Night time bass help

[Butterland]

Hello all,

 

What would yall recommend for a bank angler of small ponds to use at night during the winter months. Night meaning 9pm-1am. 
I’ve read chatterbaits, but haven’t have luck with those, I’ve tried top water when I’ve seen fish breaking surface but haven’t had luck with those.  
I caught 1 with a T-rig craw a few nights ago and that was the first I’d caught in a while and it was probably 1lb.

Im a father of 5 so fishing is mostly done when the kids have gone to sleep. 
Id like to use jerkbaits and have a few, but never any bites.

 

the pond is probably 10-10 acres.  For forage I’ve seen small minnows I think? I have 2 blue/shiny/white jerkbait, a darker darker jerkbait. Everything I’ve read is they are great in winter, but I have no success with them. Do they work good at night? The pond has spots of depths around 15-20 feet I think, but mostly is around 10ft. 
 

any help would be appreciated.

 

I’ve searched and haven’t found a great answer so I thought I’d ask. If there’s already a post please link it for me. 
 

 

It doesn’t seem to let me add a pic or I would

[Butterland]

[king fisher]

I would try a spinnerbait, because I always try a spinnerbait.

[Butterland]

I’ve 

I’ve used that spinner bait, I’ve also used a white one

Is it just more time I need? Or is it nighttime winter bass fishing in ponds from the bank is rough?

That’s the other jerkbait

I know the pics are crappy, but it’s limiting me on size so I’m trying to get the best ones it’ll let me post. 

I hold you have any spinner bait suggestions?

*would you have any spinner bait suggestions?

[A-Jay]

Do It ~ !

A-Jay

[Mr. Aquarium]

How slow are you going? I love love night bass fishing from small ponds to big lakes, winter spring summer and fall.  I live in Massachusetts, so it can get cold up here in the winter. I go slow slow slow, sometimes they want it faster. If I’m fishing a chatterbait I like it slow on bottom lift and pause retrieve.  T rigs, I slow twitch on bottom. I mimic crawfish. Jigs, worms, t rigs chatters basically the same way, slow on bottom. 
Topwater, well I guess the same thing. Slow, twitch pause not to much reeling, but sometimes they want it slow and  steady! It could be the rattle to or a subtle knock they want. I love a buzz jet is small and loud. There’s a lot of big expensive swimbaits that crush fish at night but that’s a rabbit hole. But any wake bait will

be great at night!  Frogs, poppers, whopper ploppers, jitterbugs, buzz baits all work very well at night 

[LrgmouthShad]

@Butterland yeah that spinnerbait might have caught me a bass or two 

[Butterland]

Do yall think those jerkbaits should work? 

[WRB]

Upper right corner is a search bar type in “Night fishing”. Glenn has a vedio to check out and more posts on this topic to keep you busy. 
A-Jay and Catt have lots of experience on night fishing.

Sight fast moving lures are probably not a good choice. Noisy* surface lures and Power Worms T-rigged /sliding butter weight are top producers.

Tom

* Buzz baits, Whopper Popper, Jitterbug etc.

[RRocket]

6 hours ago, Butterland said:

 is it nighttime winter bass fishing in ponds from the bank is rough?

 

I'm of the belief that in some areas, night fishing for bass just isn't a thing. I have tried repeatedly for weeks and many, many hours. And still haven't caught a bass at night. This despite the fact I've tried every lure/technique recommended by forum members.

 

This is also in areas where I catch many fish during the morning/day/evening. But at night? Lost cause. I've caught catfish, walleye, Bowfin. But not bass.

 

I honestly believe there are some areas where fish have no interest at all feeding at night. For whatever the reason.

 

You can read about some of my travails here  

 

[JustJames]

You will be surprised a lot of finesse tactics work good at night. If you can get them with moving lure like chatterbait spinnerbait, try Neko rig or Ned rig, light Texas rig. The key is to move them slowly.

[Catt]

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

 

Bass do not morph into a new creature just because the sun set.

 

Their food source doesn't morph into a new creature...throw the same colors as you would during day light.

 

Buckeye Lures G-Buzz 1/4 oz black on black 

 

Follow up with a Fluke 

[FishTax]

I generally throw a nighttime spinnerbait. I usually catch a tree and have to break off. Usually after 2 of those and one good beaver splash in ready to hang it up until tomorrow... 

