Night time Bassin?

[eyedabassman]

I fish at night from Spring to late Fall other than fishing Tournaments. And I guide at night also. I have done two articles for waters & Woods Magazine on night time bass fishing and many seminars at BPS,Gander, Sportsma's Warehouse!I have been working with lure Companys for many years. Now I am not ringing my own bell but I have found out some real cool stuff about night fish and boating a bass of your life time! If you want a toad, then try night bassin. Last year was my best ever and there are alot of reasons for that. So if I can help anyone just ask! The main reason I posted this is I just would like to know how many of you are in love with night bassin?

[.dsaavedra.]

night fishing is awesome! ive caught some real nice ones. only things i dont like is that you cant see your fish when you catch em unless you use lights and i dont like to use lights. also, the pictures come out pretty nasty (for me at least) how do you take good night pictures?

thanks man!

[Jake.]

I night fish alot in the summer. It's a great way to beat the summer heat and catch some nice bass at the same time. I usually use a 1/4 oz Black Cavitron Buzzbait. There's nothing like topwater at night time.

[BiggerWorm]

I do a fair amount of night fishing.  I usually throw a texas rigged worm, but will occasionaly throw a dark spinner bait.  If fishing shoreline I will hang a light over the boat, which helps quite a bit.  If on open water I keep the lights off, not into the bugs!!

[Jig Man]

I night fish 6 months out of the year and have for a long time.  I catch more fish at night but I have caught more large bass during the day time than at night.

[Tin]

Love night fishing. Buzzbaits and jitterbugs  

[Tokyo Tony]

Night fishing is awesome  ;D

I do it a lot when it's warm out, and during the week, because I have to work during the day.  The most productive lure for me this past year for night fishing was a black/blue chatterbait.  Deadly.  Topwaters and big spinnerbaits are good too.

A couple things that really help me are:

1. Headlamp - without a headlamp you'll have a much tougher time night fishing, whether it's trying to tie a knot or releasing a fish without hurting it.

2. Camera with a flash - the pictures still aren't that good, but at least you'll have pictures.

Can't wait until it's warm enough to be able to night fish for bass!  I've been night fishing for trout a couple times this winter, but it sucks, mostly because it's freakin' cold.

[Daniel My Brother]

I night fish from Memorial Day to Labor Day (roughly). I wonder what you all consider night fishing...For me it starts around sunset, and goes 'til about 10 or 11, sometimes later, but seldom all night.

How bout you?

[FlyRod]

I very much enjoy night bassin' and have done a lot of it over the years.

I prefer to do so on moonlit nights, believing the bass to be more active on "bright" nights.

My primary arsenal consists of a 5" Tiki Stik in Black/Blue Swirl, T-rigged and unweighted, with #20 braid and a fluoro leader on a medium spinning rod; A 6" ZOOM U-tail worm, Black Sapphire, with a free sliding 1/8 oz tungsten weight and a glass bead pegged at the eye of the hook on a MH casting rig w/#30 braid and a fluoro leader; A Strike King Midnight Special in Black/Blue, 7/16 oz, on a MH casting with #30 braid, no leader.

I will also throw a topwater, either the large JohnnyRattler in Black, Black JitterBug, or whatever strikes my fancy...to include a black buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzbait.

I use a Nucli-Eye with both the UV and blue light turned on and use yellow braid, soaked in Spike-It Chartreuse DYE (NOT TAIL DIP!!!!! Beware TAIL DIP!!!) so I can see the line (and the target) when fishing the Tiki, Worm, and in any other slow presentation. Line visibility is very critical, except for Topwater or Spinnerbait.

Safety measures are absolutely critical when night fishing, especially on lakes where gas engines are in use. Your anchor light MUST be on, though it will drive your backseat guy nuts re night vision AND attract every bug within five miles. You should wear your PFD at ALL times!

If you sense, see, or hear an approaching boat, you should repeatedly signal with a series of flashes from a flashlight in it's direction, in case your anchor light does not alert him to your presence...it happens, believe me.

Finally, and I know I may be wasting my time with this one...NO BEER, BOOZE, or POT in the boat. These are bad enough in the daytime but exponentially more dangerous in the dark, especially when underway or if wave/wake action is rocking the boat as you fish.

I too am looking forward to the nightfishing season!

FlyRod

[Bass XL]

This past year, I have done great night fishing. I placed 2nd in one of my night tourneys. Overall I have done great with a blk/blu Colorado spinnerbait (big blade) throwing parallel to the bank. Most of those spinnerbait fish come when fishing chunk rock banks. I have also come to find that blk/blu chatterbaits work well near boat docks at night. In fact this past july on Lake of the Ozarks, I lost an 10+ pounder (my buddy had a flash light, and we got a couple real good looks at it) on the chatterbait. But the lure that constantly produced for me is a berkley power craw (3" black w/ chart. pinchers) on a shakey head. When fishing the shakeyhead, I ALWAYS cought fish on "nothing" banks, when my boat was in 17' of water and about 30 feet from the shore. This rig actually helped me place 2nd in my tourney this year....Another that should never be forgotten is a Black Grape power worm. I just swim it by brush piles...I have a few night tourneys (7pm-7am) this year, and I hope to do as good if not better then what I did this past year.

