Night Bassing ~ A-Jay's Version

[Bassin' Brad]

I have no idea how I missed this when it was originally posted but I'm glad I found it!! Great read! 

[EGbassing]

On 6/18/2016 at 2:56 PM, A-Jay said:

Thanks ~

Ok so to answer your questions; At least Half of my night operations are in search of Smallmouth - but never in a river.  Like I mentioned in the OP - "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."   Walking the bank at night in & around venomous snakes is not an activity I'd participate in, but hey, that's just me.

Yes Pike bite at night - I've had many a spinner bait crushed & mangled beyond recognition at night.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

Good Luck ~  crystal clear nights are often a great time to be out on the water.

And sometimes on the blackest of star lite and flat calm nights, one of my all time favorite scenario's plays out.  It's when the flat calm lake perfectly reflects the black but star light sky on the surface of the water.  When conditions are right it's hard to tell what's up & what's down - always makes me a little dizzy - (I mean more than usual.)

It's very cool.

A-Jay

Did you take that picture?

[A-Jay]

No - but it's a great example of what I was describing. 

But I don't have the specific type of camera equipment to take a night time exposure like that

A-Jay

[12poundbass]

Wow! Forgot about this thread, I never did finish reading it. I hardly night fish, nonetheless very informative! 

[EGbassing]

That's still awesome. I kind of want to move to the north woods at some point now. 

[A-Jay]

While I can certainly relate to the allure of that idea - make sure you understand what you'll be living in for at least 1/2 the year.  

But no worries, shoveling 4 feet of heavy wet snow off your roof is great exercise and really only takes about 10 hours or so.

Enjoy.

A-Jay

 

[EGbassing]

Haha, being from Alabama, where it snows once a century, that looks awesome. I would probably get tired of it eventually though.?

[A-Jay]

We all do 

A-Jay

[Tony johnson]

living in socal i can only night fish one month out of the year on a lake and only tell 1130 with a boat... all my experience is running saltwater or the river... the lower colorado river is dangerous during the day let alone night because there is sandbars moving and changing constantly... at times river might be 10 ft wide but only have a 10ft lane that is more then 1ft deep... ocean fishing i launch at 1-3 am hit bait barge then shoot off shore... normally about 35 miles running about 20 mph in darkness... 

[A-Jay]

Nice ~

I have some experience running off shore in salt water myself.

Other than operating your rig safely, much of that scenario may not actually be applicable to Night Bassing.

A-Jay

[Tony johnson]

the biggest thing is being comfortable and safe.. in offshore you are mainly looking for other vessels... just sometimes we running 8-10'ft swells on 10-15 sec intervals in a 24ft boat.. I will never run offshore solo... normally 2 of us and both are compitaint and well experienced in the operation of boat, all electronics, saftey equipment.. Its a long way from help when you get 40+ miles out... even uscg is about 1 hr away on mayday calls

 

[A-Jay]

Agreed ~ 

For 30 years, I was the help.

A-Jay

[Tony johnson]

Thank you for keeping our waters safe! i have actually beat the coast gaurd cutter/helo to a mayday of a boat going under cause i was just 10 miles away

[A-Jay]

Speed = Distance / Time

Time = Distance / Speed  

Distance = Speed / Time 

A-Jay

[MGF]

distance = speed X time

[A-Jay]

Thank You Mike ~ I appreciate the help.

A-Jay

 

 

 

[roadwarrior]

 

I have always thought distance was a function of time  

 

1000 miles

Forever if it's a walk

Long if it's a drive

Short if by plane

A nano second in a spacecraft

 

[MGF]

Sorry, I didn't mean to nit pick. I just can't help myself sometimes. LOL

[A-Jay]

It's all good.

Typo's happen and that one was passing on incorrect info.

Not something I aspire to.

A-Jay

[Koz]

Speaking of night fishing, believe it or not but until last week I don't think I had done it since I was a kid. For me, the reason was I that I was bank fishing in alligator country and just didn't feel it was worth the risk.

 

However, now that I moved I thought I would give it a try even though it;s still winter and not prime fishing season. I fished from the docks out back of my hotel and the one thing I noticed was my equilibrium was messed up. On many casts I felt like I was going to fall right over into the water. Maybe it's because of my age.

 

With the small safety dock lights I did have enough light to see a bit so I wasn't in pitch black conditions. But it was still an odd feeling out there. Twice there were huge splashes just off the dock that I imagine were probably stripers. But I have yet to catch anything at night. But you can bet when the water warms up I'm going to give it a try.

[Catt]

@A-Jay Had to reread the whole thread!

 

Classic stuff ?

[APK62]

Great write up AJ, I saved it to my archives! 

[ATA]

I really could use a lot of info from you and comments left by others.believe it or not I fish at least one night a week, right now of course mostly trout and not so much for bass. But soon I am going to start bass nights non stop.

well as bank fisherman I have different experience, I would like to address some that I learned.

full moon nights means you use same baits and colors you would use on daytime. The best bait ever worked for me at night was, Jig( big bulky dark) at dark nights. Swim bait particularly 6” fat swim baits. And jerk bait 130 size.

and I have to confess I never catch anything on buzz bait, frogs, spinners and all top waters.

thank you again A-Jay

[frenchy]

Nothing like fishing for old bucket mouth at nite, very intense and brings out all of your senses

 

[j bab]

I'd like to add - underwater dock lights can work wonders. Down here dock owners typically use green. Position your boat so you can cast past the light and try to keep your distance. If you're on the dock rather than in a boat, be extremely quiet. In my experience these fish are very spooky. Most of the big fish will hang out at the dark edges of the lights rather than right in the middle of the bright spot.