night fishing! 2024
riverbasser reply :
@JRammit
So its summer and hot! Never done any night bass fishing. I need some tips.
Where do you look for bass at night?
What changes between night and day?
Favorite lure and presentations?
Full mion , new moon does it matter?
Any other useful tips.
IndianaFinesse reply :
On 6/9/2016 at 10:39 AM, riverbasser said:@JRammit
So its summer and hot! Never done any night bass fishing. I need some tips.
Where do you look for bass at night? Similar areas as during the day.
What changes between night and day? The bass (especially the big ones) get much less wary and are more prone to strike a lure. You usually want to keep the bait above them as it is easier to see a lure silhouetted above them than blended in below.
Favorite lure and presentations? The best lure that I have tried is a dark colored spinnerbait with a Colorado blade slowly and steadily retrieved somewhat near the surface.
Full mion, new moon does it matter? I don't think it matters much, but they seem to bite a little better during a full moon.
Any other useful tips. I am sure A-Jay will chime in soon and give you some more information, he has been night fishing for far longer than I have.
Catt reply :
I fish the same structure with the same lure I use during the daylight.
Bass do not morph into a new creature just because the sun set!
papajoe222 reply :
A full moon may make it easier for you to see, but I don't feel it has much bearing on the activity level of the fish. I do find that, like windy or overcast conditions, I can get away with sloppier presentations. What changes for me and why I prefer fishing at night in the summer, is I tend to slow down. What I mean by that is I don't jump from spot to spot. I'll work the area I'm in from top to bottom starting with reaction type baits and more subtle presentations before moving on. I know the water I'm on and I also don't make long runs from one spot to another. To avoid doing that, I pick an area that has multiple, potential spots.
As for baits, if it's black, it's packed in my night fishing bag along with insect repellent, a hand held spotlight and a pen light. I only use the pen light when re-rigging and the spot light is for illuminating potential obstructions that I may pick up using my night vision. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust after using any light, so I avoid using them as much as possible.
Last, but certainly not the least, I wear a PFD the entire time I'm on the water and carry a miniature air horn. Someone knows where I am and when to expect to hear from me.
davecon reply :
Posted this in another topic but I only use two lures at night, a black 12 inch worm and a black musky jitterbug.
I usually go whenever I can but if I had my druthers it would be moonrise until the moon is directly overhead or moon set followed by south moon under ( when the moon is directly under the earth ).
That doesn't mean you won't catch any at other times but those always seemed best for me.
I used to fish at night twice a week during breaks in college (many years ago). You don't catch quantity but the quality is there. Would rarely not get at least one over 5. Caught hundreds between 5 and 9.5 this way.
Caliyak reply :
Buy or use a red LED light. Eyes don't need to adjust. I like a buzzbait at night. Worms for sure.
Bluebasser86 reply :
I fish the same areas but the bass tend to be shallower and roam around more, not holding as tight to cover. I like larger baits and typically go with darker colors, but with a full moon I'll often go with lighter colors. I do not like topwaters or treble hooked baits at night for safety reasons. I use a small headlight that stays off unless I really need it. No black lights for me, I prefer to go by feel alone.
Neil McCauley reply :
I also fish the same areas, this time of year- weedbeds 12-15 fow. Usually use bigger, darker, louder lures with more splash/vibration, and I use a steadier slightly slower retrieve than the day. I prefer to go with a full moon, because of the extra light it gives me not any effect on the fishing per se. I don't think it matters to them much.
My experience night fishing, at least for bass, has been that it slows way down right around full darkness when astronomical twilight ends- about 11PM until 3AM this time of year where I am. I have caught some fish during that time before but nothing like the couple hours before and after sunset and sunrise. For that reason I only really night fish for bass in mid-late June when the nights are shortest.
buzzed bait reply :
i can't offer much in terms of the fish catching. BUT i ALWAYS have my PFD on at night (daytime too, but just making the point here). hard enough to get back in the boat (kayak for me) in daylight hours, but at night that's amplified.
