Night fishing - What should I have done differently?

[quant PT]

Last night my son and I fished from about 8:00pm to 2:00am.  We fish a large reservoir (Lake Hartwell in SC) that is down about 10'.  We fished an area that my son is familiar with but I have never fished.  We tried some of his usual hotspots ( a rocky point, a hump, and a road bed) with spinner baits, buzz baits, carolina rigs, crankbaits and Senko's and caught nothing - didn't even get a hit.  We finally fished some brushpiles and docks and he caught one fish and I caught two.  Unfortunately, this was the last thing we tried so we did not get a chance to see if this pattern would continue to work.  

I did notice as we were running from spot to spot, that we would graph fish offshore at 20-24' and at around 40-42'  (its really hot here - 95deg at 8:00) - I guess we never really fished for these fish.  What should we have done here?  Should we have drop shotted, jigged or something else?  BTW I have no experience fishing deep water.  

I'm trying to learn from all of my fishing trips so any guidance would be appreciated.

[JShrock07]

Well first off, I beleive you did right by moving from spot to spot, since you do not know the water. Fish usually do not hang out in the same areas at night as they do during the day. A lot of fish do go deeper and some go to the extreme shallows. But night fishing is one of the best time to catch the big'ens. Hope someone else can help you out more.

[SoCalRob]

I assume all your baits were dark colored like black/blue, purple, etc?

[quant PT]

I assume all your baits were dark colored like black/blue, purple, etc?

Mostly.  The spinnerbait was black and blue - this was what I fished the most.  The senko and beaver were green pumpkin ( darkest I had since I haven't done much night fishing in the past).   Everything else I used the darkest thing I had which may or may not have been dark enough.  

I really want to figure this out because as hot as it is here, I will probably do a lot of night  fishing for the rest of the summer.  

[Bassn Blvd]

I think you should of targeted whatever it was you were seeing down deep.  I would have tried a jig or a 10" worm.

[quant PT]

I think you should of targeted whatever it was you were seeing down deep. I would have tried a jig or a 10" worm.

Would you recommend Texas rig, Carolina rig, or something else for targeting these deep fish with a 10" worm?

[Bassn Blvd]

I very seldom C-rig but I'm sure it will work.  I T-rig with a 4/0-5/0 hook and 10" worm.  I usually use a 1/4 oz worm weight and insert a rattle into the worm.  You can also try the weights with built in rattles but I find them a bit larger in size.  I like tungskin(SP) but they are expensive.  I use the smallest weight I can get away with except at night.  For me, it's easier to feel the hit using a heavier weight.

Remember to fish very SLOW.  

[demonjd22]

For what its worth, me and my buddies were nightfishing a few days ago and were absolutely killing em on Chatterbaits and big colorado bladed spinnerbaits.  White, and white with chartruese was really the color they were nailing, but im guessing it had more to do with the vibration they were putting out than anything else.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

Do you happen to have any large wakebaits?  (Slammer, 3:16 wake)

Throw them around your rocky point, hump and docks and hold on...

[basspimple]

try a big rattle trap of some sort. works really well around places were u see a lot of shad activity.

[quant PT]

Thanks for the advice. I will hopefully go night fishing again next weekend.  If I do, I'll let everyone know how it went.

[basspimple]

good luck man, get your son to catch a big one and make us all jealous  ;D

[sean0920]

throwing a dropshot will do great in the deep water. i fish a lake here that is a mtn resivoir with little cover so the fish hang deep most of the day. i usually use 3/16 but if the fish are 30-40 feet you may want to go to 1/4 oz.  what i like to do is throw a silver buddy. its heavy and you can cover alot of water.  pump it off the bottom. once the fish are located throw the dropshot.

also, use the same colors you use during the day for night unless its muddy water.  while its true the darker colors contrast better, the fish really concentrate on movement at night.  green pumpkin is my go to for day and night and i use a fatter worm or other plastic at night for more water displacement.  

you wanna have fun, rig a shakey head and hold on. use the smallest weight you can get away with.