If you only read one article on lure fishing at night....

http://www.worldseafishing.com/lure-fis ... s-angling/


This one is pretty good.
As ever with any article, you must take what you will from it. You wont agree with everything and so on but this one is about the best one I have read so far.

As ever dont go fishing at night on your own..!

Really good piece opens up alot of better fishing

Eoghan, great article. I have read some of Keith Whites articles before. He has some pile of information here http://www.130commando.com/missioncontr ... e-fishing/ It was Jim that put me onto him, so thanks Jim!
I cant wait to try some of his techniques out this year. Very interesting stuff.

Thanks for posting Eoghan.

http://www.130commando.com/missioncontrol/virtuoso/

I patricularly enjoyed this post from yesterday....!

There are some vids from his presentation at the B.A.S.S. conference on there - well worth a look.

http://www.130commando.com/missioncontrol/virtuoso/
I patricularly enjoyed this post from yesterday....!
There are some vids from his presentation at the B.A.S.S. conference on there - well worth a look.

yeah I have been watching them as they come out, really good stuff. Armed to the teeth with more knowledge....let me at em..!!

I tend to find myself nodding in agreement with a lot of things Keith White says, somethings I don't necessarily agree with but that's simply because his experiences are relevant to the environmental conditions and locations where he fishes and all things are not applicable across the board. This doesn't mean I have a problem with Keith White. I think he is one of the few people who work hard at his fishing understands it well and thinks a lot about it. Lots of people don't like him.

As a person who works in bass fishing in Ireland often for 100 days of the year the 'distillation' of experiences and factors (not all) that influence success are bound to be similar over time to other peoples who work in similar situations. This is like confirmation of actions good and bad. Any success I enjoy as a business is based around a few important factors (safety, presence of fish, valid experiences, learning opportunities etc) but the core importance is an ability to understand the circumstances and the nature of the fish - to create / facilitate the best situation to catch bass under the given circumstances for a customer. Or NOT......

Remember this applies to the customer and no matter how good I might imagine myself to be I have to make it work for him or her NOT me. That's why you don't see me on Probassfisher. This is my job. Not a writer, not a journalist, not a photographer a fishing guide! I've worked hard at this job to try and make myself better I believe Keith White has too that;s why I feel similarly about the fishing in many ways.

In reference to Steves post above

What I have found, and I'm sure any rational person has too, is the volume of bullshit that happens on forums and websites in relation to 'expertise', this expertise however shouldn't be confused with an inexplicable race or urgency to tell all and sundry about the latest soft plastic or reel or rod or lure, because what I have witnessed is a complete over dependence, within a large section of bass anglers, on gear as a bass fishing solution in relation to both numbers and size, without really understanding the fish.

Weirdly this 'expertise' is often conversely mixed with expressions that pretend to be self deprecating, I don't know enough, or there are far more people who know better or I know better bass fishermen....just more confusion blended with vague information. Its very transparent after a while.

I think what does tend to really bother me is when these 'expert' people (there are many) speak of Ireland and its bass fishing, from a distance or having had a minimal experience, in a way that is completely contrary to the actuality of whats happening on the ground. There's nothing wrong with being passionate but there's a lot wrong with an exaggerated or contrary reality. Couple this to a dependency on gear as a solution to fishing and it can lead to a lot of head scratching for many people. This is regularly followed by disappointment.

There's a really important point here too that I experience regularly - it seems to generate conflict. If you are concerned about a decreasing bass population, for whatever reason that might be, the expression that all is not well is often strongly met with a contrary message of 'you are a doomsayer' or 'they cant all have disappeared' or 'I have had fantastic bass fishing' implying that you are doing something wrong.

This message does nothing to consider or appreciate that there may in fact be something wrong or that we might need to understand something as concerned anglers. We are entitled to express concern for many reasons the truth being one of them.

Read Keith White and take what you will its good stuff, most of all if fishing at night take twice as much care - apologies for the rant.

I'm sure I'm not the only one on here that enjoys your 'rants' Jim. No need to apologize!

