Night fishing

[bilgerat]

I've been at it a long time. It started out as a necessity because I worked the night shift for many years. I discovered early on how awesome it can be. To this day 90% of my fishing is done at night.

The only disadvantage is not being able to see line tics, unless there's a full moon. That's where a sensitive rod really shines.

Anyone else like fishing the 'dark side' ?! 8-) What baits/ techniques work for you ?

[Catt]

I was introduce to night fishing in 1973 and have continued until the present. These years of having limited or no visibility has heightened my awareness of what is taking place below the surface. This heightened awareness has made me better at fishing deep water where feeling the bite is harder than finding structure.  

Fish the same baits, same locations, and same techniques you would during the day. The only thing different I add to my repertoire at night is a Q-Beam!

[NCbassproAK]

Good subject,

The biggest bass I have ever seen caught were at night....most of these mosters can actually be caught about 3-10ft right off shoreline if you are fishing on a bank of a pond. I love night fishing it's insane to hear an enormous bass slamming your lure. I like to use a Pop-R, Double blade buzzbait, and a midnight spiiner bait colorado blade becuse of the shadow it will produce and vibration, which leads me to say that thats one of the most important tactics when you fish at night "vibration." ;D

[bilgerat]

Yeah, that dead silence can be awesome. One fish that haunts me to this day likely would have been a PB for me.

July, about 1am, still hot as hell out. Air not moving at all. Threw a black Jitterbug, got about 3 or 4 cranks on the reel and he hit hard. Got him to within 10' of the shore. Had his head out of the water and caught a glimpse of it. I swear you could have fit a softball down there and probably still had room to spare. A head shake later that J - bug came whizzing by my ear at 100 mph. Learned a tough lesson about keeping hooks sharp. My fault 100%, as it was an old lure with less than perfect hooks.

[noway]

Don't do as much night fishing as I should. When I do, I use the reel that gives me the least trouble. In my case, it's the wife's Zebco Z03 Omega. It casts well, decent drag and zero bird nests.

[SMfisher]

I wade the new river at least 3 times a week at night. have caught some of my biggest bass at night. hardley ever see anyone else at night except a few bank fishermen.

[eyedabassman]

I've been at it a long time. It started out as a necessity because I worked the night shift for many years. I discovered early on how awesome it can be. To this day 90% of my fishing is done at night.

The only disadvantage is not being able to see line tics, unless there's a full moon. That's where a sensitive rod really shines.

Anyone else like fishing the 'dark side' ?! 8-) What baits/ techniques work for you ?

I guide at night up here in Wisconsin, I had two 7 lb'ers last summer. The best times to be on a lake are Midnight to sunup. I have kept logs for about ten years and I found out some real cool things that made my catch rate and size go out of sight!

[TommyBass]

I like to quite a bit, but it takes every bit of my patience. I really can't stand to not see perfectly where I am casting but it does add somewhat of a surprise element, especially to topwater. I have a buddy that goes quite a bit and says he likes to use blacklights to see his line better. I have never tried it but would like to see how it works.

[Crappiebasser]

I night fish year round. I love having a 30,000 acre lake all to myself. I use a lot of the same baits as day time except a SK red eye shad that I painted black.

[nickb]

I night fish year round. I love having a 30,000 acre lake all to myself. I use a lot of the same baits as day time except a SK red eye shad that I painted black.

30,000 acre lake. to yourself. must be nice. i've got to beg borrow and steal to find places to fish.

[burleytog]

The only disadvantage is not being able to see line tics, unless there's a full moon. That's where a sensitive rod really shines.

Buy a blacklight.

[IdahoLunkerHunter]

I fish at night quite a bit. It is quite spookey although fishing some of the creeks up here because we have a lot of wild animals. Been approcahed by two black bear at night last year. The top water slam of a pig probably makes me jump more than subtle movements in bushes though

[bilgerat]

Buy a blacklight

I have a Wal Mart cheapie that clips onto the bill of your cap. The LED'S are purple. Here's the weird thing: Trilene mono glows fluorescent green, it shows up great. Sufix mono does not show up at all.

Any suggestions for a decent cap light ? Should I get one with the green LED'S ?

[WRB]

The best night lakes have good water clarity, off color water doesn't work too well for me.

I'm, not a fan of black lights or any above the water light when night fishing. You need good nav lights. Your sense of feel and hearing are heightened at night and you don't miss many strikes. Light helps you cast to targets because your depth perception is poor without light.

I do use underwater lights in the back of my boat that illuminates the water around the boat and indirectly the shoreline, if casting to targets.

My favorite night lures; black plastic worms, black jigs and trailers, buzzers, thumper spinnerbaits, crankbait and on occasion a musky size black Jitterbug.

WRB

[bass or bass ?]

My fishing trips are almost always 24 hours in the boat. Here in Phoenix it is blazing hot in the summer on the water. I enjoy fishing after dark in summer the best.     Happy fishing.

~B.A.S.S.~N.A.F.C.~BoatU.S.~N.R.A.~A.M.A.~

[Bobby Uhrig]

There are a lot of ways to catch bass at niter. I believe that the biggest bass that are conditioned by or from heavily pressured waters are feeding shallow at nite. As the daylight comes -they move deeper into their sanctuaries and hang out. They get conditioned day after day -year after year to follow this pattern. I truly believe that the biggest bass live deep year round and move shallow to feed at night. The bigger bass also seem to spawn deeper also. The dominant fish takes the dominant or best spot in any given lake.. I feel that my senses are heightened at night. I can catch them with spinnerbaits-jigs even crankbaits. But I'm sure I dont have to tell you guys whats my favorite way to catch them. I never have to look for the line tick.