Hurricane reply :
Only fished for catfish at night before... Might give it a try this year... Especially being busy everyday from sun up to sun down..
Catt reply :
Darkness covers up an angler's presence & most of his mistakes!
Night fishing areas: I fish the same areas at night as I do during the day with one exception; night lighted areas. Lighted docks, lighted boat ramps, a row of camps with lights along the bank or a single camp with a light near the shoreline. These lighted Ares should be fished thoroughly!
Shallow vs deep: I've not noticed a distinct advantage one way or the other. I will normally fish both thoroughly staying with the one that produces the best.
Full moon vs new: like daytime I fish em all & have done will in every possible moon phase.
Colors: Ring Rascal has a worm color called Starry Night; it is dark smoke on top, clear smoke on the bottom with lots of silver glitter in the clear. This color goes against every thing you hear about night fishing, when everyone says I should be using dark colors I slay them on this color.
Mr. Aquarium reply :
so ive only really started night fishing this year! and its really only been 2 ponds located next to each other. both of these ponds are connected.
the best pond is the larger of the 2, ive fished this pond many times and only a few times at night! all my night fishing has been from shore!
the spot ive done the best at is a set of cement walls that connect the 2 ponds. one side is a shallow flat beach area. the other has more grass rocks and is deeper beach area. in the middle of the locks as i call em is deep about 10 or so.
a few yards off this wall it drops down quick to 20 feet! ive been catching 2-4s right off the wall! multiple fish nights right at the entrance of locks! the come up and school around it! big ugly texas rigged plastics have been the best for largemouths! top water for smallies! the buzz jet is what ive had luck on top with. tried BBZ rats and MS slammers with no hits!
ive shined the light around the locks and you could see the schools of bass, perch suckers and other bait swimming around. but i do believe that the largemouth are really searching for craw fish on bottom then eating big swimbaits off top. i think something loud on bottom works the best here for largemouths at least! smallie like the loud obnoxious topwaters slowly crawled on top!
pond 2. the smaller pond. there is a channel with alot of trees and is fairly deep i think around 10 feet. this connects the 2 ponds. at the entrance is a set of rock walls. the side i fish is a shallow beach area. this ponds SUCKS if your fishing during the day, very little cover and its pretty clear. but at night the bass feed! ive done the best here with topwaters , huddleston 68 night stalker swimbait and big ugly plastics!
BIG KEY!! STRUCTURE!! SLOW LOUD BAITS!!!! the vibrations and noise will allow the bass to find your bait better! now ive always heard topwaters work the best! but i find the complete opposite! i will fish other ponds this year!
im still a little scared about being in the woods alone at night! im also nervous about kayaking alone at night to!
oh and dark colors work best! like blacks and purples
Todd2 reply :
I've done a little night fishing, not like some of you guys but does anyone else feel that every little sound you make at night would put the bass on alert? In the day, there are boaters zipping by everywhere....lots of ambient noise. At night, I'll see a light or two across the way but total silence except for a distant Barred Owl, insects, frogs.... It's probably mental, but I try to be quieter at night.
Bankbeater reply :
I like to check the area out in the daylight before I night fish it
scaleface reply :
I usually go a couple of times a year . I try to pick a calm full moon night Structure like points , humps , shallow flats and rip rap banks are my favorite places to target .for two reasons .First they hold big fish , second they are easy to fish . Casting along the banks can be productive but I always end up with a lot of lures in the trees , laydowns...
Joey Battipaglia reply :
Black spinnerbait with a single colorado blade = MONEY
JRammit reply :
On 6/9/2016 at 10:39 AM, riverbasser said:@JRammit
So its summer and hot! Never done any night bass fishing. I need some tips.
Where do you look for bass at night?
What changes between night and day?
Favorite lure and presentations?
Full mion , new moon does it matter?
Any other useful tips.
