Did some night fishing and have a few questions.

Hit the lake last night and had a complete blast. My buddy have reading about this night fishing for a while and decided to give it our all. I have a few questions and any help would be greatly appreciated. So I bought two cheapie floating lights and the baitfish fish found the light some what quickly and SOME crappie. The crappie we caught were smaller than average too. How long do you wait in a spot before moving? We anchored in the same spots that we have been catching some nice fish during the day, 13-15 feet of water. Do the green lights make a big difference? I'm assuming you would anchor in the same areas that produce crappie during the day? Do the crappie move to a different area at night? Thank you in advance. we fished from 9pm-12am.

This is basically the size we caught on minnows and gulp.

Ok here is my :twocents. In my experience fishing at night and during the day time is not that much different. If the fish are biting good then you will catch fish but just like in the day time there are times you just cant buy a bite. But if you are catching smaller fish you should probably try another spot or fish deeper or shallower in the spot you are on. I have fished with guys who are on the move constantly at night and they do well, so moving around with the trolling motor can be a good thing also. I normally set up and stay in one spot for at least 30 minutes to get a good bait ball rolling before thinking about moving to another spot. You should get many good answer's about this from guys more experienced then I am about it. Good luck.

We love setting up over a downed tree or brushpile. We use a green light but have never used a white light so I can't argue any difference in the production. The green light has always done us well enough we don't consider any changing. I'll also tell you that we do not find fish holding in places at night that they aren't during the day. And agreeing with Dave and lynn, night fishin isn't always a method that will produce when others wont. They are generally either on or off. And off nights are long and tiresome. But when the bite is good, it's hard to find a more calm, cool, peaceful, waveless way to feel the thump. Best of luck.

Thank you for the Info! I'm going to give it another chance this week

I fish deeper at 20-25 ft range

Hair jigs response reminded me of somethin pretty important that people forget sometimes fishin reservoirs in the summertime, the thermocline! Always keep an eye on it whether you watch the graph or the Corp of engineers page.

I have found crappies in a pack of 100ft away from each other. Dropping down my Aquavu camera, I usually find that one pack might average bigger than the other. However, at night, I don't think they pack up at all. I think they all wonder off to where they can find food. I have used both white and green light. Green works best for me only because it easily attracts water bugs and then minnows/silversides/shads. Crappies will come, but the crazy suicidal ones are always the dumb small ones who takes my bait first. The bigger ones are sitting down there patiently. If you ever can, get yourself an underwater camera and watch those larger crappies suspend while those small ones fight for your bait. Moving spots will sometimes work, but as you know, it is so hard resetting up, re-anchoring, retying the boat to another tree, all at night.

When we have our best nights we are typically always setup along a contour (channel ledge or drop) as the crappie seem to follow these a good bit at night. I have always used green lights with success. There are several places I have fished at night (and caught hundreds) in locations I have never caught a crappie or very few during the daytime. We are typically fishing a river system where there is no thermocline.

I have been out of the night fishing for a year or so but hope to start back soon...

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Originally Posted by lol11

I have found crappies in a pack of 100ft away from each other. Dropping down my Aquavu camera, I usually find that one pack might average bigger than the other. However, at night, I don't think they pack up at all. I think they all wonder off to where they can find food. I have used both white and green light. Green works best for me only because it easily attracts water bugs and then minnows/silversides/shads. Crappies will come, but the crazy suicidal ones are always the dumb small ones who takes my bait first. The bigger ones are sitting down there patiently. If you ever can, get yourself an underwater camera and watch those larger crappies suspend while those small ones fight for your bait. Moving spots will sometimes work, but as you know, it is so hard resetting up, re-anchoring, retying the boat to another tree, all at night.

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If you know the larger fish are "sitting down there patiently" & watching the dinks fight over a stationary bait ... you might want to try one of two other approaches:

One is to cast away from the boat, at a distance almost equal to the depth of the larger fish, and allow your bait to swing back towards the boat. That may put the bait below the fighting dinks, but right in the faces of the larger fish.

Two is to use the technique I call Vertical Casting ... which is to simply drop your bait freely/quickly well below all the fish, then very slowly reel the bait back towards the surface. The technique is detailed in this article : Crappie Pappy Article

... cp :kewl

Me and my wife do this all the time . Nights are calmer and less traffic. we fish with a green light that is hanging off the bow in the water. I agree with the advice that the other members gave you . I just wanted to add that once you have your bait fish swimming in a big circle in the glow of your light, if you want to move , do it slowly and the bait fish will follow the light. we usually just troll to a new spot if its not too far and when we get there the shad are already with us . Good luck and have fun.

do most of you guys use minners or jigs and if you use minners do you catch them in the baitball in the light

I use store bought minnows and jigs both until darkness comes and once the bait ball starts developing, I will catch and use whatever the crappies feed on in that lake.

Thank so much for taking the time guys to post some advice. I really appreciate it.