Zcoker

Accuracy is subjective at night. There’s still light from the moon, the stars, from reflections off the clouds. When fishing around deep cover, shadows become targets and you cast subjectively around them. The eyes can adjust to any available light. Heck, some blind people can practicality see without any light at all!

When I see something like this, time to split! I don't mind fishing in the fall fronts that come down weekly here in south Florida, not much lightening to deal with, just a lot of wind and rain. Now, when it comes to summertime lightening, I don't play around with that and wouldn't ever recommend going out when it's flashing everywhere. It'll kill ya, for sure.

I guess Jacob doesn't see it that way. My take is his expectations, expecting a LOT more money from sponsors, or a least a lot more offers. Hard to imagine that he only go 7k in two years. That's what he says. He spoke about an even playing field, that is, if you make it to that kind of stage in fishing as a professional, then you've earned the golden plaque, so to speak, and all should be treated equal. I really cannot understand the big "revelation" in all of this. I mean, what he said in the video is, like you said, already well established.

Thanks for bringing up the physiological aspects of the drowning event, well stated! Most don't know the process and your description covers it very well.

I've heard some comments on here about losing a lot of lures at night. Granted, if blindly casting into thick cover with, say, a lure loaded with treble hooks, then, sure, it's gonna get snagged-up and possibly lost. That's a given. But if carefully orchestrated, night fishing offers little to no worries with lost lures, at least from my experience. I've only lost lures because of my own errors, mainly in the daytime. Heck, just the other morning I lost a nice white Jackhammer chatterbait when picking it up, just flopped over into the water. And that was after fishing most of the night! lol I can't remember losing a lure out in the glades at night or for anywhere else, for that matter. Maybe it's just pure luck or maybe it's just the way I "tune" into the night that keeps my lures attached, I dunno. Frankly, I lose more lures during the daylight hours!

I feel the same way. Do not fish alone at night unless you either have experience or bring along someone who does. I've been fishing solo at night for years, so I have a very good handle on the many pitfalls that are bound to happen. Not only freshwater for bass but also saltwater for sharks. I solo fish for sharks at night, yaking baits hundreds of yards out into a pitch black ocean to drop the bait, and then later fight 12-13 foot hammerhead sharks back to shore, not only beaching them but removing the hook, tagging them, and then swimming them off (yep, physically swimming them to deeper water). Many, many years dealing with nature in all shapes and forms in order to do things like fish the everglades at night solo miles away from everything in nothing but a kayak. So please, do not do it just because someone else does!

It's often said that night fishing requires special lures with special colors along with special techniques. I say fish at night the same way you do during the daytime. I fish the same cover with the same baits along with the same techniques. I use swimbaits, punch baits, plastic worms, jerk baits...everything that I use in the daytime works just as good at night. The bass are the same fish at night as they are during daytime, using the same cover, same depths, same haunts, roaming around, in schools, same patterns. The hits come in cycles or flurries, just like they do in daytime. ANY color can get hit at night. Black is good, yes, but I've caught them just as good on white or yellow or red or pink or purple.....ANY color gets hit. Casting becomes a bit subluminal, that is to say, relying less on visual and more on hunch. Shadows, starlight, moonlight, reflections, surface ripples, all these factors paint a picture for the cast! It's a skill that's eventually acquired...just like it was for the daytime.

Ben Milliken has a video where he fell off a local dock and almost died. Hypothermia took hold of him very fast. If it wasn't for two guys walking by, he'd be dead. Had to go to the hospital, was that close. Goes to show that it could be anywhere, not just out on a canoe or kayak! For this canoe death, being at night certainly didn't help, pitch black, confusion, no sense of direction, complete terror....horrible way to go!

Dick's Sporting Goods has a sale on 6th Sense Trace swimbaits, buy 3 get 3 free.

Night fishing is fantastic during the summer months down here in south Florida everglades, which I fish exclusively at night during the summer months, sometimes from dusk to dawn. Some of the biggest baddest bass around slam at night. That "BOOM" topwater hit is an indescribable sound, almost penetrating the soul! You can almost feel the sound. No boats allowed in many marsh areas, so I use a kayak, which is about the only way to get around. Bugs are zero problem, never have had the slightest problem with them, same with gators, no issues whatsoever. I've had more problems with bugs & gators during the daytime! But night fishing is not for everyone. One of those things that you have to like and wanna do. When I first started launching my kayak deep in the glades at night, my wife & friends thought me completely nuts! Fishing solo out there is no joke! Took a lot of time to adjust to the new world of night fishing. One thing that I learned is to trust those instincts and to take the night life very seriously. No playing around. And, like I said in my post earlier up, be prepared for ANYTHING!

Anybody following this? Seems he's made quite a stir with his YouTube confession about tournament bass fishing. His sponsors dumped him because of it. I guess pro bass fishing ain't all that glamourous after all, the way he's talking. Says he's going to post all his finances, bank accounts, expenses, and so forth, just to show the world how very difficult it is to be a professional bass angler. Be interesting to hear opinions on this.