Thanks riverb!... I been a little busy, just now had time to check in
I expected everyone to say poppers and buzz baits.. But im surprised yall fish same day as night!
Im a sucker for throwing T-rig worms!... Id think bigger is better at night right??
riverbasser reply :
On 6/10/2016 at 9:02 AM, JRammit said:Thanks riverb!... I been a little busy, just now had time to check in
I expected everyone to say poppers and buzz baits.. But im surprised yall fish same day as night!
Im a sucker for throwing T-rig worms!... Id think bigger is better at night right??
No prob man. I also assumed everyone would be fishing shallow at night.
Catt reply :
On 6/10/2016 at 9:05 AM, riverbasser said:No prob man. I also assumed everyone would be fishing shallow at night.
Just like fishing during daylight some anglers like fishing shallow & some like fishing deep.
@A-Jay where ya at? 
WRB reply :
Catt spends more time night fishing then most of us day fishing, so listen to the man.
I love to night bass fish, just can't do it often because our local lakes close 1hour before sun set. We do have a few night tournaments that a fish just to get out at night, the run from 6 PM to midnight or sometimes to 2 AM. Lake afternoon is usually a deep diving crankbait and wake bait bite along with jigs and worms.
I usually go up in worm size as it gets dark to 9" to 13" Uptons Hersey w/blue neon vain or midnight black grape/blue flake. Crawdad and Shad color crankbait, standard craw jig colors.
Tom
wytstang reply :
I'll be fishing at 3am in the morning and plan on throwing chatterbaits and swim jigs with paddle tail swim baits and craw dads (basically what I throw during the day). Since I will be shore fishing snake proof boots, side arm (gators) , head lamp with up to 750 lumens if needed, and a safety vest. I may try some top water lures but they tend to attract small gators so we'll see.
hawgenvy reply :
On 6/10/2016 at 5:20 AM, Joey Battipaglia said:Black spinnerbait with a single colorado blade = MONEY
I assume you're using "MONEY" metaphorically. If by chance you fish night tournaments I'd like to know.
A-Jay reply :
On 6/10/2016 at 10:10 PM, Catt said:Just like fishing during daylight some anglers like fishing shallow & some like fishing deep.
@A-Jay where ya at?
I was fishing - imagine that .
I'm putting the finishing touches on that Night Fishing starter thread we talked about a while back.
Be looking for your input.
Be done in a bit.
done ~
A-Jay
wv1755 reply :
I like to night fish also.Love to jig/worm fish with the black light. I Broke my headlamp a week or so ago. Can't find another replacement. Seems Like everywhere I've checked have the red light but not the black light on the headlamp. Anybody know where I can find a decent one?
riverbasser reply :
On 6/11/2016 at 2:19 AM, wv1755 said:I like to night fish also.Love to jig/worm fish with the black light. I Broke my headlamp a week or so ago. Can't find another replacement. Seems Like everywhere I've checked have the red light but not the black light on the headlamp. Anybody know where I can find a decent one?
what is the purpose of the black light?
wv1755 reply :
It makes your line glow
riverbasser reply :
On 6/11/2016 at 2:22 AM, wv1755 said:It makes your line glow
all line or certain ones?
wv1755 reply :
You have to have clear blue. I use Stren
Joey Battipaglia reply :
On 6/11/2016 at 1:04 AM, hawgenvy said:I assume you're using "MONEY" metaphorically. If by chance you fish night tournaments I'd like to know.
hahaha yeah i don't fish night tournaments
Mr. Aquarium reply :
i did good last night with chatter baits and my brand spankin new strike king night spinner bait! first time using a spinner bait at night! ITS MONEY! everyone says topwater is the best! but at this pond i havent done good on topwaters
Jar11591 reply :
The biggest bass I have ever caught was just after midnight, on a large black Jitterbug. She smashed it about 2 feet from shore in the darkness. The average size bass I catch at night absolutely dwarfs my average size during the day. I also do well on 10" Culprit ribbon-tails, 7" senkos, and Rage Craws. I can't wait to get out at night soon! Whenever I night-fish, I always have that lingering thought "The next fish could be a giant...." in the back of my head!!
