Night fishing Lake Tarpon, August 8th

Going night fishing second time
Lake Tarpon with Robbie Melling.
Friday night, August 8th........Will
report details Saturday afternoon, with
pictures, if possible, weather will be
biggest contributing factor to adventure

Go get them Harold.

Lake Tarpon, 2nd of 2 trips to Tarpon to check out moon phases.
Full moon due on August 10th.
(First strip, July 28th - New Moon)

Started fishing same location, same depths, surface water temp 88.8 degrees.
July 28th, 88.3.

High pressure moving in: 8-8 8pm 29:99 7-28 29:99
8-8 Mid 30:06 7-28 30:00
8-9 1am 30:03 7-29 29:99
8-9 2am 30:02 7-29 29:99
Wind conditions July were much higher ranging from 12.7, sw at 8pm to
to 9.2 out of west at 2am. August 8th - 4.8 out of wnw to 3.5 mph out of south
3am.

Bite was much more pronounced and steady during New Moon phase than Full moon
Fished from 8:40 pm till 1am July. August 8:40 pm - 3:30 am.............
39 spec's July & 11 bluegill threw back 12 spec's & 12 gils
35 spec's August & 8 bluegill threw back 21 gills, 8 spec's & 1 bass

Bill Bercaw assisted me on this adventure and we had a blast...Nothing can campare
in my thinking to commradship, solitude and peace of night fishing. (Thanks Bill)
Attached pictures show Bill in action
My thoughts on moon phase fishing - personal belief fishing is better on New Moon
side than full moon. From past experience - 7 - 9 days after full moon is opitum time
to night fish.

Attachment 170566Attachment 170567Attachment 170568

Nice...........I see those pole holder are holding up.

Not at all happy with the new built rod holders, (bottom right side of 3rd picture)
The length from rod butt to reel placement went from 4.5 in - 9.0 in..........This is
really great for spider riggin or when use of long poles are in use. Not good for 5 - 8 ft
rods with rod butts 4 -6" to reel seat. Will probably build another set for swap out when
daytime vs night fishing. Both styles have their place. Mr Crappie style as shown in
rear are great for intermediate use or long- lining,(out rear or side trolling) not good for long-polling / spider
rigging ( two much flex - law diminishing returns comes into play length vs distance
for rod holder)

:cheers2Nice report again, did you catch any big ones or just a bunch of good size eaters?

Nothing of tournament size Bryan mostly the good eater size. 10 1/2 - 12" group.
14 - 15 oz .

Kinda proves point on couple things that during daytime fish will be in and around
reeds, grasses, in 3 - 6ft range not only looking for food but the oxygen that grasses
etc produce and as night comes on they move out looking for the higher ozygen
content, which will be in deeper water closer to thermocline. Spec's seem to be more
size orientated in groups of like. Competition for food is primary reason.
Locating bigger ones will take more time & study vs present when we are mainly looking
for optium best fishing days/nights, moon phase relationship, low/high pressure.
We are pretty much sure that .01 max .02 on pressure will turn off or on fish at any
given time. Pressure holding steady for anything more up to 2 hrs will produce a high
catch rate. Discussions with other night fishermen Friday was also interesting - two
teams that were on lake at same time caught less fish, they were working several
holes, close and away from banks including brush piles..
Another interesting thing we are trying to establish - Lake Tarpon being close to
Gulf - Does tides have anything to do with "bite"?
Dave Dirt handled the interviews Saturday morning with teams and reported the above
regarding their catch rate and thoughts of evening.

Not much to add, they said they fihed East side some where. Had only caught 25 and did not seem happy with # of fish caught.

Were you trolling or anchored or just drifting? Must have used a lot of bug spray.

Ney, ney - no bug spray

single anchor holding.........alllow breeze or wind to move boat accordingly
in circle......no problem with bugs...........overhead lights go up and out 45 degree
over water. Water level lights keep bugs close to lighting.
Clean setup.

see attached lighting system...Attachment 170708Attachment 170709Attachment 170710

I know flounder get real spooky on a full moon. Always felt the second light(moon) spooked em. Makes em real hard to gig on a full moon. Least thats my findings anyway.

Good thoughts Mike
Thanks..........
Becomming more and more clear - that various spieces of fish respond more negatively
to the "full moon" cycle versus "New Moon cycle" Yet lights on a boat facing the
water draw the zooplanten & bugs which draw bait fish and chain moves up the ladder -
or are we misleading our own thinking

Scale light to water clarity. Clear water= less light needed. Is generator vibration broadcast through boat?

Fibreglass, carpeted boat, 2" rubber boots on generator, very little, if any vibration. Using 2- 250 watt holygen up 5.5 ft
& 45 degree out over water (light to water est. 8.5 ft) Use of 4 - merc, low heat (cool)
90's off side approx 14" off water. Light penatration into water maybe 3' tops with
amount of staining at Tarpon. Generator sound wave equal to or just slightly higher
than a honda which i believe is in the 6.2 - 6.3 range.
Above pictures are of Vince's boat which i dublicated to mine, along with 3 others over
years.

Enter water with tape measure. Submerge till you can't see light. Take measurement to determine light penetration. Must do on each body of water. watch for gator and snakes, they like fish also.:biggrin

No lie there, yikee's ..............have used string bobber stops spaced foot apart to
check night light penetration...........at Tarpon, also know at what depth oxygen
supply runs out. (thermocline) (tank is empty) bubble, bubble