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Tips for a Night Fishing Beginner
| To: Pros@baits.com
Hi. I am new at bass fishing. This is my first year. How do you fish at night, and what type of bait do you use? Do you fish deep, or on the bank? P.S. I have a black light. Thank you.
Rick Young |
Russ Bassdozer says:
Hi Rick,
It's good to hear from you. If you are new to bass fishing, you will find night fishing to be much harder than during the day. Even for highly-experienced anglers it is harder. A black light will help you handle your gear more easily from either boat or bank. The black light does not seem to bother fish very much, but I would try not to cast too many fast-moving shadows by walking in front of it constantly.
Night fishing is usually only practiced during the hottest couple of summer months. Compared to fishing by day, there is little published information about how to do it at night. There are a few articles you may
find at the Bassdozer site at www.bassdozer.com/articles.shtml. Look under the heading of "Night Fishing" there.
In soft plastics, dark colors are sure bets to work well at night - blacks, dark watermelons, dark purples, etc. Try bigger, bulkier sizes of plastics than you use during the day too.
A Carolina Rig is one type that excels at night. Fish are out in the open more at night rather than holed up hiding in cover or in shade as they do during the day. This applies to both deep or shallow fish. Use a big weight on the Carolina Rig to bang around the bottom and make maximum noise at night. The fish will be out and about in the open, and the Carolina Rig allows you cross their path as you can cover lots of water during the retrieve - and the weight banging across bottom draws them over to your bait.
Keep in mind, there is a compromise you'll need to make, however. A big weight will also snag more if it's a snaggy bottom. So, you may need to lighten up the weight as a trade-off to avoid some of the snags. A lighter weight will float over some snags that would catch a heavier one. Remember though, it's the noise of the weight matters at night. So always use the heaviest weight you can get away with. Do not hesitate to use up to one ounce depending on snagginess of the area - and, of course, the maximum weight size also depends on if you are using a rod that can handle it.
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