Night Bassing ~ A-Jay's Version

[A-Jay]

The topic of Night Time Bass Fishing came up in another thread – this builds on that. 

The BR articles section has solid info regarding the subject and interested members can & should definitely check that out.    I’m offering & directing this information to those bass fisherman who may have never tried it or even considered it.  I say you may want to.  Though the majority of this will revolve around angling from some type of vessel, some can be applied to fishing from the bank as well.  

Safety ~ Right off the bat.  It's very important to understand that fishing at night - especially by yourself & in a remote area, is no joke.  Safety is the primary mission every trip: Day or Night.   Night time Bassing isn’t in my estimation, dangerous per se, but small problems have a way of compounding & becoming magnified at night.  So it’s important to follow a few “rules”.  

Wear your Life Jacket all night.  Only Fish bodies of water that you are Very Familiar with. Always operate at a slower speed than you normally would during the day.  It’s Very Easy to lose situational awareness at night and speed in that situation is your arch enemy.   Just like any trip on the water, make certain someone responsible (insert adult) knows where you’re going, what you’re driving, where you’re launching from and when to expect you home.  And if you change plans – Let Them Know.  Additionally, I’d encourage you to also leave them with the number & info of who you want them to call if you don’t return on time. (Police, US Coast Guard, Fire Rescue etc).

Lastly, I do not recommend fishing at night on rivers, tidal water or any place with a moderate to heavy current.  It certainly can be done, but Is No Place for a beginner.  

  An organized / neat boat is a must.  It will help keep you from tripping & going over the side and stray trebles will inevitably find some skin at night.  Both are highly undesirable.  I carry and use only 3 or 4 rods & reels at night.  Without going into detail, this is much less than I’d normally use during the day.  When I find the right night bass, they are usually very cooperative and experience has shown that a ton of gear on deck is rarely needed. (Probably could say that for daytime operations as well, but I will not because the bait monkey would blow up my house).  

  A couple of flashlights & two head lamps are a must (I like red lenses to help maintain night vision integrity).  Let’s discuss “Night Vision” - what the heck is it ?  Basically, once you’re eyes have not been in the presence of white light, they are able to see surprisingly well.  It takes upwards of 20-30 minutes to fully develop and each human’s adaptive time & final ability is different.  But what one must remember is that once the eyes have full adjusted, ANY white light – even for 1 second, erases this ability and you’ll have to start the acclimation process again.  

 So using a red (some use blue or green) light is helpful.  Additionally, I’m always under the assumption that I’m alarming the bass to my presence using a white light even for a second.   

The Why ~

My night time operations were born more out of requirement than desire.  As a younger human with family obligations & a career, the little & only “free” time I had available to fish was at night.  And so there began a journey into an aspect of angling I personally feel is so awesome and so beneficial to day time fishing, I can easily state that I would not be even half the angler I am, so many years later, had I never tried it.  More about that a little later on. 

Besides the above, the reasons one may choose to night fish can be many.  To escape the heat, to escape the crowds, to catch more or bigger bass, all of these can apply.  For me, I do it mainly because bass fishing at night is Intense.  It’s a chance to experience the sport at a whole different level.   If you do it enough you really come to trust & depend on your electronics, your intuition & your instincts.  Because in the black of night, that’s about all you’ve got.  The reduction of vision will allow one to tap into the senses that remain.  Hone these at night and your day time ops can only get better.   So there's no line watching - but all of this makes one so much better during the day - it's unmeasurable. When you can get them good in the dark of night – a bright sunny day might feel like cheating.  

When ~ A good way to start out fishing at night is to get out on the water before sunset and just stay out there.  This offers an angler the chance to acclimate to the Night as it falls.  Sort of like the opposite of getting to the lake before sunrise & waking up with the lake.   I did the sunset to night deal several times in the beginning but as my abilities & confidence grew I shifted gears.  I now prefer to arrive after dark.  There seems to be 90 minutes or so after actual sunset where the bite is pretty slow.  So I’ll arrive after that.  If the fishing’s good & I have the gas, I’ll stay for the grey light & sunrise bite too.  If not, I bail.   