[Catt]

The night time is the right time; of the 9 DD's I caught on the Bend last year 7 were caught at night.

[.dsaavedra.]

regarding lights:

if youre night fishing, stay away from white lights!!!! they actract bugs like all get out, and they will quickly destroy your natural night vision. Cones in your eyes adjust to color very fast, about a minute, where as the rods, which adjust to darker things adjust much slower. it takes about 45 minutes to develop good night vision. if you are going to use a light, make sure it is red or green, as these colors have shorter wavelengths and will not attract bugs or destroy your natural night vision.

another science lesson from Professor Saavedra  

[eyedabassman]

I have kept logs of my night trips for about 8 years.I don't anymore but I found that 80% of toads came from 11pm to sunup with the best times from 1am to 5 am.and in water not less than 10 ft. I don't pound banks up here, I fish from 10ft. 30 ft.deep. I took two guys out last Aug. we had 17 fish in the boat and 15 of them where 3lbs to 61/2 lbs. now that is a very good night,that does not happen every night.

[Tucson]

I love the idea of night fishing and here in AZ it's the only way to fish from mid-May thru mid-Sept. but I only go out when there's a good bright moon because I've noticed that at night it gets real dark and when it gets real dark it gets real hard to see your line/lure, the shoreline, and anything else.  So I consider it a love/hate relationship.  The ideas on this posting are inspiring me to get some UV line and light and how does that Nucle-eye(sp) work out for you guys?  

Another big plus is that you have the lake pretty much to yourself.  Drawback is you've gotta sleep during the day, stay awake at night and the transition is difficult.  But I'm old. sorta kinda.

[Branuss04]

Here in cali, summer days get hot, so night time is the way to go.  I like it because you beat the heat and the crowds.  It's always makes it better when you fish with someone fun as well, because when the fishing sucks, it gets BORING!!!  

[Jig Man]

I night fish from Memorial Day to Labor Day (roughly). I wonder what you all consider night fishing...For me it starts around sunset, and goes 'til about 10 or 11, sometimes later, but seldom all night.

How bout you?

I like to be on the water an hour or two before dark.  Lots of time there is a real good bite around dark.  If I am camped and get to fish several nights in a row I fish till the bite quits.  If I have to drive home and stay awake, I am gone by 2 am or so.

[Branuss04]

I night fish from Memorial Day to Labor Day (roughly). I wonder what you all consider night fishing...For me it starts around sunset, and goes 'til about 10 or 11, sometimes later, but seldom all night.

How bout you?

I like to be out on the water 3 hours before sunset and i'll stay out till I can't stay awake.  My first night fishing trip we were out on the water from 7 p.m. till 9 a.m. the next day.  It really depends on how the bite is doing, obviously if the bite is red hot, your going to stay out all night long.

[Catt]

Y'all call that night fishing?

6 o'clock pm till 9 o'clock am; nonstop Rock & Roll  

[Guest avid]

don't do it much.

Yeah it's good, but I really like watching the birds, and critters.

I'll night fish in the summer, but I actually would rather fish during the day in the rain than at night.

It also can be frustrating.   My home lake often has alot of loose grass floating around.  There's nothing worse than hearing your multi treble hooked topwater thud into a mat of floating grass.

I gotta say though....a big black colorado bladed spinner bait will catch me lotsa bass in the dark.

[justbassintime]

i have fished night time bass for many many years, on my local lake when fishing tournaments the pressure is so bad that you can forget about bank fishing form june this sept. so i fish off shore humps and main lake points. i live and love the chomper super sinker 5" in black blue flake on a carlina rig. the bait has so much smell that my dad can tell when im useing one in the back of the boat. o yea got to love the black jitterbug....  nothing like blurp....... blurp......... blurp.........BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ILL_BASS]

Love night time bassin!!

My number 1 bait the last few years has been a baby paca craw with a tube rattle in it.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Love night time bassin!!

My number 1 bait the last few years has been a baby paca craw with a tube rattle in it.

x2  just started using that this past summer at night,its a killer! I also do a brass and glass with these and a tube rattle,or a rattlin florida rig weight with an additional tube rattle.

[ba7ss3in]

early in the morning before daylight  produced some big bass through out the summer last year for me. Black frogs and buzzbaits

[Popeye]

I too love to fish at night during the hotter summer months. I particularly like being out pre-dawn when the morning mist is coming off a lake/pond and there are critters in the water eager to destroy a Hula Popper or JitterBug:o)

[Dean]

I do it occasionally. Never had great success, but I have caught a couple nice smallies on a texas rigged Mann's Jelly Worm.