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Fish4muskie |
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Posts: 112 Location: Illinois | I've never fished for ski after dark. I have a mid summer trip planned this year and plan to include this time frame this year. Any bits of advise,prefered lures,stories,etc? | ||
| Cloud7 |
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Posts: 230 Location: St Paul, Minnesota | Three of the biggest fish I've put in the boat came at night. Bigger profile lures, slower retrieve speeds, and fish big-fish prime spots. -Husky Medussa -Husky/Mag Hawg Wobbler -Big Blades Where are you going? -C7 | ||
| wisskie |
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| Same here. biggest fish boated was at night. Big rubber (pounders) and big blades (#13). The lake I fish most times at night has a high amount of drunk boat traffic so make sure to pay attention to any oncoming noise. Also drunks like to sit still sometimes with their lights off so go slow and take your time between spots. For some reason I've had better luck fishing open water at night opposed to fishing structure. | |||
| T3clay |
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Posts: 770 | I have had the most success with crankbaits at night | ||
| GOCmuskiesWV |
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Posts: 59 | You want some night fishing advice? Stay inside and drink beer instead! I'm not a huge fan of night fishing for a variety of reasons, but I have done it enough to give you some pointers. 1) Safety. This is far and away the most important thing to take into consideration. Know the lake you're on backward and forward. If there are any hazards such as rock piles, reefs, log jams, etc. you should be hyper aware of these locations at all times. Take your time when going from spot to spot. It's very easy to get disoriented in the dark, especially in the absence of moonlight. If your fishing with a buddy make sure you know where he/she is at all times and they should do the same. Never fish with more than 2 people in the boat. 3 or more people in a boat is begging for a trip to the emergency room. 2) Light, light, and more light. You can't have enough light in the boat. At minimum you should have a powerful head lamp, a hand held flashlight (Mag Lite), and a free standing light of some sort. Get the most powerful light you can. 3) Organization. Have as little clutter in the boat as possible. Put away all loose baits, rods not in use, spare hooks, rain gear etc. Make hook out tools and the net immediately available. 4) Fish with a buddy if possible. Landing and unhooking a fish is much easier with a second person in the boat. The second person can net the fish, hold the net while you extract the lure, and direct light where needed while you work with the fish. They can also scan the water with a flash light for any hazards while you navigate the boat. 5) Prepare for the bugs. The mosquitoes can be horrendous the first hour after dark during the summer. Make sure you bring lots of bug juice and appropriate clothing. Those little !@#$ers can really ruin a night fishing expedition. 6) Lure selection. I think more so than daylight fishing, using the correct bait is critical. I like big, slow, predictable moving baits that emit a lot of sound and vibration. I am all over the map when it comes to surface lures, but at night I'm a big believer in using solid black. It creates a silhouette against the night sky and makes it easier for the fish to visually locate it. The following are some of my recommendations: Large tail rotating surface baits - These baits make a lot of racket and track nice and straight through the water. I'm a big fan of the Pace Maker. It has a hook configuration that allows one of the tines to make contact with the rotating tail. Makes a really loud noise and tracks nice and straight through the water. Hawg Wobbler style baits are also an excellent choice. Lee Tauchen makes a bait called the H2O that I've done well with at night. He also makes a magnum version of it. Greg Nimmer makes a bait called the Wolly Pawg that has a similar action and makes tons of noise.There are probably people that disagree with me on this, but I would avoid walk the dog style surface baits after dark. The hook up percentage on those baits is low in daylight. It gets even worse after dark. They're just too erratic for my liking. Globe style surface baits - There are a number of these out on the market and for the most part they're pretty similar. I believe that Musky Buster Tackle makes some pretty decent versions of these baits. Get the biggest one they have. Bucktails - The large double bladed bucktails are ideal for this type of fishing. They give off tons of vibration and have a large profile. They have lots of lift and you can reel them super slow. Spinner baits are also good for night fishing. Go for the double bladed models over the single bladed models. Crank Baits. This is my least favorite lure for after dark but some people like them, especially for fishing deep water. If I were going to use these types of baits I would go for large jointed models and if available I would choose the kind that have a built in rattle. Baits I would avoid - I would avoid using anything that has erratic behavior such as glide baits, jerk baits, walk the dog surface baits and any other kind of bait that doesn't track straight or moves really fast. Speed is critical. In my opinion you can't work a bait slow enough after dark. I reel in baits just fast enough to keep them working and no faster. I hope this helps. If you catch anything, post some pics. | ||
| North of 8 |