I don’t think there is a “Best” night fishing season.  If I can catch them during the day – I can catch them at night.  It just depends on if I want to be out there.  Very early & very late in the season are clearly less comfortable but I’ve had some very successful nights in both April & October.  These results will vary depending on one’s local & legal fishing season.

Once the dog days of summer hit - and the lakes are getting a fair share of recreational boating, jet ski & fishing pressure, mid-week night ops are often present the best opportunity for any decent action.   

Then there’s the Moon.  Is it good or bad?  Does it help or hurt ?  And what about artificial lights like dock lights and street light etc.    May be No definitive answer.  The water's here in northern MI are for the most part Very Clear - often 15 feet plus of daytime visibility.  As much as this plays a role during the day, it matters at night as well.   Fish can still see me on nights with a big moon or in areas where there is sufficient ambient light.  And the Shadow the boat makes on a brightly lit night sticks out like a sore thumb.   If I disregard this, it definitely negates the effectiveness of being there after dark.  Moonless nights are by far The Best for Fishing but were hardest to learn to fish in.  Even nights where I can be out there before the moon comes up or after it goes down are always much better for both numbers & size.   However, some my best nights have been Full Moon events BUT there was sufficient cloud cover to obscure it.  Even a partially cloudy condition is often enough to do the trick.    

  Clearly, some full moon nights are almost like day time.  You may not even need a light of any kind, it’s so bright.  These times are definitely easier to get around in, cast and fish in.  I say cast because there may have been an occasion or two where a lure was launched across two or three docks or even 50 feet or so straight into the woods.  If the waters you fish have color & / or limited visibility, you could be golden & be able to hammer fish while having the benefits of the moons brilliant glow.   

The Where & How ~

 This may actually be the easiest (and that’s a relative term) aspects of night bassing. 

 I use the same rods & reels at night as I use during the day.  I can & do bump up my line size / mono leader a little at night – just because I can.   When I first started my night ops, I fished the tried & true night time baits.  The Black Baits ~ (Jitterbugs, Buzz baits, Spinnerbaits etc.) and they worked well and I still fish them today.  But what I have found is that any bait (and any color) that will catch them during the day, will catch them at night.  The caveat to that is, whatever bait you choose, still needs to be presented effectively.  The reason many choose the baits I just mentioned is they are for the most part “Easy” to fish.  The topwaters stay off the bottom.  Out of weeds & snags and only need 2 inches of water to run.   I can’t tell you the number of times in the early days I fished topwater and wasn’t getting bit.  Come to find out I was fishing in 6 inches of water for 30 minutes.  Laugh if you’d like, but it’s very easy to do on a pitch black night.   Same thing with a spinnerbait - - strike detection is easier.  Blade stops vibrating – set the hook. Crankbaits offer the same benefit.  But learn to present the right jig, at the right place & time at night – you may never fish another bait at night again.   I will admit that the spinnerbait is still one of my favorite / effective night baits. 

   Although night time does hide some of the boat’s & the lures negative cues, please know that night time is not some magic witching hour for bass where all the trophies become suicidal and will attack any & every lure with reckless abandon.  This is simply not the case.  Lures still need to be presented with the same Stealth & Care at night as they do during the day to be effective.   I’ve noticed a couple of things here.  Bass seem to relate more loosely to cover at night (except in the presence of bright moonlight or artificial light, then it’s just like day time). They can & do still tuck into places but often times they’ll be “around it" rather than in the middle of it.  This is a good thing because it’s not easy to make pin-point presentations when your depth perception is all but non-existent.    Shadows are just as important at night as they are during the day, fish like them.  

Tips – in no particular order and this is especially important on the blackest of nights.

Fishing down, along or over any weedline, surface (lily pads) or sub-surface (coontail, milfoil, cabbage) is best done without treble hooks. 

Handling a hooked fish is tricky at night.  The bare handed reach is not recommended – use a net & a light to remove hooks.

