"dark" Fishing

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

I was wondering how many people bass fish early am or later in the evening when it is dark? I know it would be cooler temps outside with the water temperatures still warm. Are bass real active when it is dark? And do they have a harder time seein the lures, or is their vision really good? Thanks!

- Joe

[whitwolf]

Starting around the middle of May(give or take a week or two either way) we exclusively night fish.

In the middle of the Summer It's more comfortable and the bass are more active. You'll also not have to deal with the pleasure boat traffic.

The one piece of advice that you really need to heed Is you need to know the lake backwards and forwards before you attempt to night fish. The lack of light tends to disorient folks.

[buzzfrog]

i agree, we catfsh from a boat(when my uncles wanna go) and sometimes i sneek either a topwater rod or a spinning setup for light spinnerbaits and worms.. i think it is funny that even though its dark, black.purple and red, catch best for me

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Yep! Those color worms are usually winners. :-)

[crankbait2009]

If JNATALE3 doesn't mind, I am going to ask a question about this very topic.

When fishing at night, Obviously you want to see what you are doing as well as whats around youm but how can this be done without spooking the fish with an "uncommon" light source for at night?

I have seen the black lights you can buy to help, but do they really hope that much????

I have never fished at night due to the lack of sight you have.......

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

I'm glad you asked because I was wondering that too. I wonder if I could use my big flashlight ? Or just moonlight ? Good question crank bait.

[buzzfrog]

not sure about bass, but when i catfish i have 2 black lights and it lights my line up like crazy, no problem with cats and an occasinal striper

[deep]

I love to fish in the early morning. Get up when it's still dark, drive a couple of hours, and start fishing right before sunrise. The best part is you can have the lake to yourself; most of the time anyway.

I will often stay after dark if I'm on a good bite, but I don't enjoy fishing in the night.

[Bluebasser86]

Get a headlamp for tying knots, unhook fish, ect. Other than that try to use the moonlight,streetlight as much as possible. Your eyes will adjust to the dark if you don't use lights too much. The blacklights are alright but I'm fishing baits I can feel at night anyways so I don't really need to see much. As long as I can see the shoreline and know the lake pretty well. It's amazing how turned around you can get on a lake you think you know when it gets dark out.

[SirSnookalot]

Most days I'm fishing 2-3 hours before sunrise, small flashlight hanging from my neck for knot tying and unhooking. Other than that I do not like a lot of light, like from a lantern, I see pretty well in the dark.

[tomustang]

Get a headlamp for tying knots, unhook fish, ect. Other than that try to use the moonlight,streetlight as much as possible. Your eyes will adjust to the dark if you don't use lights too much. The blacklights are alright but I'm fishing baits I can feel at night anyways so I don't really need to see much. As long as I can see the shoreline and know the lake pretty well. It's amazing how turned around you can get on a lake you think you know when it gets dark out.

I agree with a headlamp, LED ones like energizer can be fou d a Wally world for less than $15

[SirSnookalot]

Hard to beat this for a few bucks, more light than a headlamp. I've had other brands that don't last long, this one has been with me for 3+ years, still perfect. I got mine at Walmart for less than 5.00, not sure if they still carry it.

http://www.batteries...rrityk035g.html

[Catt]

I've wrote several articles that are around here some where but s

ince I'm typing this on a Kindle I can not copy or paste them here. But if y'all will do a search you will find them.

I use a small light for tying lures & feel black lights are a distraction. Color is meaningless at night & bass will hit any color.

I fish the same lures & locations I fish during the day.

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

Cool. I was wondering what they could and could not see when it is dark.

[Catt]

A bass can find a black worm sitting still on the bottom in 20' of water on a new moon night which tells me they can see extremely well.

The only other light I use is a Brinkmann Max Million III Q-Beam (3 million candlepower) for running at night.

[Jig Man]

If you are not fishing at night then you are missing out on some of the best fishing that there is. The ride arounds are home, the jet skiers are gone, most of the pontoons are tied up. That leaves the lake for only those of us who are fishing. Sometimes I only see one or two other boats all night long. I use a hat light for tying, have led lights in the boat boxes, and use my gps to keep in the middle of the lake while moving about.