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| I would second the idea that organization is critical. You have to be much more mindful of where spare rods are, lures have to be out of the way. Have everything in a specific location. I am retired and fish by myself a lot. I put the net so that the handle is next to my left leg. If I hook a fish, I can move my leg and feel the net, and know all I have to do is reach down and I will have the net. Something else I do at night that I don't always do during the day is wear an inflatable pfd. I figure things are more likely to go wrong in the dark and if I go over the side, I want to be wearing that pfd. I am a strong swimmer, but I want to know that even if I get hurt , I will be floating face up. Never had it happen, hope it never does, but I want to be prepared. And having musky hit a tail rotating top water 50 feet from the boat makes the prep well worth it. I would even argue that you will have a better hook up rate on top water at night because you feel rather than see the strike. | |||
| ckhawkeye51 |
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Posts: 180 | Cover your dash lights with a towel, turn down your depth finder light settings as low as they go to help you see better while running, don't rely on your gps but do use it as a guide. Have a spotlight on hand and take your time! COVER EVERY SQUARE INCH OF YOUR BODY FROM THE MOSQUITOES! Edited by ckhawkeye51 2/16/2017 10:18 PM | ||
| tallywacker |
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Posts: 18 | Wear your life vest from the launching of the boat and until you are completely done loading boat for night!! I almost had a bad experience last year night fishing by myself. I was wearing my life vest all night like I should, then at 2:30am I called it quits. When I got to dock I put my life vest away and went and got the truck. Power loaded the boat like I always do. I then turned the outboard off, and went to hop from the boat to the dock. When my foot landed on the slippery wet plastic dock I went completely backwards into the water missing the boat with my head by a couple inches. I thought it was kinda funny at first, until I thought what if I would have hit my head and got nocked unconscious (NO LIFE JACKET ON NOW)......NOBODY WAS AROUND! They would have just found me floating at the launch! I learned my lesson that night! BE SAFE! Having a boat partner like mentioned above is defiantly a good thing! | ||
| tackleaddict |
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Posts: 431 | Preserve your night vision by using a headlamp that has a setting other than bright white light. I have one that has a green setting and sort of a UV setting that wont ruin your night vision. Switch your fishfinder to "night mode" if it has one, the green and black colors wont mess with your eyes. Its amazing how much you can see after an hour of being in the dark if you refrain from bright white light. Once you turn on a flashlight or look at bright electronics your starting over. Use one of the rubber glow beads above your leader. Its hard to tell when your bait is getting close and banging a barrel swivel or steel wire loop into your last eyelet will ruin your tip, and its surprisingly difficult not to do. As for lures, we always use bucktails when trying to fish for musky at night and Ive seen them work. Ive seen more muskys caught accidentally at night by bomber long A's, smithwicks or similar walleye minnow style baits than Ive caught on purpose. Big ones too. Ive seen them work straight retrieved or jerked and paused. EDIT: I forgot to mention I almost killed a guy that was sitting on a jetski that had run out of gas. I also hit a big floating log once. I learned to slow down and take my time, even on water I know by heart. Edited by tackleaddict 2/17/2017 6:29 AM | ||
| tkuntz |
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Posts: 815 Location: Waukee, IA | I've spent well over a hundred hours over dozens of nights fishing muskies and all I got was mosquito bites. | ||
| BNelson |
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Location: Contrarian Island | I spend a lot of hours at night on the water and we do well. One thing to think about tho...is while I do generally reel my baits in slower than during the day, the muskies can find whatever they want, whenever they want it. Think of this... we are reeling our baits probably 1.5 mph hour at night w a slow reel... lots of guys I know troll at night going 2.5 to 4 for example... A LOT faster than we are reeling our baits... so whoever came up with 'it has to be slow at night' is incorrect imho.... i know guys that have caught big ones burning single bladed 8s at night.. yup, burning...their lateral line is amazing... night to a musky means nothing..it is more in our heads than theirs... w that said, a vast majority of the fish we have caught at night are on double blades or topwaters... use to do very well with depth raiders back pre double 10 days as well... fish the same areas you saw them during the day and good chance they are still there are night. some of the biggest fish in my boat have come between 1am and 4am Edited by BNelson 2/17/2017 8:27 AM | ||
| musky-skunk |
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Posts: 785 | Night fishing isn't all that difficult. I typically work spots the same way I do during the day. I just slow down my presentations and consequently my boat speed. I do recommend going a little slower when motoring because unfortunately some people won't use their boat lights and every now and then there's floating debris. It's also no fun catching a bug in the eye going 60mph. Dim your lights and only use a headlamp/light when absolutely necessary and you'll develop enough night vision to see whats going on fairly well. I've fished 3 out of my boat at night many times without issue. If your boat partners can safely cast during the day then there's no reason they shouldn't be able to at night. Always figure 8 and remember feeding windows are coming and going all the time. Just like during the day there may only be short windows of time when the fish will turn on. Edited by musky-skunk 2/17/2017 8:29 AM | ||
