I've spent the past few months resting my bad back which I injured in the garden, and now it's time for some quality night fishing and also some tips for those of you out there who share the same enthusiasm as I do for this activity. Today, I shall talk about crappie fishing tips, which is something really perfect for night fishing enthusiasts. It is much easier to get your hooks on them when the sun has set and everything is pitch dark as they come out in droves during that time, thinking that humans are all asleep and not able to pick them off. How wrong they are since there are people like me who refuse to go to bed like everyone else does and instead heads out to the waters not knowing whether I will be able to bring home any catch and just sitting alone in darkness as time whiles away.
Some say that night fishing is not just great for crappie fishing but also offers an opportunity for a person to get rid of any stress that might have accumulated during the day. Partly due to the eerie quiet of the night and the serenity of holding the rod can sometimes help to calm nerves as well as set one thinking deep thoughts. They fail to remember that sometimes it also involves bottom fishing at night which is a lot more work and not really allows you to rest sitting in the boat. Whatever it is, at the end of the day, it has to be fun and that is what crappie fishing at night is.
With the basic setup and tips in mind for night fishing, some reminders are still in order. Things like ensuring a backup set or rig is available is paramount to your safety and success, while make sure you do bring some extra lights and batteries, which is also quite essential for being able to get a decent enough catch of crappie fish. You wouldn't want to be stuck alone till dawn with them too due to having your lights run out.
Much of the trick of successful crappie night fishing lies in the control and manipulation of the light sources. Use too much of it and the fish could be frightened away, too little and you won't even know your left hand from the right. If you are using a Caroline Rig to drag across the bottom and making noise to attract the fish, then it does not matter so much. But if one prefers the technique of using light to draw attention of insects that are attracted to such heat sources, then it has to be done well to achieve a fine balance that keeps both the bugs and fish coming to you. The fish are actually interested in the bugs or other prey that are drawn to the light, which is a well known tip amongst most anglers.
Much of the skill lies in the light control. You will need to try to project your lights over and across the water rather than into it. This might not be enough to stir the attention of larger catch or the crappie fish targeted, but the smaller fish or other edibles might think that food is available or be tricked into daylight approaching. Their movements and actions will attract the crappie fish and that eventually makes them come out to feed. That is when your highest harvest and joy of night fishing will be realized as you draw in all the action and catch.
At the end of the day (or beginning, depending on when you sleep), night time crappie fishing with lights is not as difficult as it sounds. The right combination of night fishing lights, techniques, what lure to use, the right tackle are just about everything you need to know about the activity. You can even generally use the same methods in figuring out how to bass fish at night. It can be the perfect way to start fishing for beginners and sometimes, too many tips will hinder instead of allowing progress. So the best thing to do is simply to just go out there and get yourself a big catch.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Night Fishing Tips That Lures More Fish
In my previous post about night fishing tips for beginners and retirees (because I'm one), I wrote about some of the pre-trip precautions that one should take in order to maximize the returns from a night out trying to wake up the fish and get them to bite. Those are quite important as they deal with some safety issues which everyone should pay attention to, because if you aren't alive and bobbin', you ain't gonna fish no more. I might include a few more here but there should be more than enough to ensure your trip out under the cover of night is a thoroughly enjoyable one. The rest of it will focus on what you can do to improve the size of your catch, since having more fish reeled in will make the trip not only a fun one, but worthwhile.
What fishing methods can you rely on that work and help net lots of fish? Whether it be bass fish or otherwise, most species will rely on a sense of smell when seeking out food at night. We should therefore try to take advantage of this habit or feature to get what we want. One quick thought that comes to mind would be to use a chum line. Another would be to depend on fishing a live bait. This can be done beyond the chum slick, and many others also do it on the bottom to get similar results. These all work well be it bass or other types of fish. The key is that you can do it without any daylight.
Your harvests from night fishing can also be improved by the fact and another tip from me that there are many fish species that do hunt for food at night. And if you are able to attract some, my bet is that you will be able to get the rest of them coming to your bait easily. If you can create or find a fish frenzy, be prepared for a whale of a time getting all the fish you want. With a good chum slick, some of my results have been even better. I get a lot of fish coming to feed together, and they just catch onto the lure with little effort from my part, since they come in huge schools or droves and just do not appear to be as crafty as they are usually in the daytime.
Another couple of minor tips that might make some difference is to look out for full moon nights. I'm not exactly sure how it works but supposedly they make the fish rely solely on the senses for bait or food but they are also quite sensitive, which means that I normally ensure the line and lure are both lowered gently to ensure little disturbance in the water. This is a skill that must be perfected if one intends to do crappie fishing at night. If done with little care, the fish will all be irritated and start moving away from the source of that. I certainly do not want that to happen since my main purpose is to get all of them in before dawn breaks and I return home to bed!
What fishing methods can you rely on that work and help net lots of fish? Whether it be bass fish or otherwise, most species will rely on a sense of smell when seeking out food at night. We should therefore try to take advantage of this habit or feature to get what we want. One quick thought that comes to mind would be to use a chum line. Another would be to depend on fishing a live bait. This can be done beyond the chum slick, and many others also do it on the bottom to get similar results. These all work well be it bass or other types of fish. The key is that you can do it without any daylight.
Your harvests from night fishing can also be improved by the fact and another tip from me that there are many fish species that do hunt for food at night. And if you are able to attract some, my bet is that you will be able to get the rest of them coming to your bait easily. If you can create or find a fish frenzy, be prepared for a whale of a time getting all the fish you want. With a good chum slick, some of my results have been even better. I get a lot of fish coming to feed together, and they just catch onto the lure with little effort from my part, since they come in huge schools or droves and just do not appear to be as crafty as they are usually in the daytime.
Another couple of minor tips that might make some difference is to look out for full moon nights. I'm not exactly sure how it works but supposedly they make the fish rely solely on the senses for bait or food but they are also quite sensitive, which means that I normally ensure the line and lure are both lowered gently to ensure little disturbance in the water. This is a skill that must be perfected if one intends to do crappie fishing at night. If done with little care, the fish will all be irritated and start moving away from the source of that. I certainly do not want that to happen since my main purpose is to get all of them in before dawn breaks and I return home to bed!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Night Fishing Tips For Beginners And Retirees
Night fishing is done at night as the term suggests and I am writing this just to share my experiences and tips that I know as a retiree who is just spending his sundown years obsessing about his angling hobby since I hardly had time for it in my younger years busy making ends meet. If there are those who know much about the subject and are aware of other useful tips, feel free to share as well but for beginners the main thing to know is that night fishing is not really done only when no sunlight exists. In fact, you can technically be called to be fishing at night when the sun is setting, since the rays of light are just about to disappear and the conditions are being put in place for the situation to occur. Many would be surprised that such an activity exists because they will not be able to imagine how one can do this when it is almost impossible to see, and if one has to use lights to do so, then would it not sound to be defeating the purpose if this hobby is in place simply because to surprise the fish and get them without alerting them to a possible danger of a human catching up? However, I love fishing at night because not only is it an easy piece of cake but the fun factor is high.
But there are circumstances which promote and encourage the hobby of fishing at night and actually provide a more conducive environment for one to be able to enjoy a larger haul and more catches. It is definitely harder in a sense that if your eyesight is poor, trying to navigate through the waters, marshes, rivers or what have you might be quite difficult and risky, therefore it would be important for a night fisher enthusiast to make sure safety precautions are in place. But the rewards are great because fish would usually come up to the water surface since there is less heat after sunset, which allows them to come up to the surface to get oxygen or better air, instead of the opposite in the daytime when the heat drives them to go deeper underwater to get what they want. Now those are a few tips which I learned early in the game but perhaps there are a few beginners who are not aware of yet.
I think an obvious factor to look out for and determine is the weather on the night you will be going out fishing. This should be a no brainer in my opinion because you would not want to get trapped in really bad weather such as a torrential downpour and high tides when trying to catch fish in a deserted place. The lack of light during the occasion would also make any situation much more dangerous, so wait out for clear skies (if you can say that when you cannot see what's in the sky especially for a person like me with aging eyesight!) and if the reports confirm that there will be no rain or fast winds, all the better.
The ideal type of fish to net during night fishing is the kind that hibernate on sunset, or are slow moving in general. Bass fish comes to mind in that respect as they basically stay around in the same areas for long periods of time. It is why bass fishing can be done day or night and is extremely popular. It makes an angler's job so much easier and relaxing, as well as providing the prospect of easy and bountiful catches. A tip if you intend to hunt for them once the canvas of darkness befalls the water - stake out bass where you might find lots and lots of crawfish. They are attracted by that and if a location of that sort is available for you, then be prepared to lug home lots of bass. Tips for crappie fishing at night can also be shared across the methods used for other types of fish and vice versa.
