Night Fishing (headlamps? casting gear?)

[crypt]

clip on light when tying only, bugs will eat you alive when there is light . Otherwise everything else same as in daylight.

[PhishLI]

42 minutes ago, Big Hands said:

I hate having to choose between a light and a cap at night.

They work great, but they drive me nuts because they're always dragging my hat down and forward, so I end up having to adjust it often. The Coast models I use have an adjustable elastic band and the light articulates downward with detents, so I often opt to wear it around my neck. Unconventional, but it works, and I don't have to tilt my head to focus the beam when I retie.

 

Try not to focus on the whopper plopper hanging off my sweatjacket. It's a long story.

[JustJames]

7 hours ago, PhishLI said:

 

The coast head lamp is the best. Mine have option with red and green light with separate buttons, (easy to toggle). The bright light is focus able and super bright. It take 3 AAA battery and last pretty long time. The green is super bright, and plenty to re trying the knot/unhook the fish

[PhishLI]

28 minutes ago, Bass_Fishing_SoCal said:

The coast head lamp is the best. Mine have option with red and green light with separate buttons

Yup. I use the same one. Comes in a 2 pack usually on sale at home despot during the holidays.

Coast 1600068 FL74 Tri Color Focusing Headlamps

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Coast makes a great light no doubt, and they're offered at your local Lowes.  Had several, and never had a single problem.  Durable, bright lights.

 

I bought a couple new lights this summer.....one at Lowes, the other at Harbor Freight.   No single light offered all the features I needed when at a store, so I ended up buying two, and using them for different things. 

 

The first one is Luxepro....very affordable, runs off 3 AAAs, and has Red, Green, Hi, and Low White features.    $17 at lowes.     Great, bright light, but it drains batteries like any light does, and if you find yourself using it for stretches of banks with lots of overhanging trees like myself, you'll find it gets tiresome and costly changing batteries every few nights. Lux-Pro 303-Lumen LED Headlamp (Battery Included) in the Headlamps department at Lowes.com

 

This led me to buying a rechargeable light.  I found a light that has the similar quality and robust feel that Coast lights do, but even cheaper, and at your local Harbor Freight.   This light is industrial strength constructed, has adjustable beam focus, Hi, Lo, and Strobe white....but atlas no Red or Green.   Most importantly though this has a built in USB port and includes a Li Ion battery.  This is a fantastic option if you intend to use the light to illuminate areas for any length of time.  $25 so it's budget friendly as well.     500 Lumen Adjustable Rechargeable LED Headlamp (harborfreight.com)

[Catt]

2 hours ago, PhishLI said:

They work great, but they drive me nuts because they're always dragging my hat down and forward, so I end up having to adjust it often

 

That one I use weighs maybe 2 oz max, I often forget it's there.

 

I use it only to re-tie or look for something. I've never had a problem with white effecting my night vision. My vision is back to normal in a matter of a couple minutes.

 

There's usually enough ambient light to land fish by thumb or net. 

[WRB]

I believe the OP is hoping to learn from our collective experiences and mistakes.

There is also very different types of night bass fishing, from a boat, kayak and bank anglers that have specific needs.

My 1st attempt at night fishing was a local Trolling Motor Doctor event at lake Casitas. Our local  events run 8 PM to 2AM, 6 hours.

I tapped a flash light to my net handle to land bass. 

my light 25 W DC incandescent bulb in a clip on shop light with a 12V cigarette adapter for power with a spare 12V cranking batter.

This set up worked great to see where+to cast when needed and easy to land bass. 

Using black w/blue flake 10” Power, jig and DD22 Black/red crawdad crank baits we caught 58 lbs 5 bass. Best ever night tournament was my 1st.

My only other night fishing was from the bank at private lakes using only a big soft/plastic worms. Had to wear snake chaps to prevent getting rattle snake strikes, don’t like the bank at night!

Tom

[AlabamaSpothunter]

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

I believe the OP is hoping to learn from our collective experiences and mistakes.

There is also very different types of night bass fishing, from a boat, kayak and bank anglers that have specific needs.