| musky-skunk |
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Posts: 785 | BNelson I've held that belief on lure speed for a long time but never really experimented with it yet. That is an interesting thought. | ||
| Kirby Budrow |
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Posts: 2274 Location: Chisholm, MN | Night fishing used to be my thing. It's fun, scary and rewarding. I used to fish by myself, under no moon, all night, and no life jacket, and I caught tons of fish! That was just dumb! I rarely fish by myself at night now and if I do, I have my life jacket on and pick a night where it won't be so dark. Even a half moon will light things up pretty good. Everyone has mentioned great ideas for you. Personally, I put a sock or something over my lights to dim them down for my own vision and also the muskies vision. I've seen fish spook from the bow light. Especially on pressured water. Keep your headlamp off. Fish will see that and spook. Be very mindful of each figure 8. Sometimes you see the follow, most times you don't. I've caught so many fish that showed up out of nowhere in the 8. My favorite way! Also, I think fish look smaller at night. I remember one night last year I hooked a fish in the 8 and when I saw it I told my boat partner to not worry too much, it was maybe a 40 incher. He netted it, put in on the bump and she went 47.5. Haha! I almost shook it off! Another big point is to fish as late as you possibly can. I caught my first 50 at 3am, in the 8. Granted it was the 3rd fish of the night, so that kept us going. But if you go to bed too early, you can miss out big. Another time we were going to pull an all nighter in August but we started at like 6pm. We caught one fish right away during the evening, fished hard into the night with no action until 1am when I hooked a huge 51. Then no other action the rest of the night. Then we fished until about 10am the next morning, landing one more fish. Point being, even if it looks like the night will be uneventful, keep at it! Pick a good boat partner that knows how to handle it, keep your gear ready, and fish hard! Is it June yet? Edited by Kirby Budrow 2/17/2017 8:54 AM | ||
| Kirby Budrow |
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Posts: 2274 Location: Chisholm, MN | BNelson - 2/17/2017 8:25 AM I spend a lot of hours at night on the water and we do well. One thing to think about tho...is while I do generally reel my baits in slower than during the day, the muskies can find whatever they want, whenever they want it. Think of this... we are reeling our baits probably 1.5 mph hour at night w a slow reel... lots of guys I know troll at night going 2.5 to 4 for example... A LOT faster than we are reeling our baits... so whoever came up with 'it has to be slow at night' is incorrect imho.... i know guys that have caught big ones burning single bladed 8s at night.. yup, burning...their lateral line is amazing... night to a musky means nothing..it is more in our heads than theirs... w that said, a vast majority of the fish we have caught at night are on double blades or topwaters... use to do very well with depth raiders back pre double 10 days as well... fish the same areas you saw them during the day and good chance they are still there are night. some of the biggest fish in my boat have come between 1am and 4am I've seen this as well. I use my Tranx HG at night. I don't burn, but I don't just crawl the bait as much as I used to. You cover more water this way as well. I've gone around the 8 with fish almost as fast as I would during the day because I felt the fish wanted it fast. They have no trouble keeping up with it. | ||
| BNelson |
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Location: Contrarian Island | the way I look at it.. is how is night any different than during the day.. at times the slow bucktail during the day gets the bite, at times the only thing they will look at is fast... night to a musky doesn't matter... the trigger is the trigger, day or night. figure out what that is... I will try my tranx more at night this year I know that... if you have 2 or 3 guys in the boat, have one guy reeling one in much faster and see what happens... | ||
| Snopro168 |
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Posts: 14 | This may be a dumb question but will a white light such as wearing a headlamp spook fish that follow up to the boat? | ||
| IAJustin |
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Posts: 1969 | Yes a headlamp shining on a following fish at night is not a good idea. Headlamps off while fishing/figure 8 Edited by IAJustin 2/17/2017 11:55 AM | ||
| musky-skunk |
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Posts: 785 | Snopro168, everyone has their own experiences and I'm sure some guys have gotten away with it. I however feel strongly it will spook fish and only ever shine light in the water when netting fish. I even greatly dislike my boat lights on moonless nights. To be fair I've never tried shining a light on a following fish but have seen many times how relatively calm muskies when hooked or in the net will go ABSOLUTELY ballistic when a light is shined on them. | ||
| IAJustin |
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Posts: 1969 | I know this - they hate it when you flip it on boatside and shine in the water... done this several times after topwater miss. | ||
| Pat Hoolihan |
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Posts: 386 | I fish predominately after dark now during the summer, I would say 75% of the time at least. PM if you have specific questions. Some good suggestions on here already, and some not so good ones too. | ||
