Night Fishing For Large Mouth.

[listb]

Good stuff I'll have to remeber that 15-20 second rule

[shorefisher]

Last Saturday I was at my favorite pond on my canoe and the bite was very tough. After 5 hours of fishing everything everywhere I only had caught a single 4 pounder on a salty stick right along a tule edge. I'm fairly stubborn though and decided to stay late and throw my black 3/8oz Cavitron buzzbait after dark. It gets dark here at 7:20 now.

I threw it for about 20 mins with no luck but just waited as it was still getting darker and my eyes (and the fishes') were adjusting. After throwing and retrieving along the exact same line for 3-4 times I got my first blowup and my first nighttime fish. I kept going while slowly moving around the pond and casting as parallel as possible to the shore or weedline. I found it very important to cast the same line 3 or 4 times, sometimes it took the repetition for the fish to home in on the bait or possibly anger the fish enough into striking.

I've never experienced fishing that was so heart pounding. I'd go 5 minutes without anything but the whir of my reel and the squealing burble of the cavitron then all of a sudden WHAM a 4 pounder would hit it like a freight train and while I'm no nighttime expert it seemed that the fish fought much much harder than during the day.

Want to get a real wake me up? I had a fish blowup on my bait when it was about 2 feet away from the boat. It scared the crap out of me.

One more unforgettable scene was I had turned the boat in a cove and started casting out towards the middle and pulling the bait past this old stump sticking out there. The light from the city 20 miles away was being reflected off the low clouds onto the water. After 2 casts I see a head slowly appear next to the bait and attack it like a shark or the Loch Ness Monster or something. I've never seen or heard of a bass doing that before.

Anyways get a 3/8 oz buzzbait in color black and get out there and work every inch you can. You will have success.

-Shore

[listb]

Shore,

Sounds like it all payed off in the end, way to stick it out and get what you were there for. Yeah i have to say ive never heard or seen a bass show any back on the attack, that must have had your nerves on end seeing the fish in stalk mode.

I found this foot ball feild size pond recently around the corner from my house. Its a great little body of water, it has lots of cover and some good size fish to top that i have never seen another angler there at all. Anyway, I was fishing a buzz bait the other evening and had a very unusual thing happen. Every three to four cast i was getting blown up on but the fish was more or less just launching the bait clear out of the water. It was like it was a game to the fish, it seemed to have no intention of eating it just punishing it. This took place for quite some time before all the fish lost interest. I tried to follow up the misses with a texas rigged roboworm(bold blue gill) and had no luck, it was amuzing yet very confusing.

[JL Zingg]

Cavitron chartreuse, ghost minnow, or black.  If you don't have a cavitron buzz bait, you are passing up fish.

[bass8abrookie]

Theres nothing better. I've found that if you see a rise, unless you see it rise 1 or 2 more times, to use a spinner-bait, preferablly black. Usually if I cast any sort of topwater, it will hit 3 outta 5 times. With a spinner, i found it hit 4 outta 5 times. So always have a pole with a spinner on it. (a senko works as well)

[Jim Grouch]

This probably isn't going to help all that much but help others better understand the fish. Here's what I've come up with as to why it is more difficult to catch when the sun goes down. It takes the human eye roughly 30 minutes to adjust from light to dark. For bass, it takes them 2 hours for their eyes to adjust to darkness. This is the reason fishing usually abruplty ends. I'm not a scientist and cannot explain the reason for this next bit of info. They are somehow able to adjust their eyes 2 hours prior to the sun coming up. Given that info about the 2 hours after dark,...I would assume you would need something loud and create vibrations in order for them to locate your bait because they arent able to see it. Their lateral lines on the sides act as ears under the water and are very sensitive. So this is the technique I would consider knowing the little facts about the anatomy of the fish. I hope this helps. -Grouch

[listb]

What about night cranking? Anyone out there throw Crank Baits at night? I would think they move enough water and make a lot of comotion that could trigger the bass to hunt. Please share some tactics or presentations and types of crank baits that work well for all of you. I am doing well fishing this pond at night with all your Recommendations so far might as well get all the info i can. Thanks for passing off the knowledge!