My. 1st attempt at night fishing was a local Trolling Motor Doctor event at lake Casitas. Our local  events run 8 PM to 2AM, 6 hours.

I tapped a flash light to my net handle to land bass. 

my light 25 W DC incandescent bulb in a clip on shop light with a 12V cigarette adapter for power with a spare 12V cranking batter.

This set up worked great to see where+to cast when needed and easy to land bass. 

Using black w/blue. Flake 10” Power, jig and DD22 Black 

-red crank baits we caught 58 lbs 5 bass. Best ever night tournament was my 1st.

Tom

If Casitas and your other lakes that you pursued the WR at didn't close at dusk, would you have fished for the WR more at night?

[PhishLI]

27 minutes ago, Catt said:

That one I use weighs maybe 2 oz max, I often forget it's there.

My HX4 weighs 1.8ozs and it still drags my bill down. Do you velcro your hat to your head or something? Double sided tape?

29 minutes ago, Catt said:

I use it only to re-tie or look for something.

I'm usually wading. I need to keep a light attached to me at all times, especially when I'm walking through trails to get to my next spot. Trip on a root and I might lose a tooth.

31 minutes ago, Catt said:

I've never had a problem with white effecting my night vision.

Me either. I let it rip when I re-tie, or if I'm moving through sketchy terrain. Otherwise the red light is usually good enough, especially if it's calm out and I think they're spooky.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

If Casitas and your other lakes that you pursued the WR at didn't close at dusk, would you have fished for the WR more at night?

Yes, love night bass fishing from a boat. You can use heavier line and make shorter cast and big bass move into the bank areas more after dark.

What if’s are hypothetical. Since our lake are closed to night fishing 95% of the time the bass are not use to anglers at night, it’s altogether a different ball game.

Both lakes Casitas and Castaic were off the charts the first years of night fishing from boats.  

 

Tom

 

[1984isNOW]

Thanks for all the feedback yall.

 

@WRB my man, I think I might actually give away a pinky or a minor organ to have a night like that - I'm still afraid I'm going to die before I ever see a 10 pound bass in real life. And thanks for sharing what worked for you...

 

Anybody else wanna share what catches fish for you at night?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

30 minutes ago, PUTitinYOURmouthFISH said:

Thanks for all the feedback yall.

 

@WRB my man, I think I might actually give away a pinky or a minor organ to have a night like that - I'm still afraid I'm going to die before I ever see a 10 pound bass in real life. And thanks for sharing what worked for you...

 

Anybody else wanna share what catches fish for you at night?

My DD/PB fish came off a black 8" mag lizard about 18 years ago.....stopped fishing not long after sadly.

 

Started back this summer fishing almost every night......guess what didn't change, big fish love 8" mag lizards still.     

 

My best since starting back a 7.8 came off a 3/8th chatterbait.     

 

Zoom Mag Lizards

Zoom Big Ole Monsters 

Junebug, black, black w/ red fleck are all great in those Zoom plastics....my favorite is purple black 

 

Roboworm 7" Straight tail worms in Midnight, Purple Black, basically anything darker they offer

 

Chatterbaits in 3/8th-1/2oz     Jackhammers and Project Weedless with a big profile trailer 

 

Spinnerbait (Single big Colorado bladed)/Buzzbait......both in either black/black.....or pink/black blade

 

A frog of your choice.

 

That's all I carry with the obvious terminal tackle needed for certain baits.    Everything is T Rigged with 1/8th tungsten bullet weights if it's a worm, or lizard.   

[Big Hands]

1 hour ago, WRB said:

Both lakes Casitas and Castaic were off the charts the first years of night fishing from boats.

I used to either fish them, or go down to watch the weigh-ins in the morning. Many of those early night fish events went until 5:00 am instead of 2:00 am. Saw many throw down 40+ lb sacks. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On my recent trip to Texas, my buddy gifted me a light he found on Amazon called the Cosoos Headlamp. They come in a 2-Pack; lucky me.

