Neil probably fish 20 or so night tourneys a year. If there is a breeze stick with a chatterbait and just go down the bank. After 11 or so pick up a buzz bait or a wake bait. If water gets hot and fish get off the bank 10 inch worm hard to beat. Good luck.
I don't always find schooling fish but when I do I backlash on the first cast
I'm in the same boat this year as well, never fished at night but do to club changes I'm going to have to this year.
I'd planned to just stick to ledges and offshore grass all night and hope for the best
Have any black lights? Use them with clear blue mono, I wouldnt think of throwing a jig or worm with out one.
When running down the lake wear clear eye protection (bugs bat ,ect.) and co-angler also !
Down here, a lot of dock owners who like to fish will put out underwater lights. Look for the glow of these underwater and fish about 15 to 20 feet around them. Bright dock lights are another good source as they attract small fish.
One other thing to note. In NC, kayakers are not required to have lighting, so watch out for them.
Buzz Bait on the rip rap.
Originally Posted by 11pounder
Wash your hands and say your prayers, cause Jesus and germs are everywhere.
Keep your deck clear, only a couple rods out, have your pliers and other hook removal stuff in one spot consistently wear a head lamp but leave it off. Slow down. Also suggest not hopping lures to much as it makes it harder for fish to find on vibration alone. Steady pace.
Mercury 250 proxs 2B115089
Fishing with a black light and fluorescent line makes a world of difference.
I don’t understand how you could night fish without black lights. You miss so many
bites without seeing the line barely tick.
I can't stand when I night fish with someone who uses the black lights. What wavelength of light penetrates the water the deepest? UV. To the fish, those lights are the same as shining a spotlight in the water. We don't see the UV portion of the black light, but the fish do. The loss of feel when changing from braid to mono also overrides the benefit from seeing the line, I think.
Think big with your soft plastics. I have caught many bass shorter than the worm I'm fishing.
Yeah I almost ran over some people in a canoe one night. Didn’t realize they were not required to have nav lights
I love the Snopp reference. The only way I catch any fish on SML in a night tournament is by catching some fish before dark! I've had very little luck at night but I'm going to keep trying. I am usually in Ontario during the summer so I don't have much experience at night on SML but it looks like this summer I will be stuck in VA so maybe I will learn something.
2018 Ranger RT188 SC Black/115 hp Yamaha SHO 4-stroke; Garmin LVS34 - north
2018 Ranger RT188 DC Black/115 hp Merc Pro XS 4-stroke; Garmin LVS34 - south
14' Mirrorcraft tin boat (ancient) with a 9.9 Mercury 4-stroke, no electronics; catches fish anyway
I really enjoy night fishing.
My club used to fish clearlake every August night tournament during the full moon. We would fish from 6pm till midnight, 1st half of the tournament, then 1am till 7am , for the 2nd half.
Due to fish and game only allowed 6hr/ 1/2 half day tournament, during the the summer months, June, July, August.
Then the older guys in club deemed it unsafe.
So we stopped doing it.
But I still counted to fish at night at clearlake, and on my wife's and my anniversary we do , dinner then night fish clearlake. She is a keeper for me .
My suggestion to you would be go early enough before dark, and just run to the spots you want to fish but don't fish, just to have a trail on your graph, so at night you can follow it and know you won't hit any obstructions. Bring a black light, mine has suction cups, so I can stick it to the gunwell. I like to throw a 10" black and blue power worm Texas rigged, black and blue jigs with black/blue flake trailer and black and blue Colorado blade spinnerbait. Hope this helps, tight lines.
2001 Ranger 520DVX 225 mercury
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If you're going to fish at night, watch out for stab, sgorf, and stay away from gub sreppaz.
I don't know if this works on other lakes but at SML when the shad are spawning, find where they are coming into shore, put your boat right on the bank, and fish a cotton cordell or storm thunderstick as a wake bait parallel with the shore right on riprap. Works for bass and striper.
Another easy pattern is simply fishing lighted boat docks, at least until you get some confidence. The light draws bait and you can see what you're doing better. Personally I always approach a lighted dock with a spinnerbait or crankbait before moving in to fish a soft plastic.
I only throw top water at night. Frogs, buzzbaits. You can hear the blow up which helps for the visual impairment. Works well on mississippi river pockets.
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