1 hour ago, Pat Brown said:

I fish a public pond early in the morning almost every day before the sun comes up regardless of the weather and I have been scared more than a few times by snorting bucks and it's blood curdling in pitch black darkness. 🤣🤣🤣

Or a huge beaver smacking its tail right around where you’re fishing a topwater lure at night. Had it happen to me twice in one night in completely different spots. I’ve heard them smack their tails before but these 2 instances sounded like someone had done a cannonball dive out of a treetop…..very deep sounding. Never knew for sure what it was for several years. Lake owner said it was probably a big catfish. Always bugged me not knowing for sure - could have been giant bass for all I knew.

 

Was up fishing Rainy Lake this summer & a beaver was following our boat around. Came around a point to a bay we couldn’t see ahead of us & there was a huge hut near the bank. No sooner did we see it when I heard that exact same ka-doooooooosh sound. I immediately recalled that night fishing incident & just shook my head & laughed.

 

Yes, bats - usually get that sensation something is flying around but if too dark to see can be a bit unnerving at times. Some owls can make some weird sounds as well.

I love wrestling with fat girls in dark. The drive to the lake is much more dangerous than being on the water. Passing opposing vehicles within 3' running 50 - 70 mph. But there are indeed safety concerns on the water, speed kills.

1 hour ago, RipzLipz said:

the bank. No so

Dude the first time I ever heard a beaver do that I had to take the wipies out haha

 

And the second time

And the third

 

Sometimes, when I know they're there, they still get me to jump. It sometimes still gets the heart pumpin, but no more skidmarks.

 

This summer I fished a bridge that has a narrow underpass for the water. A couple nights I'd seen 2-3 beavers on either side at the same time. I didn’t even know they got down like that, in groups and stuff.

 

I hate those noisy jerks

 

@Kites R4 Skyfishing,

 

Yeah, most of the tail slaps I’d heard before while fishing in Canada were a smacking sound, like a good belly flop or something flat hitting the water. Those 2 I heard here in IN that one night were quite a bit more disturbing to me. At first, I was convinced it was a big fish, must have fished that area for an hour longer. After no more surface action, I considered that someone was messing with me, throwing big rocks from the steep banks. Felt a bit dumb when I heard it again this year & put it all together. 😆

On 11/16/2023 at 1:26 PM, Darth-Baiter said:

asking cuz i dont know.

 

how to you cast accurately to cover in the dark?  

 

 

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! 

I look at day or night time accuracy this way.

 

Ya got two choices 

Reel it back in & cast again.

Or work it back in.

 

Unless you can physically see em or have FFS, we guessing anyway.

I love night fishing, you will catch some of the biggest bass at night.  I like fishing a Rat around weed/pad edges, around drop offs.  I also like spinnerbaits across the top of offshore shoals.  I like to launch at dusk, my biggest worry is never wild life but people when I come back in.  After I get back I always do a couple laps of the parking lot with my flash light to make sure I didn’t forget anything.

 

Last year heard a pack of coyotes killing something in the woods lots of howling and whatever they were killing was letting out a horrible scream.  This year had a ticked of beaver following me around tail slapping when I was out at night in my float tube on a small lake.