About to give up on night fishing here!

I live up north in western NY, I've been trying to expand my fishing time and get out of the sun this summer by trying my hand at night fishing.  I've got two fisheries one of which is the Erie Canal 5 minutes from my house, nothing but rip rap and 90% smallmouth. The other place I fish is a deep healthy lake with narrow bands of vegetation along the shore, good smallmouth and largemouth there but its clear water that fishes tough enough during the day let alone at night. I've been coming up empty on the canal fishing ploppers and wakebaits, a total of 2 small largemouth and a handful of missed strikes in maybe 15 hours of dark fishing. About what I expected if not what I hoped for, I realize night fishing for smallies is less than ideal but it's close by so I gave it a shot. Then I finally got a chance to go down to my other lake at night last week, had high expectations spent 3 or 4 hours there in darkness, zero bites. It didn't help that a breeze picked up an hour in and took topwater out of play, so I was relegated to spinnerbaits and swim jigs neither of which are confidence baits for me there . Now that lake is 1 hour + from my house and the whole night fishing thing is a big commitment anyways because it wrecks me for the next day, so I'm just about ready to give up on it altogether. The only reason I tried it was it's tough for me to get out during the day with my schedule. I have a chance to overnight fish that lake again tonight without wind, if I come up empty then I'm probably throwing in the towel for good and keeping my sleep. I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to convince me  one way or the other.

If night fishing isn't for you then don't do it.  That said, I love it.  I assume you read the night fishing primer that AJay typed up a few years ago.  I'm sure someone will share it here.

 

I can't help with smallies at night.  But I can tell you that this time of year, nighttime is when the bigger largemouth come out to play.  And more fish come out to eat also.  They get more reckless and if you maintain some stealth they will eat more readily than during the daytime.

 

You don't say if you're fishing from a boat or shore.  A boat offers more options for positioning, but I've caught a ton of fish at night from shore in the past.

 

A breeze does NOT take topwaters out of play.  If anything it makes them more in play.  That ripple on the water breaks up the outline of everything so fish that are looking up are less likely to be spooked by you in the first place.  You might want a little louder topwater depending what you're throwing.  A buzzbait is my choice since it is basically weedless and largely snagproof.

 

A spinnerbait is probably my #1 (or 2) fish catcher at night.  As long as you can get it near but not burried into the cover they will hammer it.  A bigger colorado blade that puts out thump is what you're looking for.  I've not found color to matter much on a spinnerbait at night and will fish white, black, and bluegill equally.  But you need a thumper. 

A-Jay

6 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

A spinnerbait is probably my #1 (or 2) fish catcher at night.

 

Any color will work, as long as it's black.  Big blades.

27 minutes ago, gim said:

 

Any color will work, as long as it's black.  Big blades.

 

You know, that's how I feel about buzzbaits at night.  But with spinnerbaits I've had just as much success on white and white/chartreuse.  The blade is what they are eating.  I suspect that I could take the skirt off completely and it would still work with just a split tail trailer.  

Fishing from a canoe with a motor so I can get around but not so easy to stay put in deeper water.

 

I usually throw a SB105 or a smaller plopper but I do have larger ploppers and buzzbaits that sit around a lot, I can try those in choppy conditions.

 

I'm feeling discouraged because it seems like I should have stumbled into something decent by now. But if I was getting bites I'd be loving it, the atmosphere out in the middle of nowhere listening to God knows what calling in the woods is off the charts.

7 hours ago, Swest18x said:

About to give up on night fishing here!

I won't pretend to know the water you fish up there. Yeah, a bass is a bass wherever you go, but only to a point. Different places like different things.

 

Most of the glory pics I've posted here over the past 8 years are of night catches. I'd say 95%. Perhaps a skosh more. One thing that's consistent no matter where I fish is that once the lights go out lots of bait pushes tight to the shoreline at some point. Once they do there will be furious bite windows, usually twice a night. When they'll happen is anyone's guess. Be there or be square.

 

If I know the culture of a lake and understand what they won't eat, I'll aways throw a few standbys.

 

Small paddle tails, 4", with a light weighted swimbait hook are pretty much guaranteed anywhere this time if year. Work them on the bottom in shallow water and bag the ones that are eating down or near the bottom. A small silent wake bait, 70mm, is also money if they're feeding up. These two baits are my most consistent fish attracters during this season. A less noisy bladed jig like the Project Z has been a winner for me at places where they're spooky. Plenty of other worthy mentions like a wacky rigged soft stick bait, a ribbon worm, etc.

 

It takes time to crack the code at some places. Things usually turn around dramatically once you do.

I don't night fish very much, but when I do I fish with a Jitterbug most of the time.

