How many of you like night fishing?

[ChrisL2700]

We live right on the lake here and we exclusively fish walleyes at night when they move up into the shallow weed edges to feed. Usually a very enjoyable time for us - all the jet skis and powerboats are gone off the lake, on 4,000 acres of water there might be only us and one or two other boats on the lake. Wife and I have been doing it for 30+ years, we have our boat equipped with red LED deck lighting, sometimes if we end up 15 or 20 miles from our dock at midnight to 1:00 in the morning and get caught in fog, we'll spend the entire night on the lake and come in in the morning.

Very peaceful, many times we don't care if we catch any walleyes or not, if it's a clear night it's incredibly beautiful out there on the water at night.

Grew up fishing Lower Clam and Ghost, dam.. I miss that area. Haven't been up there since '90 or '91.
That whole area is beautiful. Sad to hear from friends, a lot has changed over the years. But, it happens. I'm sure there's still a few spots to hide from crazy vacationers.
Hope to get up your way next spring.
Being a 7 hour ride, it's a little rough, just taking a few days up there. Would have to be a full week, to be worth it for me again.

I started hitting Winnebago System, less than 3 hours away.
Still, pretty cool when your the only one out, in the middle of the night, and the lake is like glass.

I tend to fish early and late. Let the jet ski's and party boaters have the lake while sun's beating down.
Something special about sitting in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by water, and not a soul around. Even better when you find a nice little fishing hole, and you come in at sun up, with a cooler full of fish.

Thanks for reminding me about that area.

 

[sonny1]

Stealing fish is right up there with stealing cattle. If you get caught by fish and game they take your boat and car. The local officer is well known to go after people that mess with jugs and trout lines. It is not uncommon to be checking lines and have a fish and game officer pull up and verify name and address on equipment.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Stealing fish is right up there with stealing cattle. If you get caught by fish and game they take your boat and car. The local officer is well known to go after people that mess with jugs and trout lines. It is not uncommon to be checking lines and have a fish and game officer pull up and verify name and address on equipment.

Like I said I’ve been thinking of putting out a bunch of jugs in Fayette county and watch and take pictures. We’re aloud to have 100 hooks in the water total. That would be a lot of jugs in that little lake. It was that way when I lived on Lake Limestone. I fished there and wasn’t far from a bigger lake Richland Chambers. Caught many of 30+ lbs. blue cats on that lake. A few out of Limestone. It was my catch and eat lake. Bunch of channel cat and crappie.
That was when I was running a 20’ Triton bass boat with a 225 Merc.
I was on Limestone and had some jugs soaking by the dam and some half way up the lake drifting through power line pylons .
I checked my jugs by the dam then wot to the power lines. I checked the las jug and got in the seat to start the boat and I heard a bunch of shouting. I looked and it was a ranger and a warden in an aluminum boat.
They pulled along side and said they tried to stop me by the dam but I was gone and said if I would have took off again they where afraid they’d never see me again.
They checked my license and I’d. Checked one of my jugs and I forgot to put the date on them. Luckily I had all my other stuff together including my safety equipment. I got a verbal about the dates on the jugs and I’ve never forgot to date them again.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

If it is I’m not telling a soul around here. Everyone tells me there No catfish in there but I’m thinking there has to be they just need to be hunted down.
The next catfish lake is over an hour away. It would be nice to catch them 20 minutes away.

 

[Driftless]

Oh how I wanted to do that sometimes

It's not too hard, all as you have to do is practice. Dry firing helps with trigger management ;-) (don't know if the quote will work)

As of now, the only night fishing I do is for salmon in the great lakes, twice a night. Come back at about 9pm then go back out at 3am. As I go out solo in a small boat I shouldn't be out in, that's it. Next spring bigger boat should be done and ready, so will stay out longer/overnite and/or will bring others.