But yeah I feel like night time has a lot of potential and plan on exploring that even more this year. 

I've seen @Pat Brown wreck them on a frog at night from the bank. 

[VolFan]

I love a good winter wake bait bite. It looks like you’re in Dallas/Ft Worth so I’m going to guess your water very rarely gets below 40 degrees. The ‘where’ is usually more important than the ‘what’ in winter as the fish will move to food which usually moves to the warmer spots. The first break/drop off from shallow cover is usually a good bet after a warm day. Crawl a wake bait with long pauses over that. You have to pay attention in winter though because the takes are more of a slurp than a blow up. Past that crawl a purple Zoom Ol Monster along any prospective spots. 

[GreenPig]

  At night for LM, I'm fishing the surface(wake/buzz/frog) or the bottom(jig/big worm). I only use heavy gear and oversized baits after dark. I'm in total agreement with RRocket, in some ponds and lakes the bass just shutdown after dark. I tried over and over to figure those places out only to right them off as night targets.

[WRB]

Water clarity influences lure selection at night. Good clarity nearly every color that works during the day can catch bass at night. 
I have more confidence using lures with contrasting colors or darker colors at night.

Bank fishing changes lure selection because your depth perception is poor causing casting accuracy to be poor.

My choice from the bank is T-rigged 7 1/2” to 13” plastic worms with 3/16 oz bullet weight and glass bead “brass n glass”.

This presentation creates clicking sound and big worm move a lot of water for the bass to locate it. Weedless single hook lures don’t snag often.

Bag of worms, hooks, weights and a head lamp is all you need to bank fishing changes at night.

The 1st hour after dark is usually slow as the ecosystem and bass change to night feeding patterns.

Tom

 

[Butterland]

I was at bass pro taking the kids to see Santa, ended up getting a steelshad blade bait. I’m gunna go for alittle tonight.  I’ll try the spinner bait, the blade bait, the jerkbait and a T-Rig worm. 
Thanks for the advice guys, it wears on you when you’re not even catching a bite.

[RRocket]

2 hours ago, GreenPig said:

 I'm in total agreement with RRocket, in some ponds and lakes the bass just shutdown after dark. 

I really REALLY wish this wasn't the case as I'm a "night person" and would gladly fish all night if the fish were there.

 

 

[Munkin]

Best night bait for me is a black spinnerbait with a Colorado blades. If the water is clear and the moon provides light daytime baits work. 

 

Allen 

[WRB]

3 hours ago, Butterland said:

I was at bass pro taking the kids to see Santa, ended up getting a steelshad blade bait. I’m gunna go for alittle tonight.  I’ll try the spinner bait, the blade bait, the jerkbait and a T-Rig worm. 
Thanks for the advice guys, it wears on you when you’re not even catching a bite.

Put away blade and jerk bait for daytime fishing.

Tom

[Butterland]

Spinner bait, blade bait, jerk bait, trig and a jig. Mostly used spinner and trig nothing.

maybe I just need to find a new pond. This d**n pond is defeating me

[GreenPig]

1 hour ago, Butterland said:

Spinner bait, blade bait, jerk bait, trig and a jig. Mostly used spinner and trig nothing.

maybe I just need to find a new pond. This d**n pond is defeating me

  Some bodies of water are diurnal, IMHO. I used to not believe that some bodies of water shutdown after sundown. I've learned otherwise. Fished a friend's pond, where 20 - 40 bass was normal in 4 - 6 hours. 13 night trips produced 2 bass. He tried warning me, but I had to learn the hard way.

My home lake is clear and very tough at night. On night trips, I hunting big girls and not numbers.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I just got one last night. I missed another fish too. I’m up here in MA. Water is in the low 40s I can tell ya that!  The weather has been cold. Actually having a winter with highs in the 30s.  Finally had a warm up. Temps in the 50s 2 days. I fished a shallow pond that is good in the winter. It’s very shallow with current so it never freezes.   I caught this fish slow waking a DS customs ninja. It’s an all black 3 piece 5 inch maybe 6 inch wake bait. It’s not super big bait. Fish hit at the end of the retrieve. It was a slow retrieve with pauses mixed in. 

[Pat Brown]

Just to add a little - my experience is that night has bight windows a lot like daytime that are being dictated by a lot of things.  Sometimes it's a very specific time and area they feed at night on smaller bodies of water.