Night Bassing ~ A-Jay's Version

[Jonas Staggs]

Do you guys think it's too cold for night fishing right now in SoCal? Night fishing is pretty awesome but I have only done it peak summer 

[ATA]

I am doing it at least once a week and it is awesome and productive, Catching multi species every night. Catfish/bass/shad/carp/trout. Let me know if you are near LA and ill be glad to bring you with me.

[Jonas Staggs]

I'm out in the IE. I do go down to LA area once in a while. Where are you fishing? I have probably been there if it's public 

[ATA]

Castaic lake(Public) and Santa Ana Lake(Privet). Just let me know if you around and ill make plan.

[Jonas Staggs]

Ah castaic, haven't been there since I was a kid. Santa Ana lake, do you mean Santa Ana River lakes down off the 91?

[ATA]

yes Santa Ana River Lakes I am there overnighting for one or two nights every week. Start Friday 6PM and back home Sunday 11PM.

[Jonas Staggs]

d**n that's crazy, I couldn't stay there that long. Not because I wouldn't want to but don't have free time like that. If you like sarl you might want to try the actual Santa Ana River. I catch some nice creek bass there. Not huge but still fun

 

 

[ATA]

Lead the way, I am up for it. 

[Jonas Staggs]

Shoot me a dm. I'll show you a video of the spot, you could decide if it's worth the drive. I don't know if LA to IE is worth the drive for tiny Creek fish.

[stratos4me]

A dry or semi-dry suit, an inflatable life jacket, and a personal locator beacon to summon a helicopter are my goto safety equipment at night on the water for riskier trips.

On 3/21/2023 at 6:31 PM, Jonas Staggs said:

Do you guys think it's too cold for night fishing right now in SoCal? Night fishing is pretty awesome but I have only done it peak summer 

Nope. Try a black or black and blue jig.

[Big Hands]

"Moonlight Madness" night fishing the upper lake at Castaic begins this month (4/22/23) and again in May (5/20/23), and then in June and July as well. You can fish in a boat or from the shore at those events. 

[Pogues2300]

A-Jay just like to thank you for all your posts. I almost went night fishing tonight but realized I need to buy a light to be legal on my kayak lol. Other thing is seems here all the parking at lakes near me ends at 10 pm …. Guess twin cities metro area has a strong fun police presence, thanks again man

[Swamp Girl]

@A-Jay shared a lot of valuable advice. I love night fishing because that's when big ones bite. The only drawback are the photos. Mine are lousy. Like A-Jay, I avoid as much light as possible and I fish in some darkness as much as possible too, launching as early as 3:00 a.m. 

[CutNRun]

@A-Jay your posts here have helped rekindle the fire for night fishing under me.  I have not caught a big bass night fishing...ever.  I've been in the boat when a 10+, a few 8s, and loads of smaller bass have been boated, just none have been on my line.  My biggest so far has been 3.75 lbs..  I will set aside time to try to conquer that demon this year.  

 

Jim

[A-Jay]

8 hours ago, CutNRun said:

@A-Jay your posts here have helped rekindle the fire for night fishing under me.  I have not caught a big bass night fishing...ever.  I've been in the boat when a 10+, a few 8s, and loads of smaller bass have been boated, just none have been on my line.  My biggest so far has been 3.75 lbs..  I will set aside time to try to conquer that demon this year.  

 

Jim

Thanks ~ 

Glad to hear it Jim.

Good Luck but be careful.

You might get your arm broke.

A-Jay

[Catt]

@A-Jay it's in the mid 60s at night...wanna go?

[A-Jay]

13 minutes ago, Catt said:

@A-Jay it's in the mid 60s at night...wanna go?

Yes @Catt 

But I'll need to shovel the snow here

before I can head your way.  

In the mean time get that FFS machine fired up and tuned in because that's the only way either of us will ever catch any bass ever again.

LOL

 

[Catt]

@A-Jay I'm heading up to Toledo for 4 days during the next full moon. Don't let it be that warm cause I may sneak off.

[Joeyshoelaces]

This piece was beyond informative. Thanks for a well put together read.

[bassfly66]

Great thread with a lot of great info! One peice of safety gear that most people forget about is eye protection! Whether it's your presciption eyewear or just a set of clear safety glasses, you need to protect your eyes. A lure coming back at you at warp speed is bad news, but it could be catastrophically life changing if you catch said lure with your eyeballs! Also, even though we don't run wide open, hitting a bug at 10-25 mph could put a fast end to your fishing. Personally, I've had eyeware save my vision twice while fishing...once at night & once during daylight hours.

[TheRodJerker]

On 12/6/2023 at 9:08 PM, ol'crickety said:

@A-Jay shared a lot of valuable advice. I love night fishing because that's when big ones bite. The only drawback are the photos. Mine are lousy. Like A-Jay, I avoid as much light as possible and I fish in some darkness as much as possible too, launching as early as 3:00 a.m. 

I was having the same problem until a few months ago. I bought these "gopro" lights for my camera, they work AMAZING for taking night shots. The camera on my phone sucks, so I use my off-brand 4k gopro and this waterproof light to take night shots. For $150-ish bucks, I got a decent camera set-up and it's all 100% waterproof. Hope this helps!

[Bullett]

Most of my night time fishing here in Texas consisted of setting a trot line before dark and then coming back in the morning to run it, take catfish off of it if you caught some, rebait it and reset it, go Bass fishing the rest of the day and run it again before it gets dark and start all over in the morning. I never really liked being out on the water at night, especially if I'm on a lake I've never fished before

[MichaelN]

I enjoy setting trotlines or limb-lines out on the rivers, hop in the jonboat a couple of times throughout the night to check them. We used to bait the lines with water dogs and catch big cats and monster alligator gar.  Nothing like using buzzbaits at night and hearing a big bass exploding on the surface ambushing it.