Black lights are fine if you have some hi vis line. It will look like a rope.

Like Catt stated (same baits, same places).

[NZ6]

I have to put the bait caster down an us moon light if it's there while running I do slow down an use a spot light an gps as for as the little head lamps everybody has talked about get one they work great but be sure you get one that has a red light on it also it don't atrack them little biting critters

[Catt]

Runing at with just your GPS can be dangerous, I can not count how many times I've avoided floating logs or a boat with no lights!

[scrutch]

Runing at with just your GPS can be dangerous, I can not count how many times I've avoided floating logs or a boat with no lights!

Yep. IMO a big spotlight like a QBeam is a must at night. You're asking for trouble if you aren't watching where you're going.

[crankbait2009]

thanks for letting me share the thread............

some good info!!!

[NCbassmaster4Life]

Bass tend to go deeper in the summer seasonal pattern as a resource. As the water temps go up bass will go deeper obvious reasons: oxygen,cooler temps,ambush feeding..As the sun goes down on a summer day (bigger) bass which are difficult in my opinion to catch during the summer months, but will go shallow both evening and before the sun comes up...I have done a lot of personal research and in fact know that big bass can be caught in the summer during low-light visability that said you want to use darker colors such as blacks and purples..bass feed off of vibration and shadowing image,also topwater is a must the slower the bigger the fish....just takes some patients. Let me add that a spinnerbait will be fished slow at night and the most sucessful bite at night when I do fish a spinner bait is eithr, colorado blade or tantum blade because of the vibraion, you are looking for vibration rather than a flash.

Hope this helps! -Andrew

[Catt]

Darkness covers up mans presents but more importantly his mistakes!

[eyedabassman]

If you are not fishing at night then you are missing out on some of the best fishing that there is. The ride arounds are home, the jet skiers are gone, most of the pontoons are tied up. That leaves the lake for only those of us who are fishing. Sometimes I only see one or two other boats all night long. I use a hat light for tying, have led lights in the boat boxes, and use my gps to keep in the middle of the lake while moving about.

Black lights are fine if you have some hi vis line. It will look like a rope.

Like Catt stated (same baits, same places).

I could have not said it better! I have done 3 articles for magazines and I have done seminars at Bass Pro ( Chicago store ) Gander stores,Sportsman Warehouse,on this subject and I guide at night up here in Wisconsin! i have been night fishing at night for over 40 years and I can tell you guys these things! One,color does matter in a very clear lake maybe not so much! But if a body of water has any color to it, color is a big factor. I have been on a lake way too many times when they would not pick up a greenpumpkin and pick up a junebug color,the next night ( same lake,same spot,same time ) they would not hit junebug but would hit on warewrmelon/red flake! I have caught most of my big bass at night, hands down the best time for big fish and numbers! Bass are in there comfort zone at night! When i guide at night on my lakes the big bass get most active from 11 pm to about 5 am or sunup, it can vary ! And one of the biggest keys is deep water!!!!! I am not saying that you can't catch a big bass in shallow because you can! But I catch big bass and more numbers of quality fishing deep. Alot of these schools will move to there feeding areas that may vary from 10 ft. to 25 ft. of water.Last year my best LM was 8lb 2oz. and SM was just under 6 3/4 and up here them are big fish. I also was invited to be on the cutting Edge radio show this spring to talk about this subject. I did my last article last June for Midwest Outdoors.I hope I did help some!

[5 Dollar Fishing Game]

You all have been a TON of help. I am ready in the next couple weeks when my schedule allows to go out there and try to fish real early in the am and see what I can set there. Until then, I am more than content catching some good bass in the daylight hours as practice. :-D - Joe

[eyedabassman]

You all have been a TON of help. I am ready in the next couple weeks when my schedule allows to go out there and try to fish real early in the am and see what I can set there. Until then, I am more than content catching some good bass in the daylight hours as practice. :-D - Joe

On my last post I was talking about bass in there summer patterns!