Mr. Aquarium reply :
right! fish the places you know have giants and youll have a better chance at catching one at night! ive only fished from shore at night! i cant wait to get in a boat and fish the place ive been doing well at! big pond with big bass both smallies and largies! if im getting good numbers from shore at the only shore fishing spot i can only imagine how good it will be when in a boat
GORDO reply :
On 6/11/2016 at 2:22 AM, wv1755 said:It makes your line glow
i would have never thought about that in my life.
Jon P. reply :
if you have crayfish in your local lake bass will move shallow at night to hunt them, they will listen intently for the tell tail thumpthumpthump of a swimming crayfish. as far as full moon vs crescent i would definitely side with full, the added light increases the bass's chance of locating your lure.
for lure choice i would go with rattling jigs and noisy top-waters. all in black for a better silhouette with trailer hooks on the jigs
also, always use the red light option on your head lamp, fish don't react to it nearly as much
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 7/7/2016 at 1:21 PM, Jon P. said:
for lure choice i would go with rattling jigs and noisy top-waters. all in black for a better silhouette with trailer hooks on the jigs
Jon P. reply :
On 7/7/2016 at 2:08 PM, Bluebasser86 said:
you're going to want trailer hooks on the jigs to improve your hook-up ratio. the bass are much less accurate at night when it comes to attacking, so the trailer hook helps
riverbasser reply :
On 7/9/2016 at 11:54 AM, Jon P. said:you're going to want trailer hooks on the jigs to improve your hook-up ratio. the bass are much less accurate at night when it comes to attacking, so the trailer hook helps
While I don't deny any trailer hook might increase hookups. I can't believe that bass are any less accurate in there feeding just because its dark.
Gundog reply :
On 7/9/2016 at 11:54 AM, Jon P. said:you're going to want trailer hooks on the jigs to improve your hook-up ratio. the bass are much less accurate at night when it comes to attacking, so the trailer hook helps
That is new to me and I think I like it. It would also allow me to use a bigger plastic to put on the jig. Nice idea Jon.
Holden.C reply :
On 6/11/2016 at 12:14 AM, wytstang said:I'll be fishing at 3am in the morning and plan on throwing chatterbaits and swim jigs with paddle tail swim baits and craw dads (basically what I throw during the day). Since I will be shore fishing snake proof boots, side arm (gators) , head lamp with up to 750 lumens if needed, and a safety vest. I may try some top water lures but they tend to attract small gators so we'll see.
I learned the top water thing attracting gators the hard way while vacationing in SC. I was fishing a spook and a 3.5 foot gator came up and ate it. I eventually just had to cut my line.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 7/9/2016 at 11:54 AM, Jon P. said:you're going to want trailer hooks on the jigs to improve your hook-up ratio. the bass are much less accurate at night when it comes to attacking, so the trailer hook helps
I night fish a lot, never needed a trailer hook. It would be a nightmare to fish that through the weeds and trees I fish.
A bass' other senses take over for their loss of vision at night, similar to bass that live in dirty water.
Jon P. reply :
On 7/9/2016 at 12:58 PM, Bluebasser86 said:I night fish a lot, never needed a trailer hook. It would be a nightmare to fish that through the weeds and trees I fish.
A bass' other senses take over for their loss of vision at night, similar to bass that live in dirty water.
you could always try an offset wide gap hook as a trailer if you have weedlessness problems.
personally, living in Montana, all the lakes are rock and gravel with a smattering of milfoil bed so I've never really had to deal with snaggy cover.
