In clear water, for each of these applications night fishing, should I go straight braid or tie on a leader?

Jig?

Worm?

Swimjigs?

Spinner/chatterbaits?

Thanks!

I bet most guys will stay straight braid, but I just run my normal leader setups at night. I throw some treble baits on braid+leader also, so a little shock absorption never hurts when a fish is thrashing boat side and you’re fumbling with the net in the dark. A bonus is being able to hear your leader knot clicking up through your guides at the end of each retrieve if it’s pitch black.

All my night fishing rods are straight braid . Easier to handle and fix a backlash in the dark with braid. I mainly only fish spinner blades/swimjigs and troll moving Rapala type minnow baits at night.

I was thinking of trolling too, wasn't sure how that might work out but I troll a lot on a different fishery with riprap during the day, how's trolling at night work for you?

Fish the same rods/lines you’re used to during the day or night. At night, you need familiarity. You need feel. When you make a cast, you need your thumb to know whether there is a loose loop on the spool or not. You need to feel the load of the rod, the spin of the spool, etc. The feel of the lure as it comes through the water needs to be what you’re used to because at night everything is heightened already.

pretty much covers the bases we fish under dock lights, though we're normally fishing the edges of the nite-lite bowl, where the game fish hang in the dark to ambush the bait in the lights.

Always fish this with finesse braid + fluoro leader.