 

It's certainly interesting and I am anxious to try it. It has the LED strip across the front, and a beam light on the side. Each light has two brightness levels. You can't have both lights on at the same time, so 4 different light settings, plus an SOS mode. On top of that, you can enable it to turn on and off by simply waving your hand within 10 cm of the control so you don't have to get 'stuff' all over it just to turn it on and off.

 

Of course the weather was crap that week, so I will not be able to truly test it until late spring 2023.

 

[WRB]

Sometimes things just happen. My 1st Castaic night tournament was it’s 1st event and I had no idea it was planned the Friday night I fished it.

My habit was stopping into Val’s Action Tackle to chat with friends and several boats were in the parking lot, curious I asked what going on? Joe Gotto asked me If I wanted to fish with him tonight, his partner was sick. I agreed to meet him at the lake and what do I need? Joe said pick up some sandwiches! 

Never fished with Joe but knew he fished Castaic tournaments and was a good angler.

It’s turns out Joe was a finesse angler specifically using Western Plastic reapers and it’s a night tournament!

I brought my jig and worm rods and we did very good. Joe added 1 bass a 7.5# bass using 8 lb P-Line And our 1st stop was a place I call 6# point just south of ***** house point. The jig bite was hot and caught 4 bass between 8 to 9 lbs.

We cashed a check.

Tom

PS, this is how bass fishing impacts a marriage, going fishing tonight!

[Catt]

9 hours ago, PhishLI said:

My HX4 weighs 1.8ozs and it still drags my bill down. Do you velcro your hat to your head or something? Double sided tape

 

You're how old & still don't know how to wear a ball cap?

[A-Jay]

7 hours ago, Big Hands said:

I used to either fish them, or go down to watch the weigh-ins in the morning. Many of those early night fish events went until 5:00 am instead of 2:00 am. Saw many throw down 40+ lb sacks. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On my recent trip to Texas, my buddy gifted me a light he found on Amazon called the Cosoos Headlamp. They come in a 2-Pack; lucky me.

 

It's certainly interesting and I am anxious to try it. It has the LED strip across the front, and a beam light on the side. Each light has two brightness levels. You can't have both lights on at the same time, so 4 different light settings, plus an SOS mode. On top of that, you can enable it to turn on and off by simply waving your hand within 10 cm of the control so you don't have to get 'stuff' all over it just to turn it on and off.

 

Of course the weather was crap that week, so I will not be able to truly test it until late spring 2023.

 

My wife & I use that same head lamp strappy deal to take the dogs out at night & early morning works well and is surprisingly bright.  Mystery logs in the leaves are no fun. 

A-Jay

 

[Revival]

As a bank guy that hikes at night, I needed a head lamp that has multiple modes.  I use a Wowtac A2S.  It has 6 modes from Firefly (.03 lumens) to turbo (1050 lumens) including SOS.

 

I just keep it on Firefly mode until I hook a fish, then I’ll turn it on to low which is 24 lumens.

 

Years ago I consistently fished at night, and my most successful baits were a Junebug senko followed by a watermelon with black flake senko.  Terminator used to make a short arm single Colorado blade with black skirt spinnerbait that was also lethal.

 

This year I caught all my best fish with a two toned color Fat Ika.

[throttleplate]

9 hours ago, Big Hands said:

I used to either fish them, or go down to watch the weigh-ins in the morning. Many of those early night fish events went until 5:00 am instead of 2:00 am. Saw many throw down 40+ lb sacks. 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On my recent trip to Texas, my buddy gifted me a light he found on Amazon called the Cosoos Headlamp. They come in a 2-Pack; lucky me.

 

It's certainly interesting and I am anxious to try it. It has the LED strip across the front, and a beam light on the side. Each light has two brightness levels. You can't have both lights on at the same time, so 4 different light settings, plus an SOS mode. On top of that, you can enable it to turn on and off by simply waving your hand within 10 cm of the control so you don't have to get 'stuff' all over it just to turn it on and off.

 

Of course the weather was crap that week, so I will not be able to truly test it until late spring 2023.

 

Randy...... Randy...... ? ?

[GreenPig]

12 hours ago, PUTitinYOURmouthFISH said:

Thanks for all the feedback yall.