 

[sonny1]

Naw. I really like fishing at night. Small boat in the back waters of Lake Eufaula here in Oklahoma is like a dream come true. Just thinking about it makes my nuts roll over. Never owned a boat before and by the time am done refurbishing my little 14 foot Lonestar and getting her on the water at night is going to make my life worthwhile. Retired and plan on a lot of fishing considering I am only five miles from the lake. Done a lot of shore fishing at night but The idea of setting on the lake at night in calm waters with just me and the fish is my version of heaven. Dangers my foot. Would be in more dangers going to a social event considering local nuts that attack for no reason. I can't wait for the night of peaceful fishing.

 

[Driftless]

I agree w/the serenity of night fishing. I've done a lot of it out of a canoe on lakes.
I'm up north, so it's a cultural difference, but never considered 100 unattended hooks out 'fishing'. I have 2 relatives that run troutlines and have been w/them when they did it (NC). We drank beer by the fire, talked, eventually went to bed, then in the morning we pulled in the lines. There wasn't that many hooks on them tho.

Up north (I know, I know), we do that type of fishing, but we call it 'deadlining'. Slip sinker, bait, toss it out and wait for something to take it. We usually have a hook limit of 2-3. I don't know if that's total or per pole. We are allowed 2-3 poles.
100 hooks on troutlines seems more like industrial grade harvesting. The fish population support it?

 

[sonny1]

This year Fish and Game in Oklahoma requested people keep and take home all Bass catches. The waters are overpopulated. Flathead pretty much the same. Size restricting on flathead has been removed due to being overpopulated. Restrictions on large blue catfish but none on smaller blue cats. Basically have a explosion of the fish population. Even on a good day with 100 hooks in the water you might bring in 30 fish. Most will be bare hooks where the fish ate the bait.

 

[Driftless]

Wow, what's causing the overpopulation? Usually that's due to a large growth in bait fish. I've seen lax rules with walleye and no rules for white bass. Now there are limits on walleyes but still wide open for wb.
Deer are another problem. Got a bow tag and can shoot 1 buck and 3 does. They've been giving away doe tags for a long time, so their plan must not working.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Naw. I really like fishing at night. Small boat in the back waters of Lake Eufaula here in Oklahoma is like a dream come true. Just thinking about it makes my nuts roll over. Never owned a boat before and by the time am done refurbishing my little 14 foot Lonestar and getting her on the water at night is going to make my life worthwhile. Retired and plan on a lot of fishing considering I am only five miles from the lake. Done a lot of shore fishing at night but The idea of setting on the lake at night in calm waters with just me and the fish is my version of heaven. Dangers my foot. Would be in more dangers going to a social event considering local nuts that attack for no reason. I can't wait for the night of peaceful fishing.

It’s even better with the satisfaction of knowing that boat was done with your own two hands.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

I agree w/the serenity of night fishing. I've done a lot of it out of a canoe on lakes.
I'm up north, so it's a cultural difference, but never considered 100 unattended hooks out 'fishing'. I have 2 relatives that run troutlines and have been w/them when they did it (NC). We drank beer by the fire, talked, eventually went to bed, then in the morning we pulled in the lines. There wasn't that many hooks on them tho.

Up north (I know, I know), we do that type of fishing, but we call it 'deadlining'. Slip sinker, bait, toss it out and wait for something to take it. We usually have a hook limit of 2-3. I don't know if that's total or per pole. We are allowed 2-3 poles.
100 hooks on troutlines seems more like industrial grade harvesting. The fish population support it?

We have a lot of lakes that don’t allow troutlines or floating jug lines, limb lines etc. Gotta be careful where you put your stuff. That’s 100 hooks total. Lot of people set lines in different bodies of water. Everything has to be tagged with ALL your information on it including the date set. The hooks on your rods count too.
After I think three days it better have been updated. I think that’s to long.
I don’t see troutlines in the water like I used to when I was a kid. Most of them are run a few days and the owner takes them home with them.

 

[flatheadsteve]

We have a lot of lakes that don’t allow troutlines or floating jug lines, limb lines etc. Gotta be careful where you put your stuff. That’s 100 hooks total. Lot of people set lines in different bodies of water. Everything has to be tagged with ALL your information on it including the date set. The hooks on your rods count too.
After I think three days it better have been updated. I think that’s to long.
I don’t see troutlines in the water like I used to when I was a kid. Most of them are run a few days and the owner takes them home with them.