Windy nights are very tough to fish in effectively. 

Super long casts are generally not necessary and in the beginning should be avoided.

A swimbait, paddle/boot tail type trailer on spinnerbaits, swimjigs & chatterbaits seems especially effective at night and the slower I can roll it - the better.

Keep “Tools” accessible ~ pliers, scale, camera.

If you take pictures of your catch, your “Flash” will Toast your night vision.

If fishing conditions permit, set your trolling motor speed to “slow”.   If you avoid that sudden burst in the wrong direction, you may also avoid wetness. 

That’s my story & I’m sticking to it.

A-Jay

 

 

[IndianaFinesse]

Very helpful and well written piece.  Thanks for taking the time to write it, you should submit it as an article to bassresource.

[BassB8Caster]

Yes! that was great, very insightful. I have never been night fishing, but the more i read on here the more i want to try it. Couple questions: are you keeping the red light headlamp on all the time? Or just turn it on as needed (tieing a lure, unhooking a fish etc)? Do fish roam more at night? Or are they just not as tight to that cover as they are during the day? 

[A-Jay]

Just now, BassB8Caster said:

Yes! that was great, very insightful. I have never been night fishing, but the more i read on here the more i want to try it. Couple questions: are you keeping the red light headlamp on all the time? Or just turn it on as needed (tieing a lure, unhooking a fish etc)? Do fish roam more at night? Or are they just not as tight to that cover as they are during the day? 

Thanks - my head lamp use is for bait selection, knots, fish landing & hook removal and most importantly, to help me find & eat a midnight snack

A-Jay

[drew4779]

Good read.

[lecisnith]

Very good read. 

[WRB]

Good article A-Jay.

There isn't any debate on white light affecting humans night vision, we can see better with good lighting and it takes time to recover night blindness after seeing white in the dark.

My personal experience with tournament night fishing challenges the affect of white light on bass. Some very experienced night anglers use no light, some use extreme amount of lights to luminate the shoreline, while others use black light etc. All lighting combinations seem to work and have won tournaments. Bugs are drawn to white light and always a consideration where Mosqiuto's are a problem.

I have used a 25w 12cDC bulb  in a clip on shop lamp with big reflector to luminate the shoreline when casting crankbaits and caught a lot of good size bass. Also use a powerful bright underwater light used to float squid at the transum of my bass boat with good results, luminates the water about 30' around the boat with indirect light. Use a clip on LED hat light in total darkness for re tying and finding things in the dark. Tape a flash light onto the net handle to help net hot bass at night. All these things work, just experiment and come up with what works for you.

K.I.S. Is essential at night, keep it simple! Single hook weedless presentations catch bass at night and you will spend more time fishing, less time swearing. 

Follow A-Jays advice, be safe, slow down, make sure your running lights work and stay on when it's dark.

Tom

[gimruis]

I don't do a ton of fishing at night but I've also found that its a lot easier to get out there before it gets dark and then just stay out there until whenever.  I sometimes fish big bodies of water and recording a trail from the ramp is important on the GPS so that I can simply follow it on the way back in.   Organization in the boat is a lot more important too as he mentioned.  The summer boat traffic from recreational riff raff is usually less at night but on some bodies of water there are still crafts out there so don't think that you'll have the lake to yourself just because you decide to be out there at night instead.

[Goose52]

Sigh - I wish I could fish at night...my wife won't let me...she thinks I'll drown or the boogeyman will get me...  Maybe one of these days I'll get a "permission slip" to give it a try !

Great post Andy !    

[Goose52]

A question Andy. I know a lot of your "night-ops" were in your canoe. Were you running nav lights or at least a white mast/all-round/anchor light ??

[Fishing Rhino]

Excellent, kudos.

29 minutes ago, Goose52 said:

Sigh - I wish I could fish at night...my wife won't let me...she thinks I'll drown or the boogeyman will get me...  Maybe one of these days I'll get a "permission slip" to give it a try !

Great post Andy !    

Get a large life insurance policy.  Watch the wife's attitude change.