[Catt]

A widely held misconception is that big bass feed only at night, or at dawn and dusk. This is simply untrue; in fact, you are very likely to find large fish feeding during the middle of the day. Lunker bass can only bigger by feeding more often and eating more than other fish. They are more in step with the ecosystem, and have to be, in order to be first in line. They are the first to respond to such circumstances as the cloud cover before an approaching storm, the migration of shad to and from open water (usually occurring during mid-morning and mid-afternoon), or even the daily and monthly effect of the moon.

Sloppy technique is much more likely to show up in the bright light of day. These fish can be hard to catch in 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. Fish don't feed as regularly at night as they do in the day but when they are feeding, it's far less of a problem to catch them.

[Raul]

A widely held misconception is that big bass feed only at night, or at dawn and dusk.

Most of my biggest fish have been caught between 1 PM and 5 PM.

Most of those have been caught with clear blue skies under the blazing sun and scorching heat we get down here from late February until mid August with average air temps in the 90 's to 100 's.

[eyedabassman]

A widely held misconception is that big bass feed only at night, or at dawn and dusk. This is simply untrue; in fact, you are very likely to find large fish feeding during the middle of the day. Lunker bass can only bigger by feeding more often and eating more than other fish. They are more in step with the ecosystem, and have to be, in order to be first in line. They are the first to respond to such circumstances as the cloud cover before an approaching storm, the migration of shad to and from open water (usually occurring during mid-morning and mid-afternoon), or even the daily and monthly effect of the moon.

Sloppy technique is much more likely to show up in the bright light of day. These fish can be hard to catch in 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. Fish don't feed as regularly at night as they do in the day but when they are feeding, it's far less of a problem to catch them.

I would have to disagree with some of what you have said!

[Catt]

Then please elaborate

[SirSnookalot]

Majority of my largest bass are caught between 1 and 3 in the afternoon, bright sun and 90 degree temps.  I don't keep records but I would a guess 1/3 or them are caught on top lure from the shore.

[KYntucky Warmouth]

Blacklight and P-line CX premium clear flourescent

[eyedabassman]

A widely held misconception is that big bass feed only at night, or at dawn and dusk. This is simply untrue; in fact, you are very likely to find large fish feeding during the middle of the day. Lunker bass can only bigger by feeding more often and eating more than other fish. They are more in step with the ecosystem, and have to be, in order to be first in line. They are the first to respond to such circumstances as the cloud cover before an approaching storm, the migration of shad to and from open water (usually occurring during mid-morning and mid-afternoon), or even the daily and monthly effect of the moon.

Sloppy technique is much more likely to show up in the bright light of day. These fish can be hard to catch in 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. Fish don't feed as regularly at night as they do in the day but when they are feeding, it's far less of a problem to catch them.

I would have to disagree with some of what you have said!

Catt, I am NOT trying to put you down or what you have said. I do disagree with a few things that you said!

I guide at night and I have done so for along time. I used to keep logs of all my trips day or night, and I would record time of year,wind, water temp. air temp.,how clear the water was, where I caught the bass, how deep and so on!

On your first statement I agree with you to a point= bass don't only feed at night, dawn or dusk but, they feed more and and they will feed longer periods at night. They are now more in tune to the feed because the lake's not getting pounded with boats! But the trophy bass don't start to feed untill midnight to sunup on the lakes that I fish! The trophy bass suspend over deep water or weed lines,points,sunkin islands,humps ect.!( And all lakes are different )!And it takes them some time to move onto there feeding area's, thats why the good bit starts about midnight because it takes them that long to move up. I fish deep water at night and DON"T fish any shallower that ten feet,and as deep as 30 ft..

Can people catch trophy bass during the day, yes but not on regular basis compared to late night.

The second statement about the dark covers the anglers presence and his mistakes,not true! If anything they are more aware of what is giong on around them, noise,lights are more of a turn off at night than during the daylight. And as for my logs, TROPHY bass feed at night more than during the day.

If what you are saying then, during daylight tournaments there should more trophy bass being caught!

Lets take last year for my night guide trips, from late May to late Sept. I had 14 guide trips and from midnight to sunup did not have a bass under 3 lbs. and the two big girls were a 7 lb. 4 oz. and two weeks later a 7lb. 0 oz.and many over 5 and 6 lb'ers but there is a reson for this and that is DEEP WATER. I catch bass some, under 3 lb. when I want to pound docks and banks waiting for the trophy's to move on there feeding area's. The two 7 lbers. were caught at 2 10 am and the other about 3 am.! I think that that there strike zone is much bigger at night ! And bass that are deep are less affected by a front that the shalloer bass.

Now I am not picking on you and don't take it personal.This is just my info and I am sure that I will get alot of bad feed back for what I have said, and that's ok! This works for me and maybe I should have just not said anything!

Again ,Catt I did not mean any harm towards you!

Dan

[nickb]

Most of my fish are caught at around 10 am and 5 pm.

[Bassn Blvd]

Geeeez, how did I miss this thread.  Night tournaments just started 2 weeks ago down here, every other Thursday but only 4 hours ,6p-10p and last until October.  

This is my 3rd year fishing them although it's more like 2 hours of twilight and 2 hours of darkness.  I don't use any type of lighting system except for a red light and that's only when I re-tie.  Once it get's dark I fish 99% of the time with T-rig worms.  I'll use 6 inch to 11 inch worms.  Sometimes I'll use a rattle and sometimes I wont.  I use the smallest weight I can get away with and fish S L O W.  I also use the 8-10 pound line and sometimes 12 and a very sensitive rod.

The thing I hate the most is making an overcast into the bushes/trees and nosing the boat up in there to retrieve the lure.  I HATE, HATE, HATE spiders and it's darn near impossible to see'em at night.