I usually just run a black buzzbait around the weed lines.

I’m a big fan of big single Colorado blade spinnerbaits. One of my favs:

Caught me my PB.

5 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

I’m a big fan of big single Colorado blade spinnerbaits. One of my favs:

Caught me my PB.

Those work great in the day too. Excellent Spinnerbait

1 minute ago, bowhunter63 said:

Those work great in the day too. Excellent Spinnerbait

100% agree, not only my go to for nighttime but also muddy water.

Forgot to mention: you used to be to get them for less than $5 at Wally World. Bought the whole rack. Don’t know about now.

My specialty, deep in the Everglades in kayak. It’s when the monsters come out to play, literally. Black is black and many suggest this color at night and I have many black baits but I’ve been getting some crazy hits on lighter colors, chartreuse, white, light green, yellow…..Sometimes, even, I really don’t think color matters, but that’s just a personal observation. The hits, actually, seem abundant with lighter colors, and the fish seem to hit a little harder as if they want to totally kill it first. The fish below was caught on a chartreuse/white whopper plopper few nights ago. The black baits do produce but as good as the lighter colors have been, I’ve been using them more and more.

Big black ribbon tail worm through the pad fields. Don’t set the hook too soon. 50 pound braid! Gators are always the danger here at night. I have caught a bunch at night in the glades. There like cockroaches at night.

Zara Spook along the out side weed edges, walking but slow with long pauses.

I have an old Arbogast Jitterbug that started life as yellow, but I spray-painted it black because I kept reading that black was the color to use at night.

I've caught many, many bass on that plug, and it's had the paint job re-done several times. I've been tempted to retire it a few times, but it just keeps on catching bass, so naturally, I keep on using it.

Tom

45 minutes ago, geo g said:

Big black ribbon tail worm through the pad fields. Don’t set the hook too soon. 50 pound braid!

Zara Spook along the out side weed edges, walking but slow with long pauses.

Do you find they still hold to cover at night?

3 minutes ago, tholmes said:

I have an old Arbogast Jitterbug that started life as yellow, but I spray-painted it black because I kept reading that black was the color to use at night.

I've caught many, many bass on that plug, and it's had the paint job re-done several times. I've been tempted to retire it a few times, but it just keeps on catching bass, so naturally, I keep on using it.

Tom

Those jitterbugs flat out work, no doubt. The old Musky ones were made out of cedar and are hard to come by. LJ Brasher used to soak them in the bathtub to get some more weight out of them, so they’d run deeper. I couldn’t find any old wooden ones so I just made my own out of cedar. The one pictured here has seen the jaws of two alligators, one of which was pulled right up next to the yak. I probably should retire it for being so lucky to get it back!

Heddon Tiny and Baby Torpedo

Good Fishing

For my little lake, it's certainly a 3/4oz dirty jigs CA swim jig with a 120mm D-walker swim bait as a trailer. I seem to find most of my fish cruising the outside weedlines in 8-12' fow this time of year. I slow roll just off the bottom with occasional pauses to keep contact with the bottom and some reel twitches every now and then to break rhythm and move more water. The hits are vicious! If they're up on the shallow side, I'll give a 3/8oz swim jig and a frog first cracks. I rarely ever notice that a different color matters.

scott

Sub surface: Spinnerbait with a large, single Colorado blade, either black w/black blade, white w/ nickel blade or white & chartreuse w/ gold blade. which one goes in the drink depends on ambient light.

larger profile shallow running crankbaits in darker colors

large soft swimbaits

jigs with bulky trailers

topwater: buzzbaits, plopper style baits, large wakebaits and frogs. I personally tend to shy away from walking baits in the dark as I feel the fish have a harder time tracking them I hear and see alot of missed blowup's on spook style baits and the like.

My favorites are my Savage Gear Bat(crawler) or my XL Jitterbug.

A buzzbait is my favorite because I can throw it just about anywhere, not get snagged, and it catches big fish. If they won’t break the surface, then a vibrating jig is my next bait for the same reasons as the buzzbait. Most of my fish are eating bluegills so those two lures are top runners. A single Colorado thumper spinnerbait would be my #3 or occasionally #2 depending on the cover I’m throwing into.

Bladed jig, toad, 10" worm, jig. Bladed jig is my #1, but the others all play at times.

I rely on the following for night fishing

• 5/8 oz. Spinnerbait with a #5 Colorado Blade (color doesn't seem to matter but I like a black and blue skirt most of the time)

• 1/2 oz. flipping jig - Brown and Orange has outproduced every color I have tried.

• Texas Rigged 10" worm - black blue tail

• Black Buzz Bait

6 hours ago, Jax96 said:

Do you find they still hold to cover at night?

They’re not holding to cover but ambushing anything that moves close bye. Their pad fields always have frogs and snakes active in the weeds. Easy targets the big ones like.

The outside edge usually has a depth change where the veggies stop. Many have moved just outside. The Zara, devil horse, whopper popper, might attack.

Buzzbaits are my favorite technique . I have a red craw Rapala Crankin rap that has done good. A black Midnight Special spinnerbait has caught a lot too.

Stan Sloan short arm spinnerbait... that's it

Nighttime Bassin' is a blast and if your fishery is heavily pressured during the day you may be in for a treat with the night bite. The thing is every lake is different and the fish have their own culture so the only way to dial in is to get out there at night and learn the habits of the fish in your lake. I mean literally fish learn from each other and have tendencies towards certain lures so it may not be repeatable across lakes or even the same lake on different nights. For example: Are they eating on a rip rap bank, or cruising weed lines, are they lying in wait in a hole in some grass, or roaming and smashing top water, do they want something that tracks straight, or do they want something that dips and darts. These tendencies change lake to lake, and based on the moment to moment conditions on a given night. Methodically try these different things and let the fish guide you to what you need to throw.

There are the general principles of dark colors, big baits, and lots of thump; think colorado blade spinner baits, wake baits, big jigs, chatter baits, big soft plastics, etc. But I always encourage to become intimate with the fish in your lake and be creative because formal rules don't always equate to best fishing. If you know these fish during the daytime, try a lot of the same lures at night in all honesty. My only take is I avoid finesse at night I just don't see the point in it since the conditions tend to make the fish more bold and willing to take on a lure with more presence. I've seen this across many different ponds and lakes. But who knows there could be a finesse night bite worth trying in your area so never have a limiting mindset.

There's so much to this topic and folks responses so far are dynamite. Time on the water!

The late @Catt used to be a night time fishing guy.

He often said that the same techniques and presentations you used during the day were effective at night.

I don't have a lot of bass fishing experience at night time, most of mine was targeting walleyes. My success at night time has been on a black spinner bait too. With big blades for added vibration.

The bugs can be pretty unbearable at night time though, so be aware of that.

Big wake baits like a rat or baby possum fished parallel a few feet off the bank and/or over submerged cover. Extra points if it’s a little stormy or windy. MS Slammer in whatever size you are comfortable with works too, either waked or fished like an OG Rapala minnow. It is just so much fun.

5 hours ago, VolFan said:

Big wake baits like a rat or baby possum fished parallel a few feet off the bank and/or over submerged cover. Extra points if it’s a little stormy or windy. MS Slammer in whatever size you are comfortable with works too, either waked or fished like an OG Rapala minnow. It is just so much fun.

I have a Baby Possum that's about to get wet for the first time soon.

That is not subtle, but it is one of my all-time favorite baits.

Black wake bait; I have 3 different brands. Caught a 5# largemouth and 3 pound smallmouth on the same cast using one last week; I was fishing alone and it was hard enough getting them into the net, even harder getting them unhooked.