Night fishing & bass vision

[jb_adams]

I know bass key in on vibration more so than vision when it comes to bait.  Or at least vibration seems to be more important than vision.  I always thought vision was just as important during daylight hours as much as vibration in clear water.  At night, vibration seems to be more important because if the moon is not out, it's hard to get any light to penetrate even clear water.

So how does a fish find a t-rig worm, a jig, a dropshot, etc. at night?  Is there enough vibration and displacement in the water for a bass to pick it up with the lateral lines?  I have a hard time being confidant using a t-rig worm at night even with a bead & brass knocker.  I'm affraid I'm waisting my time when throwing something that doesn't vibrate or make a noise (buzzbait, crankbait, topwater, spinnerbait, etc.)

So....my question is, how does a slower presentation work at night?  Just how good is a bass's vision or sensitivity to vibration?

[Raul]

So how does a fish find a t-rig worm, a jig, a dropshot, etc. at night?

Google Tapetum lucidum, there 's your answer.

[tntitans21399]

Even during day light, light only does so deep.  In darkness, dark colors are best because of the contrast.  In the dark you only see shades or grey and black, so that's why black, blue, and purple work best instead of yellow, pink, etc...  Go someeher tonight where you will be in complete darkness and put your hand out in front of you.  You might not be able to see your hand, but you can make it out with the contrast of the background.  A black, purple, and blue stand out because the bottom is most likely brown.

Bass can hear the vibration under better then we can, and it's not just the rattles in crackbaits.  It can be the water being moved around it, of course the more noise it makes the easy for the bass to zero in on it.  When you move the jig, the water around it is enough to help him find it if they are close.  

I haven't tired it, but they now have little rattle tubes that are made to stick in a plastic to give it a little bit of a rattle.  They have a point on one end so you can slide in into the plastic. You can try that in water that they can't see it as well.  

In clear water you use colors because they can see it and helps them get to it, but if it's really clear sometimes you have to use more realistic colors.

I hope that helped you, if not I'm sure some other anglers might give some better advice.

[Catt]

Sloppy technique is much more likely to show up in the bright light of day and clear water.

Bass can be hard to catch in clear water during daylight, not so much because they are shy and spooky, but rather because they are bold enough and curious enough to swim right up and see what you are.

Darkness covers up an angler's presence and most of all his mistakes.  

Ring Rascal has a worm color called Starry Night; it is dark smoke on top, clear smoke on the bottom with lots of silver glitter in the clear. This goes color against every thing you hear about night fishing, when everyone says I should be using dark colors I slay them on this color.

[Tokyo Tony]

jb_adams - a lot of people have success at night with plastics, but I am like you.  Unless I'm sure a spot is holding fish, I'm not confident with plastics at night.  I much prefer something with at least as much vibration as a spinnerbait with a colorado blade.  My favorite baits at night are chatterbaits and rattletraps - I seem to have the most luck with those, and it seems to me it's because they're really loud and easier for the bass to find.  Of course sometimes at night, depending on the conditions, the fish will still be spooky so these really loud baits won't be your best bet.  But by far my favorites for night are chatter-style baits, rattletraps, spinnerbaits with a single large colorado blade, and walk-the-dog topwaters (I prefer there to be some moonlight with these so I can see the strike because let's be honest - that's the best part about topwaters).  Black or black/blue, black/purple, black/red are traditionally the best general colors, but some people here have said that light colors sometimes do well.

I'm sure the guys here can give you (and me) some tips for fishing plastics at night, but for now, I prefer the noisy baits.

[Branuss04]

I haven't tired it, but they now have little rattle tubes that are made to stick in a plastic to give it a little bit of a rattle. They have a point on one end so you can slide in into the plastic. You can try that in water that they can't see it as well.

I started using these a little while back.  They come in a few sizes for different baits.  I've seen ones made out of plastic, but they seem real cheap to me, I use the one's made from glass.  They make  better sound, but they tend to break more often.  I stick them in all my plastics when i'm night fishing, except dropshots, I don't have any small enought to not tear the crap out of a skinny worm.  

Now I don't know any specifics on the subject, but from my experience, 90 of my night time fish have come from plastics, mostly drop shot and brush hogs.  With the brush hogs, I have glass beads, and rattle tubes.  But with drop shot, you got to remember that the drop shot weight will be clanking against the bottom as well, which will send off vibrations so the bass can zero in on the bait.

[jb_adams]

Thanks guys.  I never new a bass had such a high level of sensitivity.  I knew they could sence vibration well but MAN....that's pretty sensitive! ;D

[joez2872-ct]

i have had goodluck  witha zara spook and a  senko tied off back hook area as a trailer ,i use about 2 feet of line ,they seem to zero in  on it  and have the choice of 2 baits  

[jb_adams]

The boat was broke this weekend for night fishing but I tried a black finesse jig & grub trailer and large t-rigged worms.  Got a few nibbles but I think they were from really small bass or perch.  Still, it was fun to know that the fish could see almost as well at night as they can in the daytime.  I tried explaining it to my partner and gave him the visual that if you sqint your eyes in the daytime, that's about the difference fish can see at night in comparison to normal vision during the day.  It's crude, but it explains how their vision is about half the intensity at night and why darker colors help in contrast.  If you were looking at a light brown worm vs a black worm when you squint your eyes, that's why darker colors work better for bass at night.  Contrast makes the difference at night as well as vibration and water displacement.  I found some scientific journals that explained this theory and it made sense to me.

I now fish at night with confidance.  I know that fishing at night can be a lot easier than I thought.  I've hunted deer for years and I know how well they see at night, especially with a full-moon.  I just never thought of fish having the same type of vision.  DUH!!!  (I feel like such a goober now....) :-[

[WRB]

There is so much we don't know about bass vision and fishermen tend to believe bass see colors like they do. IMO bass see colors much differently as experience over 50 years has proven more than once. Consider high contrast colors at night.

If you read the late Bill Murphy's book; In pursiut of Giant bass, he relates a night fishing tournament where the bass would only bite dark brown with a blue blood line. He and his partner had 2 bags of what they thought were the same worms and could only catch bass from the one bag of worms. When they finally looked with a flash light to see what was the problem, one bag was dark brown with black stripes, the blue strips. You would think the black striped worm would have been better. I can't tell you how many times that the bass would only bite black with blue flakes one night and black with red flakes the following night, go figure.

bass have excellent vision within the sight window and use bith their ears and lateral line to detect water movement and sound.

The problem with a C-ring is you maybe fishing to deep. If you want to use a C-rig at night, shorten the leader distance to 8" to 12". bass tend to move up and roam the shallow water breaklines during the summer period. Largemouth can be in 1 to 10 feet of water and smallmouth on the deeper breaks 5' to 25'. Also suggest that you use a worm with a tail the pushes a lot of water; like a gator type curl tail or big paddle tail.

Weights with rattle built in are also a good choice at night.

WRB

pS; I have fished with a few pros like Aron Martens who are color blind and rely on how they see color in the water.,If  they can't see the worm they change to another color and have no idea what color they are using.