Question: on this lake, during the daylight hours dropshot is the most consistent bait. I've never heard of using a dropshot at night, but if that's what catches them during the day is it worth a try? 

 

I'm more a reaction guy myself but if I go out tonight I'm not coming back in with a skunk!

I’d like to try night fishing down here in south Florida. It’s so hot right now I just don’t like being out during the day. Any south Florida members who would be willing to show me the ropes, I’d really appreciate it!

The few times I have tried fishing at night for bass have been complete failures.  After analyzing each of these failures I have determined what my problem with night fishing has been.  Without a doubt, 100% of my lack of success at night can be attributed to once simple fact, it is dark at night.  When I can see I can fish.  When I can't see, I can't catch bass.  Simple as that.   There are many more skilled anglers than myself, that can catch bass without the advantage of daylight, I unfortunately am not one of them.   

5 hours ago, Swest18x said:

Now that lake is 1 hour + from my house and the whole night fishing thing is a big commitment anyways because it wrecks me for the next day, so I'm just about ready to give up on it altogether.

 

I hear ya. I don't night fish, but in 2023 and 2024, I fished a lake that required a 2:30 a.m. alarm time to launch at 4:15 a.m., which wrecked me for that day too. 

4 hours ago, Swest18x said:

Question: on this lake, during the daylight hours dropshot is the most consistent bait. I've never heard of using a dropshot at night, but if that's what catches them during the day is it worth a try? 

Not my first choice, buy anything's worth a try if you're getting shellacked. Consider what I mentioned earlier in this thread.

31 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

Not my first choice, buy anything's worth a try if you're getting shellacked. Consider what I mentioned earlier in this thread.

Yea, I like your other advice better. I'm liable to fall asleep finessin'.

I've got to make a decision for tonight here in the next few minutes, wish me luck.

 

5 hours ago, Swest18x said:

Question: on this lake, during the daylight hours dropshot is the most consistent bait. I've never heard of using a dropshot at night, but if that's what catches them during the day is it worth a try? 

 

I'm more a reaction guy myself but if I go out tonight I'm not coming back in with a skunk!

Out here in the land of heatstroke, night fishing is a way of life. We dropshot at night all the time. The last 2 night tournaments here were won on dropshots as a matter of fact.

 

Big worms, hula grubs on 1 oz football heads, black spinnerbaits (single blue Colorado blade FTW), 4 and 5 inch grubs on darter heads…..my partner does a lot of damage in the shallows with a black Cane Toad.

Black/Yellow and Purple Westy Worms have made guys a whole lot of money on night tournaments out here. There was a big trend for a while of cranking #9 Perch Shad Raps around the marina. 
 

The closest thing to a sure thing out here next to the dropshot is a 12” Power Worm in either Red Shad or Black Grape Texas rigged with a light sinker and dropped vertical down the steep banks.

If I had to fish a drop shot at night to catch fish, I’d stay home and get a good nights sleep. 

52 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

If I had to fish a drop shot at night to catch fish, I’d stay home and get a good nights sleep. 

After seeing the 16.5 that came out of here on a DS a couple weeks ago, I’m carrying a 3rd dropshot rod! 

Well thanks for the input but I didn't go. Wife went out to dinner with a friend and it was 1030 before she got back, would've been midnight or later before I got on the water and the next day was going to be just too rough. But the good thing about fishing is there's always the next trip!

There’s a definite learning curve to it, but the reward for me in my past experience is usually larger fish consistently. Plus who doesn’t like fishing a frog at night when you can’t even see it. Night fishing will definitely hone your senses even more, especially if there just slurping a frog that you can’t see. I have had nights where I didn’t catch anything but I had to learn when and where to fish the spots. I enjoyed night fishing because I could get away from everyone and everything and just enjoy what I love doing and the nature that goes with it. I mostly fished top water when I did, from 9pm- 4am .

On 8/14/2025 at 10:27 PM, casts_by_fly said:

If I had to fish a drop shot at night to catch fish, I’d stay home and get a good nights sleep. 

 

Fixed it for ya

The majority of my big fish this year have come in the dark.

 

I enjoy it.

 

What I don't enjoy though lately is fishing in oppressive levels of humidity. Therefore I haven't done much in the last 3-4 weeks sadly.

This is a fun topic… I just started night fishing a few weeks ago. I’m not committed one way or the other yet but I’m leaning toward liking it. It does take a toll on the body though. I’ve caught a few slobs and the first night I was broken off by something epic. It haven’t got a lot of bites but all the bites I’ve gotten have been above average fish.
 

I’ve found all my success on a black and blue elite evo bladed jig with a crush city freeloader trailer. You definitely want thump and commotion.