nice fishing piers.  I've fished here since last year and I've caught bass from the bank but most were on the small side.  So this evening I'm fishing and decided to stay past 9:30pm.  It was around around 10pm and I was using a zoom trick worm Texas rigged and I ended up getting more bites and caught a nice sized bass.  Not a giant but a lot bigger than the ones Iv'e been catching during the day and evening hours.  Maybe a pound and a half.  I didn't try it but I also go the feeling top water would have brought some action too.  

 

 Anyway, do the bigger bass come out at night once the sun is down?  My one catch tonight has me very interested in night fishing now! I also had some more and more bites the later it got.  

 

Oh, and that bass was throat hooked.  I did have the barb crushed down and I tried that one technique where you go through the gills on the side.  Even though it was getting darker I could still see the hook and manged to go through the side and get it out.  I'm pretty confident now I can get more hooks out from the throat.  I put the bass back in the water and held it and it did swim off.  I figure it's got a better chance of survival with the hook out than it would have with the hook in.  

 

And finally - I'm becoming a big of Zoom trick worms! 

[WRB]

Adult size bass are usually larger than 3 lbs, smaller size bass (LMB) are juvenile or teen age bass.

Adult size bass eat crawdads, most juvenile bass don't, crawdads are nocturnal along with other terrestrial critters that bass eat.

Tom

[gobig]

Adult size bass eat crawdads, most juvenile bass don't

 

 

 

I don't buy that small bass don't eat crawdads for one minute. I have caught my fair share of 1lbers on jigs and I have seen the evidence in the live well to many times.

[ATX]

Yeah I second that. Crawdads may not be their first choice, but all sizes eat them up! At least in South East Texas that is. I buy sacks of them from crawfish farmers and feed them to the bass in my 10 acre pond and it looks like the water is boiling when I chunk them out.

[Jar11591]

I love night fishing, especially in strip pits. I have definitely noticed a size increase at night. More 19-21" fish came from night fishing than anything else. Black jitterbugs, black lizards, worms and craws. Try going during an extreme heat wave. I noticed better results with night fishing during a heat wave.

[Fish_Whisperer]

If you don't have a headlamp, I suggest getting one.  Good to have when you have hooks to get out, especially treble hooks.  I hardly ever run mine except when I re-tie, have a fish on, get hung up, or I am approaching the water and need the light so's to not be stumbling around. ]

 

10 bucks well spent...

 

http://www.rayovac.com/Products/Lights/Outdoor/Virtually-Indestructible-LED-3AAA-Headlight.aspx

[Bluebasser86]

Big bass are easier to catch at night during the heat of the summer for sure. Less pressure, no bright light shining in their eyes, cooler temps, and prey species that mainly rely on sight to avoid the bass are at a big disadvantage. 

[Catt]

When opportunity arises bass feed!

There are two beliefs on when big bass feed, ine is midday, the other is after dark.

Bass's metabolism is finely tuned to its circulatory system temperature which is the same as the surrounding water temperature. As water temperatures rise the metabolism rate rises which requires them to feed more often.

Crawfish 101: they are out in the daylight as well as moon light!

[VAfisherman929]

I'm not sure where you are from, but here in virginia at Smith Mountain Lake I throw a Storm Jointed Thunderstick at night. I parallel the banks and cast my lure anywhere from 2inches to 2 feet off the bank and slow roll it back. It's hard to catch a fish smaller than 2 pounds. My average is around 3.5 - 4 pounds on a thunderstick. I also throw a rapala dt-10 in either of there crawfish colors before the thunderstick bite turns on. I will also throw a trick worm texas rigged in a black or junebug color.

[Mainebass1984]

Night fishing during the summer months can be amazing. I enjoy it for several reasons, bigger average size bass, no jet skis, no pleasure boaters, cooler temps, usually near calm conditions and... there is nobody else out there but me.

[WRB]

I don't buy that small bass don't eat crawdads for one minute. I have caught my fair share of 1lbers on jigs and I have seen the evidence in the live well to many times.

Most small are juvenile but a 1 lb bass can be a adult male, normally target small 2" crawdads, crawdads have claws for a reason. Base this statement on experience fishing with live crawdads during the 70's, caught very few bass under 3 lbs.

Tom

[Catt]

Most small are juvenile but a 1 lb bass can be a adult male, normally target small 2" crawdads, crawdads have claws for a reason. Base this statement on experience fishing with live crawdads during the 70's, caught very few bass under 3 lbs.

Tom

Base this statement off the fact I live in Louisiana the crawfish capital of the world & I am 100% CAJUN!

I've cleaned more bass in the 1-2 pound range with crawfish in their belly than you could count. I've cleaned 1-2 pound bass with 3-5" crawfish in their belly.

[NathanW]

Try to start around midnight. The period from dusk until around midnight is usually pretty slow.

[Todd2]

Try to start around midnight. The period from dusk until around midnight is usually pretty slow.

I see the same thing here.

[AK-Jax86]

In my experience night fishing yields bigger bass especially in the summer. I tend to go out atleast twice a week at night anywhere between 10p to 3a. The big ones come closer to shore at night for all the reasons people have mentioned earlier. But that doesn't always mean you will catch you a big bass night fishing is hit or miss.

[hoosierbass07]

I went night fishing from the bank again a few nights ago - took my nephew. Fished around 9:30pm to 11:30pm. He caught the only one. Not a big one but larger than the ones we catch there during the day. I had some bites but no hook ups. He had more bites too. So from fishing in the late evening twice now I'm starting to believe it's definitely worth fishing at night. Now I'm thinking of doing some night time kayak fishing.

We both had led headlamps. Can bass see those lights and can they spook them? We turned them off for most if the casts we made but had them on a lot between casts.