No doubt the most prevalent drawback to summer bass fishing is the heat of the day. Have you ever found yourself sitting on a ledge in the middle of the lake, with heat indexes around the century mark, and the only breeze is coming
out of your mouth? Sweating out the water you have been guzzling just as fast as you can drink it? Trying to decide if maybe you should jump out of the boat and into the lake with the fish you are trying to catch? No doubt we have all been there many times. A great alternative to this dilemma is to go on the water when it is much cooler, less crowded, and in many cases, more productive. Nighttime bass fishing is a great way to enjoy the summer. Here are some tips for you to consider if you are thinking about some night bass fishing! Prepare and check your safety equipment for night fishing.
⢠Make sure your navigation and marker lights are in working order. You are required by law to always have these lights functioning, but many anglers that only fish in the daytime rarely check to see that they are still working.
⢠Carry spare bulbs with you in case a bulb goes out while you are on the water at night. It is the law, and common sense, that you have the navigation lights and marker lights illuminated when the boat is under way.
⢠It is also the law in most states, including Kentucky, that your marker light be illuminated anytime you are on navigable water at night. In this case, navigable water does not mean being in a navigation channel. This means being in water that you or another boat can navigate. In other words, if you can float your boat and move, the marker light must be illuminated.
⢠Check your horn to make sure it is in working condition. This is another item rarely checked by anglers, and this item can be a lifesaver if you find yourself in trouble at night and need to signal another boat for assistance.
⢠I also recommend you carry a flare gun. Guides such as myself and other commercial traffic are required to have one of these aboard, but it is not required for recreational anglers. Many anglers carry an emergency sign to hang on the boat to signal other boaters, but these are useless at night. However, a red flare from your flare gun can be seen for miles. Prepare your fishing equipment for night fishing.
⢠Arrange the fishing equipment that you are going to use in a âclose at handâ location that is readily accessible. Nothing can be more frustrating at night than trying to untangle rods or find that lure that you want to use in the dark.
⢠Make sure you also have a couple of working flashlights handy. One of the great innovations of the past few years is the installation of LED lights in your lockers and live wells. These small lights draw very minimum battery power and light up a locker or live well with ease. These lights can also be equipped with a rheostat so that you can vary the light intensity.
⢠Some night anglers prefer to use ultraviolet lighting units on the side of their boat which will illuminate their line when using fluorescent fishing line and also illuminate the shoreline so that they can set up the boat for proper casting distance. There are also those anglers that prefer to fish with no additional lighting. It is a matter of what you feel comfortable with. Myself, I prefer the ultraviolet lights and fluorescent fishing line.
I have tried fishing both with and without, and I found by keeping record one summer that fishing without lights did not produce any more numbers of fish than did fishing with the lights. Prepare to deal with bugs. One of the drawbacks of night fishing is dealing with the bugs that get drawn to your boat, especially mosquitoes. There are many good insect repellents on the market, but they will not do you any good if they are not in the boat. When I was growing up, my mother was an Avon Lady for a number of years. She taught me then that using the Avon product Skin So Soft was a great insect repellent. In the past few years, Avon actually began to market this skin lotion as an insect repellent. I have not only used it when night fishing, but it definitely came in handy during my military career while we were in the bush. Learn/Review your nighttime bass fishing techniques, and gather your lures: Letâs get to the fun part, and go night fishing! My favorite pattern for night fishing is to fish a crayfish pattern. Crayfish are nocturnal and come out of hiding at night and expose themselves in large numbers as they forage for food. I donât think anyone will disagree when I say that bass love crayfish. Areas to target are rocky shorelines and points where crayfish like to hide during the day. My first choice of lures would be a heavy (5/8 or 3/4 oz) spinner bait with a single oversized Colorado blade. I prefer a black nickel blade for night fishing. You will want a short arm spinner bait so that the blade does not extend back past the hook point. This is to avoid âblade bitesâ, that is, fish biting on the blade instead of the body of the bait. You should use a dark skirt such as black, black/blue, black/red or black/ purple.
Another item that will illicit more bites is to put some jig rattles under the skirt on the spinner bait. If you are fishing a lake or river with smallmouth, make sure you have plenty of spinner baits on hand because smallmouth love crayfish. They
are notorious night time feeders in the summer, as well as super aggressive at night. Active night smallmouth will definitely destroy some spinner baits for you. The most productive spinner bait retrieve at night is to slow roll the bait, bumping along the rocky bottom, and let it flutter down on drop offs. If the bass are not taking the spinner bait, I will go to a dark-jig or dark colored tube jig and hop it down the rocky bank or point. This will almost always produce you some fish at night. Another great nighttime pattern is top-water fishing. You can do this shallow or on banks and shallow points. Baitfishes tend to congregate near the surface at night, and they are easy prey for bass coming up at them from underneath. My favorite lure in this case would be a chug-bait, which makes a good popping noise as well as spits water. Anoisy walking bait such as a Lucky Craft gunfish would also be a good choice.
Of course, Carolina rigs, Texas rigs and even crank baits will take fish at night. Back in my tournament years, I cashed many checks with these lures, especially on lakes with good numbers of largemouth. No matter what technique or pattern you wish
to fish, you can count on one thing. You will be much cooler at night in the summer, you wonât have a lot of boating noise, and you can enjoy some prime quality fishing time by heading out to the water when the sun is going down instead of coming up!
