Night fishing

[snowplow]

Hey guys. I a WA guy and lve heard night fishing can be good. It looks like it's legal in WA but it seems like all the boat launches say closed at dusk?? So what the heck is up with that? Is that there way of just making it so you can't fish at night? Does anybody else run into this?

[A-Jay]

You may need to rely on a 'Duty Driver'.

Have someone drive you to the ramp, launch your rig and then pick you up at a designated time & place the next morning.

Now that's an All Nighter.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

[Susky River Rat]

I would check with your dnr fish and boat commission or whatever would govern over this in your state. I know here it may say the area is closed but, in the fine print it excludes boating or fishing most of the time.

[Koz]

Yet another reason to own a kayak.

 

But I will say this - kayak fishing in the middle of the night is downright creepy and sometimes scary. You hear EVERYTHING out on the water and on the nearby banks and then your mind tries to convince you of what you just heard.

 

It's something you have to experience to really understand how different it is out there in the dark and quiet with no one else around.

[PhishLI]

59 minutes ago, snowplow said:

It looks like it's legal in WA but it seems like all the boat launches say closed at dusk??

Every local spot near me has signage clearly posted "closes at dusk". I've been there at 10 pm when DNR officers were checking licenses. They never kicked us out. I've been there when the police swept through in numbers looking for gang-related dumped bodies. They didn't ask us to leave. Their helicopter pretty much blew up the lake, but that's beside the point. Even the bay constables, who are gung-ho, never asked us to leave after dark. Find out if the penalties are steep. If they only kick you out, then go for it. If policy is that they confiscate your gear or ticket you then don't.

[TnRiver46]

Just an ironic post, the boat ramp near my house never closes. This spring we were chatting in the parking lot admiring a livewell full of white bass after dark. A guy in a security vehicle pulled up and said the ramp was closing and we should wrap it up. There’s no gate or anything. I said “what about night fishing?” and you could tell the guy had never heard of night fishing 😂. I guess he was the new sheriff in town or something, people quite literally live in their vehicles at that ramp. I haven’t seen him even roll down his windows since then, just drives thru the parking lot and then leaves 

[Susky River Rat]

@TnRiver46 when the bass guys start rolling out the catfish guys/ bow fishing guys move in. Than in the morning it’s the opposite here.

[GreenPig]

My primary lake that I've fished for over 25 years, has a sign that says " Day use parking" and I've fished Summer nights every year. I've long given up on trying to convince folks that you can fish it at night. I buy an annual parking pass and it's states Parking Pass, nothing of day/night.

My close to home lake closes the entrance gates at 930 pm but leaves the exit gate open. I also hold an annual pass for that lake and drive right in the exit gate and go fish because the booth isn't manned til 630 am. Never had a problem after doing that for decades.

[Pat Brown]

The local police usually ask what we're catching.  I think the loosely enforceable rule is in place mainly to prevent actual criminals from using the lake for illegal activity and police can use their discretion.  They know my car now.

[Susky River Rat]

I also don’t know if you guys have the issues of people just hanging out in parking lots. We do here. I’m sure some of it is illegal activities too. Well actually I know it is. I am some what thankful for the rails to trails they put in along the river. It cleaned up a lot of the riff raft. 

[Zcoker]

Night fishing can be a lot of things. It can be good things and it can be bad things. Takes time to adjust to the many variables that come into play during ALL hours of the night. Fear is your best friend at night, an inner "voice" that just might save your life. Scope out a place during the daytime and memorize the layout for when you go back out at night. Take all your valuables out of your vehicle, including wallet, gun, or whatever is worth money. Lifejacket no matter what! A young man just died on Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee at 12am midnight--no life jacket. The word "anticipation" means a lot when night fishing because you want to anticipate bad things happening in order to be prepared in case they do happen, which is highly likely at night! If not prepared, then worst case scenarios will always catch up, like ghostly shadows in tow.

[TOXIC]

I know I’m in the minority but I absolutely hate night bass fishing.  No, I’m not scared of the dark but I don’t like the mosquitoes, gnats, bats and the inability to see where I am casting.  A full moon helps but switching on any kind of light is like a bloodsucking beacon and landing lights for mosquitoes.  I’ve bank fished for catfish at night, I’ve night fished for bass from a boat and I just don’t enjoy it.  I can adjust to the daylight haunts and usually find them in their daytime spots.  Granted my night fishing has mainly been in Wisconsin where the mosquito is the state bird and in Florida, I walked out on the canal decking from our cottage and lost a quart of plasma before I could get back into the cottage. 😂

[greentrout]

Down in my neck of the woods in the Deep South night fishing is a very popular option during the summer months when a heat index during the day regularly reaches 100 plus degrees. Bass, catfish, bluegill and crappie are caught.  Crappie fishing on the piers where overhead lights exist is very popular. Some state waters have restrictions.

Crappie fishing at night under the lights (ms-sportsman.com)

 

[A-Jay]

58 minutes ago, Zcoker said:

Night fishing can be a lot of things. It can be good things and it can be bad things. Takes time to adjust to the many variables that come into play during ALL hours of the night. Fear is your best friend at night, an inner "voice" that just might save your life. Scope out a place during the daytime and memorize the layout for when you go back out at night. Take all your valuables out of your vehicle, including wallet, gun, or whatever is worth money. Lifejacket no matter what! A young man just died on Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee at 12am midnight--no life jacket. The word "anticipation" means a lot when night fishing because you want to anticipate bad things happening in order to be prepared in case they do happen, which is highly likely at night! If not prepared, then worst case scenarios will always catch up, like ghostly shadows in tow.