| BNelson |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Posted 2/17/2017 8:36 AM (#850121 - in reply to #850047) Subject: RE: Night fishing?ffline Posts: 760 Location: Mason City, Iowa BNelson I've held that belief on lure speed for a long time but never really experimented with it yet. That is an interesting thought. musky fishermen as a whole are very close minded... me at times included, but after thinking about it... why would a lure being casted be viewed any differently than a lure being trolled? guys catch fish at night going WAY faster trolling than we are reeling our bucktails... night or day. a musky can find whatever it wants when it wants it... at any speed. but now that I think of the nights it sucked maybe they wanted it faster? guess experimenting will tell me .... Edited by BNelson 2/17/2017 1:34 PM | ||
| Kirby Budrow |
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Posts: 2274 Location: Chisholm, MN | Ok, so I take a #9 bucktail (Black on Black) and pair it with a Tranx HG and fling it out there after the moon goes down (full darkness) and reel it in at a comfortable speed and get bit a bunch. That Tranx is probably pulling that bait in just as fast some would consider "burning" with a revo winch or similar. No problem getting bit consistently...even with that black "smaller" bait in complete darkness. Muskies are good predators! | ||
| Fish4muskie |
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Posts: 112 Location: Illinois | Very good info. Thanks. I'm going up to the Hayward area during the new moon phase at end of July. I'm staying on lost land and have fished it a few weeks at a time in the past. I will fish teal also. Don't know if I'll go down there after dark(don't want to spend an eternity traveling to and fro). I've actually had more success on LL also(42" biggest-not big by most Muskie nut standards). I'm on a mission this year to better that mark. I also have a small very very clear body of water that is about an hour away. I have seen some big fish there (I know of a couple 30# class fish that have been caught there)but no takers. I think the night time idea will be perfect for this lake. Very easy to fish. Mostly a shore line bite with a couple structure areas to check out. No issues(little chance at least) with logs,debris,etc. Just throw the trolling motor down and fish. I will have a fishing partner(my brother or uncle-depends on who will be up for it-literally). I have to buy some head lamps and am thinking about mounting a pole for another light source(also will double for a go-pro mount). | ||
| Nershi |
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Location: MN | Buy a headlamp that has a dim single bulb LED red light setting and use it to watch for your bait, following fish and to do proper 8's. A guy who introduced me to night fishing told me about this and said that fish can't see red light. I was very skeptical at first but after getting bit at my feet by fish boatside and even ones that went several go arounds in the eight I am a believer. I have yet to have a fish flare off that I think was due to the red light. I'm sure there are people who will disagree with this and I'd love to hear their reasoning but it has worked for me even on the most pressured waters. When there is a moon out this isn't really necessary but on new moon or cloudy nights it makes things much easier and much more enjoyable. I love night fishing but it's tough to find partners who like it or are willing to do it. I've always read that night fishing isn't productive early in the season when the water is still cold. Any truth to this? I've never tried it early. After reading these posts about slowing baits down not necessarily being important it made we wonder about this. | ||
| North of 8 |
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| Red light does interfere less with night vision than white, but if you can, fish without the head lamp being turned on. Your eyes adjust and your night vision improves. I get my rods ready with the lures I will be tossing and I really don't change much. When I was younger I used to cross country ski at night 4 or 5 nights a week. I would ski into the woods, away from lights, stretch, ski back and forth until my eyes adjusted and ski for an hour without any light. I carried a head lamp but rarely used. If you really work at avoiding light sources, you might be surprised how well you can see at night. | |||
| ffib |
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Posts: 79 | Bugs - june and july can be insane upthere. plan accordingly. Red Lights - I use a few red LED's and a dimmer switch for deck lighting turned way down. Red will attract the least amount of bugs and effect your night vision the least. crank your graph down as low as you can and still read it. keep your headlamp off unless you need it. keep your deck organized everything stowed except the rod your using, net, and release tools. I like big, loud topwaters fished slow. If the water temps are elevated, or if your on a "party lake", or your fishing pressured fish night fishing helps. LL and Teal are good action lakes during the day too. | ||
| Brad P |
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Posts: 833 | The best advice I've ever received for night fishing is to do at least two figures 8s after EVERY cast. Thinking back over the years I think 80-90% of my night time catches have been on the 2nd or 3rd full figure 8. | ||
| markymark |
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Posts: 37 | What kind of spots would you fish at night? Do you prefer shallows with vegetation or do you avoid vegetation? | ||
| whynot |
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Posts: 897 | I do at least two full 8's and finish with what I call the "Truax Trigger". Buddy of mine, Billy Truax, figured out a last ditch maneuver to trigger fish. After you do your 8's bring the lure on one more straightaway and pulse it a few times. I've caught 5 fish I didn't know were there the past two summers. Works in algae and after dark. Edited by whynot 2/20/2017 5:00 PM | ||
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