Fish the hot, muggy nights

There is a certain excitement about fishing after dark that isn't experienced with other angling methods. Gone is our sense of vision, of seeing a strike, and our ears become what helps guide our casts.

It tells us how far away the fish is, gives us a sense of its size based on the commotion it makes, and we know that accurate casting based on what our ears tell us is all the help our body can deliver.

Night fishing for bass and walleyes is a great way to spend time on the water.

Years ago there were a number of lakes I'd prowl with a small row boat. The oars were evenly matched, which is always good, because it helps us row quietly and lets us ghost up on feeding fish. The same can be done with an electric motor  but rowing provides some exercise.

My bass lures came in two basic varieties, and both were top-water models. I liked a black Jitterbug because it was easily silhouetted against the night sky. A frog-colored Hula Popper was the other.

The boat would glide along smoothly with less noise than a stalking cat, and I'd ship the oars onto rubber pads (to muffle that noise), and I liked the Jitterbug best. It could be cast near docks, swimming rafts, lily pads and it was a very productive lure.

The lure would hit the water on a tight line, and I'd let it sit for a minute before taking one or two slow turns of the reel handle. That would make the lure gurgle along on the surface for a foot or so, and then another pause. If a largemouth bass didn't hit after the second pause, I retrieved it just fast enough for it to chuckle all the way back to the boat.

However, strikes often came after the first or second pause, and I wouldn't strike at the splash but once the fish was felt, and then, as they say in the great state of Texas, I'd cross their eyes on the hook-set.

Fish key locations hard.

Probing into likely areas was always fun because night fishing for bass is a bit problematic. One fishes all the normal hotspots, and hopefully one or two fish will produce the desired results. At times, a fish can be heard actively feeding, and an angler could concentrate on that fish until repeated casting put it down or the bass struct the gurgling lure.

Walleyes have always figured highly in my night-fishing escapades. I preferred to cast for them rather than troll because even though trolling allows an angler to cover more water faster, casting allow us to cover the water more thoroughly. An important point, to my way of thinking.

My casting lure of choice for these game fish was a Heddon River Runt Spook in the black-and-white shore minnow pattern. It came in floaters and sinkers, and the floaters usually produced the best action for me.

Walleyes, on drowned river mouth lakes that are connected to the Great Lakes, fed on alewives after dark along a drop-off, point, gravel or sand bar, shallow bar with nearby deep water, or around and over old slab docks left behind after the timbering era ended. Hitting  walleyes is a matter of good timing; missing them means bad timing.

Blind casting with a lure off points and other key locations can produce although night-time feeding walleyes often herd alewives up close to shore, and slash through the bait fish like a school of piranha. One can prospect by motoring to key spots and casting. If you fish a lake often enough to know where walleyes beat up on the alewives, go there to wait.

Sit and wait for feeding fish to move your way.

Sitting silently and waiting in an anchored boat makes sense. A dark quiet night, and the hot muggy air will wrap you up like a hot dish rag, and anglers wonder why they sit there feeding mosquitoes.

Suddenly, out in front, small splashes are heard as alewives leap from the water as walleyes move up from below and start shredding and gobbling the hapless bait fish. The trick is to be able to cast accurately without seeing. Turn on a light, and the walleye school will vanish.

Pitch the lure tight to shore, and reel just fast enough to bring out the lure action. The floating model River Runt will dive on a steady retrieve, and if the lure is close to a fish, it will hit and start tugging for bottom.

I always used 8-pound line, and I never broke off on a big walleye, and landed many fish to 12 pounds. Keep the line tight, keep the fish coming, net it, grab another rod rigged up with the same lure, and cast again. I've landed as many as three big walleyes before the school breaks up or moves off.

Most of the big fish are released. If the school holds 18-inch fish, allow the first hooked fish to lay in the bottom while you get another lure in the water.

Night fishing for bass and walleyes can produce great action but it's important to work them hard and fast while a school hangs around because once it moves on, the chances of finding it again are slim.

For me, fishing at night means dealing with the unexpected. Sometimes the fishing is great, and often it is poor. Do it often enough, and fish enough nights, and the good-bad times seem to average out.

And that is one of the nice things about after-dark fishing. It is great fun, and at times, will produce fast action.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors