Night fishing/herring ponds

[Will11]

Ever since the herring entered the ponds a few weeks ago, I’ve been out almost everyday targeting big bass on the same pond. (massachusetts) I’ve gone back and fourth from day time fishing to the night shift in search for a herring eating giant. However, I’ve struggled to put a pattern together as these LM seem to be so keyed in on the actual herring, it seems impossible to fool a big bass. I’ve been throwing almost strictly swimbaits such as the Klash 9, 8” magdraft, and big wake baits for when it gets dark. I’ve caught a ton of 1lb-3lb bass fishing pretty erratic with the klash9 in glide mode along with slow strolling the magdraft above grass and rocks. The spots I’ve been targeting is main points with lots of rock and deep water close by, along with paralleling docks with glides. I’ve had some 5-6lb LM  come from out of the docks and follow my glide but never bite. I’ve switched from open water glide with the big lazy S swim, to quick erratic jerks with the K9 but still I can’t find the big ones. I wonder if I’m just missing the timing because I don’t have the chance to fish in the morning which is maybe when the big ones feed the best. Its frustrating as all heck because when I’m out fishing at night, I can hear the sound of LM destroying the herring but for some odd reason I can’t get them to commit. I know guys have done well in the past with big wake baits at night but that hasn’t been the case for myself. Not sure if im working the bait to quickly or not giving it enough action, either way it hasn’t worked out. I’m used to throwing crawlers at night but I’ve quickly noticed they don’t attract the same fish as a non herring pond does. I would love to hear some guys/girls thoughts on fishing herring ponds in the spring and how they approach the night scene. For reference the pond I’m talking about has an average depth of 8’ and the deepest point being 15’. Please feel free to ask any questions and shoot me some pointers, thank you! 

[Zcoker]

I've seen this same kinda behavior with saltwater species here in south Florida, like during our annual mullet run the predatory fish are so keyed in on busting up the mullet, that they won't even give any other artificial lure a second look, even if it looks very similar right in front of their nose. They just won't hit it. The lures even bump over them. Maybe that's the same thing going on with the herring and the bass, possibly. What I've found that works is to fish away from the bait schools, if possible. Seems like the predatory fish coming in for the feast will hit the lures first. 

[Swamp Girl]

I too have struggled to catch bass gorging on prey. No, I haven't struggled. I've utterly failed. So, I have no advice for you other than enjoy the show. 

[Pat Brown]

Yeah the biggest ones are looking for an easy meal on the key pieces of cover and structure leading into the feeding bays.  They don't waste time with the madness as often.

 

I generally do pretty poorly when there's TONS of food around and better when there's a few balls drifting around in a bay getting stalked.

[softwateronly]

I have no actual knowledge, but I would keep a 7" fluke and flutter spoon tied on and dead stick/weightless fall/ tightline the ares with blowups.  See if I could entice a big girl looking for something easy to eat.  Hard to beat the real thing on a swim, maybe the injured are the key.

 

scott

[Swamp Girl]

8 hours ago, softwateronly said:

I have no actual knowledge, but I would keep a 7" fluke and flutter spoon tied on and dead stick/weightless fall/ tightline the ares with blowups.  See if I could entice a big girl looking for something easy to eat.  Hard to beat the real thing on a swim, maybe the injured are the key.

 

scott

 

I've tried tossing a fluke into the frenzy. Again, I failed as always.

[gim]

Every season here on various lakes and big rivers, there are a number of bug hatches. Lake flies, May flies, midges, etc. They hatch out of the mud on the bottom and slowly float to the surface. You can see the clouds on the sonar sometimes. When they reach the surface, they are everywhere for a few days.

 

During these bug hatch periods, the fishing is pretty terrible. I’ve experienced them for nearly 25 years here. Fish gorge on them as they rise and fill their stomachs. I did decent one time using a small black hair jig, but most of the time it’s futile fishing.

 

The caveat is that these bugs cannot hatch in polluted water. They need relatively clean, oxygenated water. So the bigger the hatch, the healthier the water is. No bugs means unhealthy polluted water. It’s a double edged sword. Some years the hatch is so immense that it shows up on radar.

 

I’ve been following the cicada hatch/thread and it sounds like there are so many now that the fish are plum full.

[softwateronly]

20 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

 

I've tried tossing a fluke into the frenzy. Again, I failed as always.

Alright time for a flutter spoon!  

 

scott

[Koz]

Black or dark blue and black buzz bait at night. Money.

[VolFan]

I always pick between two options when they’re busting on giant schools - a roostertail about the size of the forage or smaller fished very high in the water column. Cast into the school and fast reel with twitches back to you. Usually this’ll get an aggressive fish on the edge. Then a fluke, tube or subtle paddle tail on a jig head. Cast into the school and let it spiral to the bottom. Lift and let it spiral again. This is a big fish technique. Fwiw most of my experience is with shad or herring schools.