On 7/9/2016 at 12:17 PM, riverbasser said:While I don't deny any trailer hook might increase hookups. I can't believe that bass are any less accurate in there feeding just because its dark.
if there is no light bass cant perfectly pinpoint your bait by sight, so they will just plow the area that they heard it.
imagine what it would be like fist fighting someone in the dark, you cant see them, so you swipe at the areas you hear noises coming from.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 3:12 AM, Jon P. said:you could always try an offset wide gap hook as a trailer if you have weedlessness problems.
personally, living in Montana, all the lakes are rock and gravel with a smattering of milfoil bed so I've never really had to deal with snaggy cover.
I've never felt a need for a trailer hook on a jig, day or night. If I'm missing fish on a jig, small fish are almost always the cause and I don't really care to catch them anyways.
I have the opposite problem of fish missing the jig at night. Usually when I get a jig bite at night, it ends up looking like this.
Jon P. reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 3:19 AM, Bluebasser86 said:I've never felt a need for a trailer hook on a jig, day or night. If I'm missing fish on a jig, small fish are almost always the cause and I don't really care to catch them anyways.
I have the opposite problem of fish missing the jig at night. Usually when I get a jig bite at night, it ends up looking like this.
i usually fish a 1 oz. football head, if you're fishing a lighter jig its possible the bass can more easily suck up your jig.
Catt reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 3:12 AM, Jon P. said:if there is no light bass cant perfectly pinpoint your bait by sight, so they will just plow the area that they heard it.
It's called lateral line system
It's how bass find prey in off colored water or in darkness!
Jon P. reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 4:32 AM, Catt said:It's called lateral line system
It's how bass find prey in off colored water or in darkness!
i know what the lateral line is, I'm just saying that it isn't as accurate as sight
Catt reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 10:13 AM, Jon P. said:i know what the lateral line is, I'm just saying that it isn't as accurate as sight
It's accurate enough that don't just plow through the area where they heard it!
With eyesight & lateral line they can find a black worm sitting on the bottom in total darkness!
Jon P. reply :
so you're saying that a total lack of light doesn't affect the bass at all?
MFBAB reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 11:02 AM, Jon P. said:so you're saying that a total lack of light doesn't affect the bass at all?
I don't know what the other guys are saying, but IMO, a total lack of light absolutely affects the bass, but IN A POSITIVE way!!
That creates an advantageous feeding situation for them, a dark night acts similar to windy/cloudy/rainy conditions for bass, as predators they are best able to feed when there are conditions that best enable them to ambush prey. Dark+ windy/cloudy/rainy = even better!! (obvious exceptions would be these conditions when coupled with a massive cold front or flash-flood type situation, for example)
I think one of the biggest mistakes most fishermen make is to try and equate bass vision to human vision....it's not the same. The bass is able to see a lot better than we can imagine in muddy water or pitch black nighttime conditions. They don't have (or need) flashlights like we do, but they darn well feed rain or shine, day or night, hot or cold, etc...somehow!! They are the apex predator in most of the waters where I fish, at least after reaching a reasonable size, and they are well equipped to hunt day or night.
They don't have a problem finding our baits at night, but they still won't hit them if we don't present them correctly based on what they are feeding on at the time, ie: make the presentation imitate what the prey is doing, which will probably be a lot more impacted by the various weather/light conditions at any given time. In other words, What we perceive as the bass reacting to conditions is probably more often the bass reacting to the preys reaction to the conditions.
JMO 
Catt reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 11:02 AM, Jon P. said:so you're saying that a total lack of light doesn't affect the bass at all?
Don't fish much at night do ya?
Bass have no problem finding you lure at night in off colored water.
Do they occasionally miss your lure at night...why yea but no more than they do during the daylight.
Bluebasser86 reply :
On 7/10/2016 at 3:30 AM, Jon P. said:i usually fish a 1 oz. football head, if you're fishing a lighter jig its possible the bass can more easily suck up your jig.
That's a 1oz football jig in the picture.
A bass can create enough suction to inhale a prey item from several inches away, they have no problem suctioning in a 1oz jig. If you've never seen Glen Lau's "Bigmouth Forever", it's a real eye opener on how easy it really is for a bass to inhale a bait.