Night fishing can be a lot of things. It can be good things and it can be bad things. Takes time to adjust to the many variables that come into play during ALL hours of the night. Fear is your best friend at night, an inner "voice" that just might save your life. Scope out a place during the daytime and memorize the layout for when you go back out at night. Take all your valuables out of your vehicle, including wallet, gun, or whatever is worth money. Lifejacket no matter what! A young man just died on Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee at 12am midnight--no life jacket. The word "anticipation" means a lot when night fishing because you want to anticipate bad things happening in order to be prepared in case they do happen, which is highly likely at night! If not prepared, then worst case scenarios will always catch up, like ghostly shadows in tow.

Out canoeing in the middle of the night out on lake chickamauga when their canoe flipped. THREE people in this canoe, one of which died. 25 year old young male. The other two swam to shore and were rescued later on. Nothing was mentioned about lifejackets. Probably not wearing them because the kid was found later on in 7 feet of water.

Hardly a forage season to think of down here in the south Florida everglades. The skinny water seems to boil and stays that way year round. Water temps went over 100 degrees this year, extra hot! The bass stay hungry, very mad, and will annihilate just about anything that can gets in their way, including fishing lures!

The fishing situation can change instantly. And being prepared for those changes isn't a bad idea to catch more bass. That's not to say that all baits are needed for every single condition but rather to use what baits you have as efficiently as possible. A good way to do that is to take only one bait with you next trip out, forcing yourself to use it and only it under ALL conditions. Be surprised how baits once thought poor for certain conditions suddenly do pretty darn good!

That's what I luv about the Florida everglades, can always count on catching a lot of nice fish year round.

I'm sure that your friend has his own version of this story. Hard to imagine him getting angry with you over catching a few fish. Maybe it's just the way he expresses himself and you're just assuming otherwise? Maybe there's major issues somewhere else in his life and he's just taking it out on you while fishing? In any case, my best advise is to get him away from fishing altogether and go somewhere different, maybe to a place to have a cup of coffee or even a beer, sit down with him and bring up how you feel about this. Maybe you guys can come to terms and move on. Worth trying, imho. I've seen many friendships wiped out over simple misunderstandings.

Exactly what I was talking about in my post. The hunting/fishing areas are clearly mapped out yet the hunters often travel into the fishing area to setup camp. I was fishing one foggy morning in a designated fishing area when out of nowhere a couple of guys in a canoe decked out in camo slid out of nowhere, blasting away! I thought a bomb went off. Talk about wrecking the serenity of the morning! Nothing against hunters, just don't understand why they sometimes break the rules and put others in danger. I wouldn't slip into any fishing area locked and loaded, knowing that there's other guys around fishing. I mean, what gives with that?

We have shared fishing/hunting areas down here in south Florida. The FWC maps them out and they look well defined. Thing is, they're practically one and the same thing! And it can be like a war zone, literally. Talk about boom boom! The south Florida FRONT! We've even had numerous fishermen killed by stray bullets. Downright scary because a lot of these hunters cross over into the fishing areas. They hide out in the cattails. Never know when rounding a corner whatcha might run into...a shotgun or a rifle, as trigger happy as can be!

Sometimes (on purpose) I'll take one setup with one lure, maybe a new kind of lure, a few of them, just in case. What this does, indeed, is force me to think outside of the box, trying new techniques and presentations, meaning I HAVE TO MAKE IT WORK. I'm basically forcing myself to master it. And believe me, I've surprised myself many times by breaking out of old habits only to discover fresh beginnings!

Although I fish from a kayak now, bank fishing will always have high standards in my book. One of the main reasons I brought it up in this post is because of the pure simplicity of it. The simplicity of bank fishing is truly its beauty!

Nice fish! See, you get some nice ones up there in Maine! As far as the levees go, I rarely run into anyone fishing them, miles and miles of them, as far as the eye can see loaded with bass! And it's not like they're inaccessible or require special permission. Maybe folks just don't wanna dirty up their automobile lol

Long! I never fooled around with measuring boards or scales until I started using the kayak. But they're absolute monsters off the bank, pure and simple.

Gotta luv levee fishing. Park and fish. My kinda fishin. One rod, one lure. Just pull-off somewhere along the levee and start fishing. All the tackle, every single thing is in the truck....including AC! When finished, just hop on in an roll on down to another spot. Simple, effective, and so very productive!

When it comes to kayak fishing, I'm a minimalist. I only take what's needed minus what's needed. Usually two rods, sometimes three if doing a tournament. Before a trip, I formulate a game plan based off a combination of factors, weather, location, water condition, etc. All rods are then pre-rigged. If I'm using soft plastics, then those extra packs are put at an easy reach next to my seat. Other than that, the tackle box rarely gets opened.