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and fish at night without a light ?
I have been known to do it some ....
last night we stayed after it got dark a bit ....
and man did we get bit ...
last light till bout an hour into the dark ....
would have stayed longer but I dint want to get a divorce ...LOL :hatchet:
I have found on full moons using additional lights makes fish skittish. At least flounder and several other saltwater species observed while flounder gigging. But to answer your question, yes I have and actually prefer no light if casting to structure or fishing shorelines. But anchored up over deep cover or on points I have used lights to aid in drawing life to the area I was fishing.
yes sir i am of the opinion that in some cases extra light makes the fish nervous at night . i think its especially true with crappie on beds as they are on high alert many times due to predators other than humans taking advantage of them being shallow . I have seen great blue herons at night on the beds hunting them on several occasions even though they are not supposed to be a nocturnal predator.
and in this case we just took off our floats and very quietly went right in on top of them and vertical jigged the area . they were whacking the jigs and trying to swallow them once the dark set it . i even had a bluegill hammer a bare jig that evening along with a multitude of crappie .
here are a couple more photos i enhanced with light the best i could . with the moon getting brighter if you like to ketch crappie , this is the magic time of the year when you can wear them down with just the moonlight as your guide .
i will be going out some more in the next week in the dark and show some other techniques we use in these situations as well
hope everyone gets to try it soon . march 31 last year i managed a lake record in the dark at 11 pm ....
I've never had any luck on moonlight nights. Especially full moon. The only people I hear catching fish are bass fishermen using worms on the bottom.
Right now our water temp is only 50 degrees +/_....at dark the temp drops a couple degrees and the bite dies.
After the spawns I only fish at night during the entire summer.....Walleye, Bass, and Crappie all come shallow to feed at night.
I only use RED LEDs as my light source on the water...even during Full Moons!
the sky was super clear and the moon was bright .....
one must be kinda sneaky in the bright moonlit nights though
they CAN see ya when ya come up on the bank and the will dart right off the beds
i will be out again this week in the big moon sky and try to get yawl some more photos
the things i have seen in the moonlight would astound yawl
i have seen crappie on several occasions in several locations so close to bank spawning
that their backs actually came above the surface and i was ketchn them with my jig 6 INCHES under my float 6 INCHES from the bank !
and i think our water temps are in the low to mid 60 range right now in most spots ...
havent been out in the bigger boat in a week er so ....
but the water "feels" warmer to the touch than last week
I love casting jigs at night. I think the darker the better IMO... Sometimes people will turn on a lantern down the bank from me and it feels like the bite just shuts off... But it's nice and peaceful :)
I am not sure about all the reasons total darkness and or moonlight might be better in one place or another and
or what contribution artificial light plays during the spawn ...
but I do think I have scared them before with a flashlight at night during the spawn for sure ....