Editor’s Note: This column first appeared in The Greater Ashland Beacon on July 27, 2011.
By Chris Erwin
When the blistering heat of summer’s dog days arrives, it’s time to think about moving your fishing game to the cool of night.
Night fishing is tons of fun, and no matter what your favorite fishing is – bass, crappie, catfish or whatever – there is a nighttime strategy that can make it a lot more productive.
Bass: It has long been established that bass become a lot more active at night once the daylight hours become so hot that the fish seem to disappear. There are a few things that you can add to your fishing gear that will drastically improve your chances at night.
While you can continue to fish with any lure you use in the daytime, it has been my experience that night is a good time to improve your worm fishing skills using a technique that is a lot of fun.
Spool your reel with fluorescent line and add a black light to your boat. One of the most well-known black lights is called a Tournament Night Stalker™ this is a LED, cordless, rechargeable black light. Plug this puppy in with the fluorescent line on your reel and it will light up like a Christmas tree. You can see the slightest hit and casting the banks can be done with surprising ease.
With a Texas rigged worm or any other creature-type plastic bait, start fishing channel points and banks. Cast your lure as close to the bank as possible and let it sink to the bottom, watching your line as it drops. Many times the strike will come as the bait is falling, so keeping slack out of the line is a good idea. Once the bait hits the bottom, lift your rod slowly and drag the bait to you with the rod not the reel. When the rod gets to about 11 O’clock, lower the rod and take up the slack. Always watch your line; many times the fish will just swim off with it. When you get a strike, drop your rod toward the water take up the slack and at the next sign of a strike set the hook.
Crappie: While bass fishing is usually done with artificial bait it’s more common for crappie fishermen to use live bait. Minnows are the bait of choice. While lights are still used, the setup is much different.
First, tie the boat to the bank at a channel point. Then back it out into the channel and drop an anchor to hold the boat straight so you can fish from one side or the other. Mantle lanterns or crappie lights are the best choices here. Crappie lights look like a car headlight encased in Styrofoam with leads that hook to a car battery. These lights float on the water and shine straight down into the depths, drawing shad and minnows to the light.
Set up your rod with a hook on the end of the line and split shot clamped 12 to 14 inches above it. Then just drop your baited line down through the lighted area and wait for a crappie to take your bait. Trying different depths will help you find how deep you need to be fishing.
Till Next Time,
Good Fishing!
Chris Erwin is the founder and publisher of Kentucky Angling News, an outdoor magazine available at www.kentuckyangling.com/magazine. To reach Chris e-mail him at trimmer308@windstream.net.
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