Hot Rod Johnson reply :
You may want to try using Spider Wire Stealth Glow-Vis Braid http://www.spider wire.com/spider wire-line-superliner-spider wire-stealth/spiderwire-stealth-glow-vis-braid/1360933.html... When using a Nucli-Eye/ Black Light your Fluorescent Line will show up under black light... Without the use of one, many pickups would go unnoticed at night. Use "Glow Sticks" in the Chartreuse Color on the front deck and back deck. They give enough light to let you see to tie your line and change your bait and not loose your Night Vision...At night I concentrate on "Main Lake Points" as well as some of the "Major Points In Creek Arms," A favorite Night Bait is a 6- to 7-inch Black/Blue Ribbontail Worm on a 3/0 hook with a 1/4- or 3/8-ounce Tungsten Weight...Jigs work well also with a 10" Senko crawled very slowly on the bottom... Berkley Power Worms, work very well. You may use other worms too as long as the bait has a Swimming Ribbonlike Tail. The need for a Nucli-Eye/Black Light is the way to go.. With out one many pickups would go unnoticed at night. Regardless of pound test the use of Fluorescent Line will show up under the Nucli-Eye/Black Light. Black is the color that I use the most for my night time fishing, at times I will use White or Pearl..
Jon P. reply :
On 8/11/2016 at 3:07 AM, Hot Rod Johnson said:You may want to try using Spider Wire Stealth Glow-Vis Braid http://www.spider wire.com/spider wire-line-superliner-spider wire-stealth/spiderwire-stealth-glow-vis-braid/1360933.html... When using a Nucli-Eye/ Black Light your Fluorescent Line will show up under black light... Without the use of one, many pickups would go unnoticed at night. Use "Glow Sticks" in the Chartreuse Color on the front deck and back deck. They give enough light to let you see to tie your line and change your bait and not loose your Night Vision...At night I concentrate on "Main Lake Points" as well as some of the "Major Points In Creek Arms," A favorite Night Bait is a 6- to 7-inch Black/Blue Ribbontail Worm on a 3/0 hook with a 1/4- or 3/8-ounce Tungsten Weight...Jigs work well also with a 10" Senko crawled very slowly on the bottom... Berkley Power Worms, work very well. You may use other worms too as long as the bait has a Swimming Ribbonlike Tail. The need for a Nucli-Eye/Black Light is the way to go.. With out one many pickups would go unnoticed at night. Regardless of pound test the use of Fluorescent Line will show up under the Nucli-Eye/Black Light. Black is the color that I use the most for my night time fishing, at times I will use White or Pearl..
is hot rod Johnson a reference to the movie "bait shop"?
Tracker22 reply :
I want some NVGs!
Hot Rod Johnson reply :
On 8/23/2016 at 2:39 AM, Jon P. said:is hot rod Johnson a reference to the movie "bait shop"?
LOL, It could be a little..
On 8/23/2016 at 3:04 AM, Tracker22 said:I want some NVGs!
Here you go Tracker22... http://www.lightinthebox.com/night-vision-goggles-with-flip-out-blue-led-lights_p2397088.html?currency=USD&litb_from=paid_adwords_shopping&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=cpc&adword_mt=&adword_ct=84187023794&adword_kw=&adword_pos=1o1&adword_pl=&adword_net=g&adword_tar=&adw_src_id=1810908567_301578074_21687104834_pla-104068895312&gclid=CI_K1fTJ2M4CFQOUfgodLBQDwQ Only $12.99 plus S&H...Good luck...
Tracker22 reply :
Yeah, that's about what I need.
Bassfishin91 reply :
From my experience nothing really changes. i prefer to fish with a full moon cause it gives me more visibility. As were to fish i just head to the same spots i hit during the day. Don't know how many bass i've caught using the zoom utail worm in the junebug color on a trokar 3/0 worm hook and 1/16-1/8 bullet weight.
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