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Good stuff I'll have to remeber that 15-20 second rule

and don't forget to try the opposite. (and everything in between)  

Often times, when a real meal falls into the water, it doesn't hang around, it begins to swim immediately, be it a mouse, bug, snake,whatever

[bpm2000]

Good stuff I'll have to remeber that 15-20 second rule

and don't forget to try the opposite. (and everything in between)

Often times, when a real meal falls into the water, it doesn't hang around, it begins to swim immediately, be it a mouse, bug, snake,whatever

Yup good point - i never wait for the "rings to dissapear" and never really thought it was necessary myself.  what animal that drops in the water waits to struggle?  

[Alabamalunker]

Solid black spinner, small colorado blade and that should tear them a new one!!!!

[Jim Grouch]

    2,000,000 candle power spot light and 1/4 stick of dynamite...not really catch and release friendly, but makes for one heck of an outing.

[Catt]

The eyes of a bass go through a night adaptation cycle beginning at twilight and are usually adapted for black, white, and all shades of gray within an hour after darkness. Bass can see color but not at night, color it's self is meaningless at night; contrast is more important by far than color at night.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

    2,000,000 candle power spot light and 1/4 stick of dynamite...not really catch and release friendly, but makes for one heck of an outing.

Grouch, you rookie,....you forgot the 12 pack and THE NET!!   ;D

[listb]

Any night time crankers out there? Yeah I never really wait til the rings dissepate either. I was told when you throw a crank bait you should let the rings disapear first then cause comotion as you start your retrieve. DOes anyone concur?

[listb]

Yep, the case of beer is always first on the list!

[wavewalker]

when night fishing , an a night bite is on then go to a bigger baits .its same as fishing in the day time. but dark , bass love to hit a falling bait at night

[way]

i 've never tried night fishing for bass, one day i will.

[Trick Worm]

I think more important than color or contrast is noise. Buzzbaits, poppers, jitterbugs, rat-l-traps, etc.... Also the brighter the moon the better the fish will be able to see

[Jim Grouch]

2,000,000 candle power spot light and 1/4 stick of dynamite...not really catch and release friendly, but makes for one heck of an outing.

Grouch, you rookie,....you forgot the 12 pack and THE NET!! ;D

I don't think a 12 pack is enough for that much fun!

[Rich K]

Any night time crankers out there? Yeah I never really wait til the rings dissepate either. I was told when you throw a crank bait you should let the rings disapear first then cause comotion as you start your retrieve. DOes anyone concur?

I have a friend who fishes this lake in Wisconsin where he used to only fish a mann's -1 in parrot color at night and reels it in super slow. He usually catches fish, but the last time I went with him I brought my night time thumpers. I caught 8 fish - nothing really big, but they all counted. Sadly, I was with him for his first  skunking on his lake.

My most recent night time outing in Michigan I was out with my father-in-law. He was also using a thumper, but had no rattles. I was using one with a new glass rattle that I just picked up from my local BPS. I out fished him 3:1. If I remember correctly it was a new moon with a slight breeze causing a bit of a ripple on the surface.

There are a lot of senses coming into play at night. Sometimes a little change in retrieve speed, tone of a rattle, and wind conditions can make a big difference.

[listb]

When you say thumper are you reffering to a spinner bait?

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

yes, lrg Colorado blades

[BigBubbaBassMan]

try a black/blue or black/red texas rigged craw worm like a berkley chigger craw on a 1/8oz. tungsten weight.

Forkman is right on the money with this one except I'd add a glass bead and a brass bullet weight to the texas rig, it'll add a little clicking sound to help the bass find the lure in the dark. I also use this method in the really muddy waters that I fish.

Also, you will have better luck when the moon is full, the bass will be more active and more likely to strike at a topwater bait, but still use dark colors.

[listb]

Its top water time!!!!! Dont forget to target the shallow bass that are chunking up for the winter.