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I am new to the forum, so I apologize if this tpoic has been discussed recently. Up until now I have done all of my fishing during the day, but I am really interested in fishing at night so that I can avoid some of the daytime lake traffic. For those of you that fish at night, about what time of the year do you start night fishing? Do you wait till the water warms up or can you night fish (succesfully) right now? Thanks for any advice.
Cold weather is better for night fishing. But I still do it year round. It's getting about to about the temps I can take now. I do not like being cold out on the water but if you can take the cold or got a good heater go for it.
funfishing, thank you for the quick reply. If cold weather is good for night fishing, I'm going tonight.
As far as set ups are concerned, do you fish in the same places at night as you do in the daytime? I mean, would you set up your boat and lights over a brush pile, or should I concentrate on fishing around boat docks that have high concentrations of minnows?
Black crow did you try searching night fishing on this cite? Just did and looked like there was a bunch of stuff on it. Dont have time now to check it all out but will later!!RFY
No you really do not want to set up over a brush pile at night to easy to get hung up. You can set up beside one if you like. What works best for me and most poeple is set up on a drop off like a creek channel. The best spots for the lake I fish is at mouth of a cove or river that feeds the main lake. Set up on the edge of the creek or river channel in 20' to 35' of water, set your rods at different depths like 5' to 25' deep and turn the lights on pop open a beer and wait from them. When the bite gets turned on pay attention which depth they are biting at. Rango has a really good articial on this but they are redoing the site and he its not back up yet. And use two achors one in front and one out back, drop one then move boat till u run out of rope then drop other achor then pull boat in the middle of two achors. There is a little more to it but that's the most of it. And if you get skunked don't give up just keep trying to you figure it out.
funfishing - this is EXCELLENT advice, thank you sir.
RFY - I did attempt a search of previous topics using the keyword "Night" for some guidance on this topic, but all I found were general references to night fishing and one heated debate on ethics. I didn't find any specific discussion on time of year, set ups, or other techniques. Please let me know if I did not use the search correctly.
Thank you guys again for the replies. I learn something everytime I come to these forums.
Black Crow,
I primarely fished on douglas lake last summer. Any night my wife had to work, I would go to the lake. I hammered them all summer, until someone stole my boat motor!! Anyway, I fished in 25-30 foot of water and found that the bite would come and go. It seemed schools of crappie would come through and most rods would have fish on at the same time for several minutes and then the fish would dissapear. Some unpredicted time later the same thing would happen. I may go ten minutes between bites, or I may go an hour between bites. I would sometimes catch the lone fish or two at a time, but it was more often that I would catch 4-5 or more at a time. I only fished with three rods and only had one floating light and no rod holders. It was definately primitive, but I caught fish.This was my first experience with night fishing, but it was a great one. I almost always got my limit of crappie, unless I ran out of minnows, culling the 10-11 inchers for bigger ones. I ussually came home with a nimber of bluegill and white bass as well. It seemed I would catch bluegill intil the sun went down completely and it really got dark, then the bluegill would slow down and the crappie would pick up. I tried to look for areas that had some sort of wood structure or a crappie condo on the edge of a main channel. I am a firm believer that crappie follow the edge of channels where they have quick access to shallow and deep water, rather than the center of river channels. If you can find structure and deep water with shallow water close, you will find the crappie throughout most of the year. I have never night stalked crappie when it was cold. I may try yet this year myself. I hope my little bit of advice helps for most times of the year. Good luck to you and keep us posted how you do.;)
Ok it's back up now, here is everything you need to know about night fishing, http://crappie.com/index.php?option=...id=44&Itemid=2Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Crow
Just wanted to tell you guys that I got to try my first night stalk last Friday night. I went out and set up in the Fate Sanders area in about 20 feet of water. It took about an hour or so for the minnows to start swarming, but when they did, the bite started. It was an awesome night. I caught several crappie between 4 and 8 feet down, but all were under 10 inches. I cought one nice bass. I turned everything loose, but I still had an awesome time.
Thanks for all the help and advice. I really appreciate it.
what lake did you fish black crow?
I am ready to go night fishing.
I was fishing Percy Priest Lake on Friday night. I put in at the Fate Sanders dock off of Weakley Lane in Smyrna.Quote:
Originally Posted by WestTennCrappie
I think if I am off work Thurs night I am going to get ole Thrill and head out and do some.I am getting my favorite fever coming on the night life on Percy Priest.Alot less boat traffic and nobody to mess with you.I got one of them new green lights to try out and I also need to get some catfish jugs ready also.