Never seen anyone running a trotline/jug line around here unless they were crabbing. Seems like more work than fishing to me but everybody has their own way of doing things. I like to anchor up and throw out a few rods and sit back and enjoy the peace and relax. Night fishing season is over here now water is down to low to mid sixties and it's been dipping into the low 50s at night. Took this Pic of my oldest son this morning after the sun came up but we didn't have much luck. Recent cold heavy rains have dropped the water temp almost 10 degrees since last week and flooded the river with debris.

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Never seen anyone running a trotline/jug line around here unless they were crabbing. Seems like more work than fishing to me but everybody has their own way of doing things. I like to anchor up and throw out a few rods and sit back and enjoy the peace and relax. Night fishing season is over here now water is down to low to mid sixties and it's been dipping into the low 50s at night. Took this Pic of my oldest son this morning after the sun came up but we didn't have much luck. Recent cold heavy rains have dropped the water temp almost 10 degrees since last week and flooded the river with debris.

Man that is one nice setup! I don’t run troutlines myself. Gave up jugs when I found drift fishing. I’d rather fight the fish and get it back in the water if I’m to release it. Don’t get me wrong it can be fun jug lining. I caught many a big blue cat on a line with a one pound weight and one gallon jug. They had no problem pulling the jug underneath the water and leave you waiting sometimes with binoculars for that jug to pop back up. It was like chasing Jaws. You had to sneak up on the line and slowly float the fish to the top to get a net under it. If they wanted to fight you’d better let go or loose a rig. And keep your hands on the jug never grab that line.

 

[flatheadsteve]

Man that is one nice setup! I don’t run troutlines myself. Gave up jugs when I found drift fishing. I’d rather fight the fish and get it back in the water if I’m to release it. Don’t get me wrong it can be fun jug lining. I caught many a big blue cat on a line with a one pound weight and one gallon jug. They had no problem pulling the jug underneath the water and leave you waiting sometimes with binoculars for that jug to pop back up. It was like chasing Jaws. You had to sneak up on the line and slowly float the fish to the top to get a net under it. If they wanted to fight you’d better let go or loose a rig. And keep your hands on the jug never grab that line.

I would imagine it takes a decent size jug to slow a 50lb blue.

 

[sonny1]

Try a 85 pound flathead. It really gets interesting trying to get the big ones in the boat. I love to jug fish. Most of the time when I went with my wife's brother we would fish and check the jugs about every two hours. The smaller cats and bass that we caught would go in my pond. Needless to say it is well stocked.

 

[thill]

A gallon jug has a lot of buoyancy. It will eventually come back to the top, even with big fish, just maybe not where it started

 

[sonny1]

I am making new jugs. Have 2 gallon containers from the Pepsi plant. Going to paint them red with bright blue paint. Will have area for required info that can be easily erased. Got the idea from a gentleman that lives south of here. Will be highly visible.

 

[Driftless]

Jug fishing reminds me of a few times I went into the water after a line/lure or a whole rod that a fish was trying to abscond with. Rainbows seem to be the biggest potential bandits

 

[kickingback]

..

 

[kickingback]

I have fished both day and night in my Jon boat and now in my kayak. Green LED submersible lights make a difference at night. Call the bait which in turns brings in the feeders. If it gets slow while fishing just like day time move to another spot close by or around structure on sonar. Only difference night to day is the amount of light YOU can handle your gear and boat in darker conditions than day. Headlamps are a must. Know the areas you will be fishing in dark so you don't waste time looking for a needle in a haystack in the dark. Crappie I fish are in the same areas based on weather and time of year. You will catch cats, large/small mouth bass, white bass, and bluegill in the same areas you find crappie. Get used to it. I use live minnows whenever I can find them or just jigs changing colors to draw bites. Good luck to all that try iit. I'm 63 and still love the night over day fishing. Day fishing I would be in my kayak offshore. No Jon in salt.
Please be safe and aware of your status any time you go out. Just have fun!