Creatures Of The Night

Night fishing can be challenging: It’s tough to tie knots and bait hooks in the dark. It requires additional gear. And being out on the water after sunset adds a new dimension to safety issues. So why try it in the first place? Because many species of fish put on the feed bag when the sun sinks below the horizon. Even better, the water is often calmer at night, and because fewer boats are out, there’s less competition from other anglers. If you’ve ever found yourself sitting on the couch after sundown wishing you were fishing, it’s time to give the night bite a shot.

Critical night-fishing gear

Obviously, the number-one challenge to night fishing is seeing in the dark. Bringing a flashlight alone doesn’t cut it because you’ll need to keep both hands free for everything from tying on a lure to swinging the landing net. Having a headlamp is imperative. Fortunately, there’s a slew of amazingly powerful rechargeable LED headlamps on the market today. Make sure you get one that has floodlight lighting as opposed to a focused beam. This gives you a wider swath of illumination in the boat and causes less glare when the illumination reflects off white fiberglass gelcoat. In addition to your headlamp, you’ll want a handheld flashlight or spotlight, this one with a focused beam for sighting objects, shorelines, or other boats at a distance and/or signaling.

Not only will you want light for yourself, but you’ll also want light for the fish, too. An underwater light will attract swarms of baitfish and aquatic critters, jump-starting the food chain. While regular white lights work, and blue or pink lights bring in some life, green submersible lights are the most effective of all for attracting fish.

Testing with multiple light colors hanging on either side of the boat on five different nights confirmed that, on average, the green-lighted side drew in about twice as much bait as any other color. Most of these lights run on 12 volts, but if your boat has a single starting battery, never use it to power the fishing lights – you don’t want to risk tapping it out while you fish.

Along with the lights, there’s some additional gear you’ll want to consider bringing for an added layer of safety:

• Extra clothing and a towel, especially if it’s likely to be chilly.
• A backup handheld GPS and VHF radio (always a good idea, but especially so since you’ll be navigating in the dark).
• A waterproof emergency light source for every crew member aboard, which can be clipped to their life jackets and used for signaling in case someone falls overboard. (That everyone is wearing a life jacket when on a boat after dark should be obvious.)
• An anchor and rode, even if you plan on fishing while adrift, so you can hold position if you lose power.

Preflight checks

When you’re going night fishing, the prep work should begin in broad daylight. You’ll want to test all your boat’s nav lights and make sure they’re working properly. Double-check your fuel supply, and make sure your boat’s batteries, as well as the batteries you may need for flashlights and additional gear, are all fully charged. Carrying backup batteries for items like headlamps or flashlights is always smart. It’s best to leave the dock in daylight and time your arrival at the hot spot for sunset to minimize cruising in the darkness.

5 tips to get fish biting after dark

While fishing at night isn’t all that different from fishing during broad daylight, there are a few tricks and tips that will help you hook into more fish.

1. Bring rods with maximum sensitivity. You won’t always be able to see the jiggle of a rod tip or the jerk of the fishing line when a fish hits, so you need to be able to feel it.

2. Use other fish-attracting lights to your advantage, whenever possible. Fish become acclimated to bridges with overhead streetlights and lighted docks or piers, returning to them night after night. Set up near one, and you can pull those fish over with your own lights.

3. Fish around light lines where the artificial illumination fades into darkness, not in the middle of the light. Large predators will often cruise just outside the lighted areas then charge into the light to attack baitfish. By placing your lure or bait on the edge of the light lines, you’ll have a better shot at fooling the big fish looking for a meal.

4. When fishing with lures, use dark colors. Purple and black are generally good choices at night, because they block what little light is available to create a visible silhouette from below.

5. Catch the baitfish your lights pull in and live-bait with them. If you’re offshore and squid appear next to the boat, use a squid jig to fill the livewell. If you’re in a bay and menhaden swarm the lights, toss a cast net to gather them up. It’s an opportunity to identically match the hatch, and the predators won’t be able to resist your offerings.

One final word of advice: If you hook up with a big fish, get all the other lines out of the water posthaste. Trying to keep the lines from crossing in broad daylight is tough; in the dark, an energetic fish can create an epic tangle. Forget about trying for doubles and triples. Besides, when the night bite is the right bite, once you land that beast, it shouldn’t take long to hook into another.