When reading posts regarding night fishing, those of us with 'some'  experience doing it, can always identify others that do as well.

It's so much different, and marginally addicting. 

A-Jay

[scaleface]

Some of the lakes around here have off limit  hours but fishing is allowed. They are just keeping the partying away.

[Zcoker]

Night fishing is fantastic during the summer months down here in south Florida everglades, which I fish exclusively at night during the summer months, sometimes from dusk to dawn. Some of the biggest baddest bass around slam at night. That "BOOM" topwater hit is an indescribable sound, almost penetrating the soul! You can almost feel the sound. No boats allowed in many marsh areas, so I use a kayak, which is about the only way to get around. Bugs are zero problem, never have had the slightest problem with them, same with gators, no issues whatsoever. I've had more problems with bugs & gators during the daytime!

 

But night fishing is not for everyone. One of those things that you have to like and wanna do. When I first started launching my kayak deep in the glades at night, my wife & friends thought me completely nuts! Fishing solo out there is no joke! Took a lot of time to adjust to the new world of night fishing. One thing that I learned is to trust those instincts and to take the night life very seriously. No playing around. And, like I said in my post earlier up, be prepared for ANYTHING! 

[Bluebasser86]

Check with your state but in a lot of cases, those hours exclude actually using the boat ramp. It's just intended to prevent loitering at the boat ramps. 

[Darth-Baiter]

asking cuz i dont know.

 

how to you cast accurately to cover in the dark?  

[Bankc]

I agree.  Check with the authorities in charge.   Around here, night fishing is allowed, but not on all lakes.  It depends on who owns the lake, as some of our lakes are owned by the state, some by the county, some by the city, and some are owned by private business, but opened to the public (usually power plant lakes).  So the rules and costs at each can vary wildly.  

On my local lake, there are signs posted saying you're not allowed to be on the lake property between sunset and sunrise.  Yet you're allowed to go fishing, duck hunting and camping at night.  So how are you going to participate in those activities without physically being there?  Yeah, it makes no sense.  But the people who write the laws are different from the people who enforce them.  And fortunately, the people who enforce them have a bit more sense than the people who write them.   

[WRB]

Each State has their own specific regulations regarding fishing. California allows night fishing but very few public lakes in SoCal are open to boating after dusk. During the summer months we have a few night fishing events.

The OP needs to research the Washington State regulations for operating a boat at night, lights etc and which public waterways are open for night boating or fishing.

The BR site has numerous night bass fishing threads to read, search “night fishing”!

Tom

[gim]

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

how to you cast accurately to cover in the dark?  

I am far from being a well experienced or well documented night time bass angler, but I've done it a few times.  Normally I don't need to do it because I can catch fish during the day time here.  Rarely is it super hot/humid for weeks on end like it is down south.

 

The times I've done it in the past, I launched an hour before dark and set up a "milk run" on my GPS to follow.  I would also have waypoints/icons marked where I had caught fish in the past and use those.  The few times I've done it in the past it was quite successful, I just haven't had a need to do it the past couple seasons.  The other advantage to fishing at night is that there isn't recreational boating traffic to worry about.

 

Heading out at night time without an organized, specific plan is a recipe for disaster IMO.  Its not a time to be experimenting on new, unknown waters.

[Catt]

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

asking cuz i dont know.

 

how to you cast accurately to cover in the dark?  

 

Some people have better night vision than others. The issues that will arise are, lowered depth perception, shadows cause major issues, any lights along the shoreline (they're good fishing around) hurt night vision. 

 

To answer your question, you adjust

 

When I night fish it's usually on Toledo Bend where I can a mile offshore away from any lights. I'm fishing structure which doesn't require me being that accurate. 

[WRB]

2 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

asking cuz i dont know.

 

how to you cast accurately to cover in the dark?  

Every night bass angler has their methods to help them see in the dark.

Bottom line is your eye pupil is wide open and that limits your ability to judge distance. Adding light helps but limits your ability to see anything beyond the light, very dangerous when operating a boat.

If you start fishing before darkness your eye will adjust naturally and your night vision improves, but still can’t judge distance.

What I do is stay a known distance from the shoreline and make 45 degree angle casts to where I believe the target area near shore is. Tree limbs etc are a problem and mistakes are inevitable. For this reason I only use treble hook lures until  dusk then change to single weedless lures like jigs and soft plastics when it’s dark. If fishing in areas without snags like off shore structure or dam faces etc then treble hook lures are OK.

Tom

.

 

[Darth-Baiter]

my best backlash ever was a cast in the dark.  i thought i was way further from shore than i actually was.  total mess.

 

a backlash is not easy to pick out with a headlamp.  

[T-Billy]

I'm largely nocturnal from Memorial Day til after Labor Day. My night fishing is largely about weed beds and large structure features. Pinpoint casting accuracy isn't required. 

Gimme a topwater, a chatterbait, and a jig or big worm and I'm good to go. Keep it simple, have your boat organized, and fish bodies of water you know well.