Oh and if you are in such a situation and have lots of luck in snaring a huge catch, then make sure you have a boat and engine that is in proper working condition. Obviously you need to check this in advance before you set off on the night fishing trip. Trust me, you do not want to suffer a breakdown of equipment in the middle of nowhere and in darkness. Waiting till day breaks with a huge but rotting harvest is a sore experience as I found out to my cost once early on!
The type of tackle to be used for fishing at night would be those which are heavier. This will allow you to get a good feel if the fish bite since you will need to rely on that with limited visibility. Heavier tackles and lures include pork rinds, rubber and hair jigs and they are cheap and easily available which makes the whole process a real breeze. To deal with the lack of light, which would be very important since it can be quite a challenge trying to hook your lures when you can't even see your hands, make sure your boat is carrying around a few light sources such as torch lights (or flash lights as some of you refer them as), I carry a couple of spares with me whenever I set off on my fishing trip, just to be sure. Extra batteries should also be available since it isn't very helpful when you have a torch without power. Keep them dry otherwise they'll become pretty useless.
I'll talk more about other tips that might come in handy for everyone who's into night fishing in my next post. Not sure when that will be because it'll hopefully come if I return safely from my next jaunt out to the seas when nobody's around and I can't see a thing! But if you're into bass fishing, just remember the few tips that I shared above that should help you catch a few more the next time you do it at night or otherwise.
But there are circumstances which promote and encourage the hobby of fishing at night and actually provide a more conducive environment for one to be able to enjoy a larger haul and more catches. It is definitely harder in a sense that if your eyesight is poor, trying to navigate through the waters, marshes, rivers or what have you might be quite difficult and risky, therefore it would be important for a night fisher enthusiast to make sure safety precautions are in place. But the rewards are great because fish would usually come up to the water surface since there is less heat after sunset, which allows them to come up to the surface to get oxygen or better air, instead of the opposite in the daytime when the heat drives them to go deeper underwater to get what they want. Now those are a few tips which I learned early in the game but perhaps there are a few beginners who are not aware of yet.
I think an obvious factor to look out for and determine is the weather on the night you will be going out fishing. This should be a no brainer in my opinion because you would not want to get trapped in really bad weather such as a torrential downpour and high tides when trying to catch fish in a deserted place. The lack of light during the occasion would also make any situation much more dangerous, so wait out for clear skies (if you can say that when you cannot see what's in the sky especially for a person like me with aging eyesight!) and if the reports confirm that there will be no rain or fast winds, all the better.
The ideal type of fish to net during night fishing is the kind that hibernate on sunset, or are slow moving in general. Bass fish comes to mind in that respect as they basically stay around in the same areas for long periods of time. It is why bass fishing can be done day or night and is extremely popular. It makes an angler's job so much easier and relaxing, as well as providing the prospect of easy and bountiful catches. A tip if you intend to hunt for them once the canvas of darkness befalls the water - stake out bass where you might find lots and lots of crawfish. They are attracted by that and if a location of that sort is available for you, then be prepared to lug home lots of bass. Tips for crappie fishing at night can also be shared across the methods used for other types of fish and vice versa.
Oh and if you are in such a situation and have lots of luck in snaring a huge catch, then make sure you have a boat and engine that is in proper working condition. Obviously you need to check this in advance before you set off on the night fishing trip. Trust me, you do not want to suffer a breakdown of equipment in the middle of nowhere and in darkness. Waiting till day breaks with a huge but rotting harvest is a sore experience as I found out to my cost once early on!
The type of tackle to be used for fishing at night would be those which are heavier. This will allow you to get a good feel if the fish bite since you will need to rely on that with limited visibility. Heavier tackles and lures include pork rinds, rubber and hair jigs and they are cheap and easily available which makes the whole process a real breeze. To deal with the lack of light, which would be very important since it can be quite a challenge trying to hook your lures when you can't even see your hands, make sure your boat is carrying around a few light sources such as torch lights (or flash lights as some of you refer them as), I carry a couple of spares with me whenever I set off on my fishing trip, just to be sure. Extra batteries should also be available since it isn't very helpful when you have a torch without power. Keep them dry otherwise they'll become pretty useless.
I'll talk more about other tips that might come in handy for everyone who's into night fishing in my next post. Not sure when that will be because it'll hopefully come if I return safely from my next jaunt out to the seas when nobody's around and I can't see a thing! But if you're into bass fishing, just remember the few tips that I shared above that should help you catch a few more the next time you do it at night or otherwise.
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