 

@WRB my man, I think I might actually give away a pinky or a minor organ to have a night like that - I'm still afraid I'm going to die before I ever see a 10 pound bass in real life. And thanks for sharing what worked for you...

 

Anybody else wanna share what catches fish for you at night?

For LM at night I throw a 10 - 15.25" ribbon tails T - Rig, bulky Jig/trailer, Buzzbait quad blade with & without a clacker, big crawler, and a T - Rigged Kinky Beaver. I always use a tungsten Bullet weight with a clacker on my T - Rigs.

For Spots it's a Shakey Head, Ned, or smaller jig as I've only ever caught them on the bottom at night after trying a plethora of top & mid column baits.

It's not a bad idea to have a couple fried bologna sandwiches for a 2:30am break.?

[PhishLI]

8 hours ago, Catt said:

You're how old & still don't know how to wear a ball cap?

Does that mean you superglue it to your dome?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I always wear a hat fishing, so in all seriousness at night I find turning the hate backwards still allows me to use the headlamp with straps over the hat.  

[GetFishorDieTryin]

When it comes to night fishing different people have different philosophies about it.  It varies from the guys who want to light up the area like a football stadium and yo uhave the guys who will try to tie a knot on a new moon to avoid attracting googans to their part of the jetty.  I avoid using white light unless it 100% necessary because it ruins you're night vision for a few minutes.  Its worth using the bright beam to see submerged rocks while wading or if you need to climb.  Other then that you want to use a red light or even green light because it doesn't hurt you're night vision anything like white light.  

Personally, I think head lamps are the way to go.  Like I said if you arent climbing up and down or wading you don't need super bright beam.  You do want a lamp with at least a red light thats somewhat easily accessible.  If you have to cycle through 4 white light setting to get the to the red its a PITA.  The sliding switch lamps are nice, for that reason, because you just slide it left or right to get red or white respectively.  The problems with sliding switches is that they can easily be turn on when the lamp is in your pocket or a bag.  When you go to use the lamp the batteries are dead or close to it. I prefer the lamps with a button, even though it makes accessing a particular setting a little more complicated.    The button lamps also resist water intrusion much better which is a big help.  You should carry extra sets of batteries and honestly carry an extra lamp in you're boat, car or person if possible. 

See if you can find this lamp on amazon: Cyclops Force XP 350.  For 25$ it does everything you need and its very water resistant.  It does run through batteries if you use the brights often but so all other 3x AAA lamps with 350 Lumens. 

    

[Catt]

2 hours ago, PhishLI said:

Does that mean you superglue to your dome?

 

Does that mean you're too young to answer!

 

I totally don't understand why y'all are so worried about white lights hurting your night vision.

 

What are y'all trying to see?

 

I'm already fishing in the dark so while my eyes adjust I can still cast.

 

Bass do not morph into a new creature just because the sun set, neither does their food source.

 

I fish the same structure, with the same techniques as I do during the daytime.

 

If I'm on a productive pattern that includes a Redbug worm you can bet your sweet bippy that I'll be throwing that worm after the sun sets!

I let the bass tell me, hey dummy I don't like that color no mo! 

[PhishLI]

7 minutes ago, Catt said:

Does that mean you're too young to answer!

I'm sorta dumb too, but you know that already.

 

Stick a 2 oz sinker on the bill of your cap without the band being set pretty tight, then wade and walk trails and the weight will drag down said cap which is annoying to me. I can't control movement induced by gravity and weight on the end of a lever, and can do without a headache from a too-tight hat. And let's not forget about traction alopecia! I'm vain and I'd like to keep what I have, if you don't mind.

18 hours ago, PhishLI said:

18 hours ago, Catt said:

I've never had a problem with white effecting my night vision.

Me either. I let it rip when I re-tie, or if I'm moving through sketchy terrain.

I agreed with you here, so I'm not sure what you're talking about, ole' chum.

[Catt]

7 hours ago, PhishLI said:

then wade and walk trails

 

Ain't gonna wade my waters in the daylight much less at night.