Night fishing Q's

Hey guys. We went out night before last and tried our hand at catching a few specks. We have a submersible light that we hung over the side at dark and tied up in the flooded timber about 30 feet deep on a rise to 12 feet deep. After about an hour we had caught 4 crappie. Then the minnows started to circle and we didn't have another bite for an hour. What gives? Then we changed places and got on another drop off just off the main lake channel on a point. Had thousands of shad and shiners swarming within 20 minutes. Fished an hour. No bites. It amazes me with so much bait that there were no takers. How long do y'all try a spot at night before moving? Attachment 171854

I usually only spend 30 to 45 minutes depending on the bite. The fish move along the drop offs like you described looking for bait fish like they do during the day. Even if you see bait fish in the light the majority of bait fish may have move as well and so did the crappie.
The crappie could also be inundated with all the bait and you need to drop your lines to the right spot. I will turn my light off after 30 minutes to see if the bait fish get "hit" top water in a frenzy and turn the light back on real quick. This gives me an idea if there are still fish below feeding. If the bait fish do not swarm and you can't hear the fish hitting the bait on top all over with the light off then there are no predator fish around.
I will move after 45 minutes to an hour if no bites what so ever. Lots of drop offs and other timber to explore and catch them.

I night fish just about every weekend this time of year and have done this several years with alot of sucess and we are always trying new things and be very observenant.What we have found out is we keep our fish finders on in back,middle,and front of boat and this will tell you that the fish and bait fish move up and down the light some times they will be at 5-8 feet and sometimes 14-16 feet watch your fishfinders at night this is the most important part of night fishing.i use to think it was over with also but if you have bait around light you have crappie they just do not leave.With my fishfinder i look to see baitball then you will see some big specs about 2 feet below that this is where you want to place you tuffy or shinner they both work very well.I will post some pictures soon of me fishfinder bait ball and some fish we catch as soon as i figure out how to post pictures.I hope this helps just throw out anchors and stay for awhile adjust your fishing depth the fish get bigger the later it gets.Good luck

Awesome info guys. @melisten

I would def like to see these depthfinder pics. I just got a new boat and have jumped to the humminbird SI electronics and I have no idea what I'm looking for.

I am in northeast alabama maybe we can get together and go but i will try to post some pics after this weekend.Just pm me if you would like to get together and go weiss lake,gunterville or we can meet up half way.

I need to follow this thread.

1/32 black maribou jigs work best for us at night. They catch fish 4:1 over minnows. Fish outside edges or even other side of the boat

I would def like to tag along melisten. Maybe we could line it up. Unfortunately I usually work fairly late evenings on Saturdays most times. So much easier to learn from doing that googling.

I understand about work on Saturday you just pm me when you would like to go my fishing partner and myself have been blessed with jobs that we can take some time off just let me know in the mean time i will go fish and take some pics and good luck.

Interesting info. I've been a few times at night with varied success I'll say! Never tried fishing the other side of the boat but have done the, to the side of the swarm and also dropping to the bottom and slow reeling back up. The latter has seemed to work best for me. After doing this a couple of times and hookin em, you can just drop back to that level.

Good info

In my experience, we do better on the outside edge of the cone of the light. The Crappies seem to lie in wait on the outside of the light and hit the bait as it travels to it.

Another thing I have found is changing from Minnows to another bait (smaller in size). I don't know if they get bored with the minnows, or are full of them but switching over to a small parisite or crappie nibble, seems to do the trick after the minnow bite dies.