[Mr. Aquarium]

thanks for the very usefull info

[primetime]

Great Info....Good read....You are so right about safety, I learned my lesson as a young kid when I went striped Bass Fishing at night with my Father and older Brother, and the Fog came in and you could not see 6" in front of your face...Lucky for me, My father was very savvy on the water, had a loran back then and he decided to find a Channel Marker and tie up to it since the Ferry would not crash into the marker but with huge swells he was afraid it could hit a boat not picked up on radar. Turns out the Ferry ended up hitting a boat that same evening, But Freshwater Lakes are just as dangerous as Montauk Point on Long Island. 

I would agree, Safety and being prepared, never go alone, and Fog is no joke at any time, neither are waves, if a storm starts coming, it can be hard to leave, but be safe, fish from shore, the bass will be hitting anywhere if they are active and that is why night fishing can be amazing....Find a spot that holds bait, and you can sit in one spot all night long and get wave after wave of new fish replenishing, you don't have to go find them, they find you...Not always, but when it happens it is the best fishing imo you can do even if fishing for Crappie or Catfish.

I fish at night in the summer more than during the day because I love top water fishing....It is great at Day, but it is awesome at night, and it is so much fun when you get one of those nights when you can throw anything and get bit on what seems like every cast since you get in a "Zone" at night that is completely different than during the day....Hard to explain but the anticipation of a strike can make a night with only 3 fish in 5 hours seem like a Fantastic night...

In Florida, I don't start going until June since the Gators are spawning when the Bass are, unless you know the lake really well and are in a big boat, I would stay away from lakes with lots of gators only because you can have issues with gators  in the spring if you make a decison based solely on catching more fish which is easy to do and realize how risky it was...I stay out of tall grass and never go under trees since you need to be aware of Snakes as well...Everything feeds and roams at night. 

Anyone use Glow baits at night? My buddy keeps telling me to try them, but I can't do it, I just feel it looks so un natural, am I missing out? I use the same dark colors we all use during the day....To me Green Pumpkin works as well as black, flash helps however.......At least imo...Add some glitter to a frog and watch it get slammed if Moon is shining....That is what the Phat Frog color "Color Me" is for....Night Fishing...

[A-Jay]

1 minute ago, Goose52 said:

A question Andy. I know a lot of your "night-ops" were in your canoe. Were you running nav lights or at least a white mast/all-round/anchor light ??

Great question Goose.   Yes, my night ops have all recently been in the Old Town.  Accordingly they are all on smaller bodies of water where I was The ONLY guy on the lake at night - and my Navigation light - is a white flashlight.

 On larger bodies of water now in the Pro-V, I'll run a 225 degree red/green combo light up front and the mandatory 135 degree white stern light while U/W.  While on the trolling motor and fishing off the bow, that white stern light is well behind and point aft - so that's good.

  State Regulations here require an all around (360 degree) white light when anchored or not under command (drifting).  Not good. 

So while fishing (and on the trolling motor) I'm calling that underway and will show the red/green running lights and the stern light.  So no blinding white light on a stick in my face.   

A-Jay

[Hurricane]

Good read....Thanks A-Jay

[Neil McCauley]

Great write up. I couldn't believe this part though:

When ~ A good way to start out fishing at night is to get out on the water before sunset and just stay out there.  This offers an angler the chance to acclimate to the Night as it falls.  Sort of like the opposite of getting to the lake before sunrise & waking up with the lake.   I did the sunset to night deal several times in the beginning but as my abilities & confidence grew I shifted gears.  I now prefer to arrive after dark.  There seems to be 90 minutes or so after actual sunset where the bite is pretty slow.  So I’ll arrive after that.  If the fishing’s good & I have the gas, I’ll stay for the grey & sunrise bite too.  If not, I bail.  

Must vary by lake. Complete opposite here. During the twilight hours around sunset the fish act like the water is caffeinated. A few hours later and they're gone.

[A-Jay]

48 minutes ago, Neil McCauley said:

Great write up. I couldn't believe this part though:
 

Must vary by lake. Complete opposite here. During the twilight hours around sunset the fish act like the water is caffeinated. A few hours later and they're gone.

 Though I may have done a poor job of explaining it but that's the period I'm referring to.

And a few hours after that - you might get your arm broke.

A-Jay

[papajoe222]

I, too have found that different bodies of water have different activity periods. On some, the twilight is the trigger and on others, it is closer to an hour after all the natural light is gone.  I have found that in shallower bodies of water around here twilight is prime time and many of the deep quarries don't turn on until well after dark. 

I'm close enough to a major city to have the benefit of its lighting in all but the most remote pockets on the water, so headlamps and flashlights are rarely necessary.  I do keep a hand held spot light for emergency situations and illuminating the launch when approaching. Until one becomes familiar with night fishing their lake, though, portable lighting is your friend.

Nice job A-Jay

[slonezp]

Lighting for safety:

I don't bass fish at night but I do walleye fish. LED deck lights look nice but more important allow me to see the perimeter of the deck clearly during low/no light conditions. Locker lights are nice for choosing tackle but a headlight is still necessary for tying knots. Amber doesn't attract bugs and its effects on night vision are minimal. Adjusting the brightness and or background color on the graphs is important as well.    

[Catt]

Geez where to start!

Lot of questions about lights so I'll start there.

I do not use red or green or any other colored light. What I use is a "cap light" that attaches to the bill of my ball cap. With attached to my cap it ain't shinning directly in my eyes. I don't know if it's me or what but I find it only takes 30 seconds to a minute for my eyes to adjust.

As for running lights

If I'm night fishing it's usually on Toledo Bend, both Texas & Louisiana require you to have stern lights on when no underway. Most guys never do because it attracts bugs! Because the lake is so large you can hear a boat coming miles away & when they are close enough we flip all lights on. Game Wardens are OK with this.

As for black lights or other lights for illuminating my line or the shoreline line I find the distracting. Case in point, my nephew, his friend, & I were night fishing out of his friend boat. It was equipped with black lights the reflected towards the shoreline. After 3-4 hours of beating up the shoreline we rounded a point into a cove. I heard a fish strike the surface behind us, I stepped to that side of the boat & fired a cast towards the sound. Result a nice 3# chunk! We were sitting in 8' fishing towards the lights & the bass were in 12' behind us!

The only other light I use is a Brinkmann Max Million III; 3,000,000 cp it will light up your world!

We do run WOT on Toledo at night

 

[00 mod]

Question for us humans who do not fish as much at night as some of you veterans-

What do you do about the light from your graphs?  They are a necessity to finding offshore structure or just waypoints, but emit a ton of light!

Jeff

[papajoe222]

Catt, What is WOT?

As for graphs, I turn down the brightness also, but I also tilt the displaly down. If I'm anchored, I'll turn it off.

[Catt]

41 minutes ago, 00 mod said:

Question for us humans who do not fish as much at night as some of you veterans-

What do you do about the light from your graphs?  They are a necessity to finding offshore structure or just waypoints, but emit a ton of light!

Jeff

No not really & besides you can adjust the backlight settings!

[Catt]

14 minutes ago, papajoe222 said:

Catt, What is WOT?

Pucker Power!

Wide Open Throttle at night!

Aint nothing more exhilarating than watching stumps fly by at 80 mph!

No seriously Toledo Bend has 183 miles of boat lanes & river/creek channels marked with 10,000 buoys, stay inside the 40' wide lane ya safe! 

This is way we fish at least 2 in the boat, one operates the boat & one operates the q-beam!

[Goose52]

I hadn't thought of the light from the sonar - good tip.  Like A-Jay said earlier about his night-ops in his canoe, in all likelihood I would also be the ONLY one on the water at night in my little lakes so I guess my "nav light" would be a flashlight as well. Or perhaps I could "legal-up" and get a mast light intended for kayaks and run that under the rule applying to vessels under 7 meters in length...

Now, to work on forging my wife's signature on a "permission slip"