Night fishing for Crappie?

[Tom 513]

Anyone tryed? reason I asked is Saturday I got done working at a decent hour, wife was all napped up, and all I could think about is some u tube vidoes I watched this Winter of guys fishing with a submersable lights. So we loaded up the boat stopped by BPS bought a $50 green led submersable light and a decent flashlight and headed to a lake that I fish often. Got on the lake around 8:00pm caught plenty of dinks casting Bobby garland plastics, wife was fishing minnows under a bobber and doing ok. Once the sun started setting I anchored down in 12-15ft of water, dropped the light around 6ft down it looked real cool kind of erie too. Well I remember reading its best to let the light sit for awhile so the minnows and bait fish have time to come, with hopes of the predator fish to follow. Well 3 hours later and we didnt catch a single fish off the light, tryed dropping Bobby garland stuff and minnows to the bottom and SLOWLY bringing the bait up, stopping periodically waiting for the crappie to take a bite, but nothing, even tryed some plastics for bass but no go. We did catch 3 crappie casting and on minnows under a bobber, but that was it. My guess is that there was some kinda Memorial day fish party on the other side of the lake and we wernt invited!

[DockShootinJack]

I have had good luck hanging a old Coleman lantern over the water. I have a couple of the green led lights too. But its something about the Old gas lanterns that bring in the fish.

[Tater140]

Sounds like you did everything right. I have fished at night for crappie a lot. One thing that helps is trying to find a few fish right before dark then setting up on them.

[kickingback]

Agreed. I fish ALL the time at night. The lights you use do help bring in the plankton and bugs which draws in bait fish which in turn draws in predator fish like crappie. I have found that you must find and fish a spot that normally holds crappie during the day light hours too. The structure is always there day and night so it makes sense to have crappie on piles at night too. Make sure the wind is blowing the bait fish to the shore or area you want to fish. If the bait fish don't show up then move on to another location. It all comes down to making the area as lively as possible to bring in the atention of other fish to start a feeding frenzy. I have found that the green lights penetrate and light the water better than white lights and a simple light over the side of the boat will work well in drawing in bait. Good luck!