To be fair Jim...You raise the bar in your standard of rant

On topic....

I must say I struggle to get my head around lure fishing in the dark... Jigging I can just about get over in the dark, and in this case it tends to be early morning into the dawn or late in the evening fishing beyond dusk....

One of the things I like about lure fishing (casting) is the visual aspect:
"I think I'll put the lure right behind that rock...past that eddy...."
"Was that a boil over there?..."
"Look at the lovely action of the Lure/Rod/reel (Interchangeable at various times )....shur I'd eat that myself "
"Oooooh that was a lovely cast..."
"That clarity is just perfect or is not so perfect so I will move location...."

That is even before you bring the occasional use of surface lures into the mix.

I think when I remove the sensory thrills that good visibility brings from the mix I just don't get the same buzz.
Of course if we have another tough year then I may just change my tune again

All I can say is that some of the best sessions with lures myself and others had last year was at night, get out there and try it, cast your lure and don't do anything , wait, then retrieve SLOWLY!!... pause and repeat, the take can be very subtle but the adrenaline buzz is most definitely the same as daylight fishing, and don't forget to be safe. A lot of what the White brothers are saying is true and a lot of what Jim is saying is true as well but the best way to find out is to try it yourself.

[Eoghan]

Its hard to beat. When its dark like that all of your senses are heightened. Its twice the rush when the lure is savagely smashed and all hell breaks loose..! Plus the average size of fish is much bigger, vastly bigger in fact.

I remember the first few times thinking -"This is crap, im wasting my time, sure I bet I have the wrong colour lure on.."
Then i had retrived the lure back onto the rock I was standing on and I was moving it back and forward to see what it looked like in the water and if could I see it when it was smashed at the surface at my feet. Scared the sheet out of me..!

Last edited by Eoghan on Mon Feb 10, 2014 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

I agree its even more electric lure fishing in darkness you really need to be alert to safety though even more so if your wading. Thing that really gets me going is hearing the splashes as the fish hit whatevers out there

Is the take always gentle at night, i found a few times that i get a very light bump and think what was that .Then only when you start to retrieve you get the head shake.To be honest day or night i dont mind once im getting a few but a friend of mine fished all last year from early morning into daylight .He had over 200 lure caught bass where i fished mostly evening into darkness and came nowhere near his numbers.He thinks himself the times he fished where a big factor.

Had great sport last year fly fishing after dark. Sa me thing large flies black deceivers especially 4 - 6 inches long. The thing Id go along with most is the cover drk gives you for fishing in close to foist feeling safer to come in close in the dark.

Night lure fishing.
Some buzz. Very heightened senses.
Don't know about ye but when I'm slowly retrieving watching everything and a fish splashes I shite myself. And take a few steps back.



Kind regards

Is the take always gentle at night, i found a few times that i get a very light bump and think what was that .Then only when you start to retrieve you get the head shake.To be honest day or night i dont mind once im getting a few but a friend of mine fished all last year from early morning into daylight .He had over 200 lure caught Bass where i fished mostly evening into darkness and came nowhere near his numbers.He thinks himself the times he fished where a big factor.

I am a big fan of the first hour of light, before sunrise and have caught way more bass at this time v's evening time.
I usually start fishing when I can barely see in front of me onwards. (Mike Ladle swears by this)

Night time is a relatively new thing for me - as in the past few years. Still learning but results so far have been amazing.

For years I was convinced that you couldnt catch a Bass past say 11am or so.
I learned that it wasnt the fish, it was me. I needed to alter tactics, lures etc to continue to catch after this time.
If the fish are present at a certain time at a certain mark at 6am, there is a good chance they will also be there if it was 2pm.
The tactics though could be completely different.

Like everything in fishing, its mark specific.

I struggled to catch a bass at night - that was until two years ago.

Now I've had them on surface lures, sub surface lures, soft plastics, fly etc.

I prefer moonlit nights, but what I would say is don't bother with the first hour of dark or certainly if you don't catch in this period don't be put off. It's what some refer to as the 'magical hour'. It never produces for me but two or three hours after sunset when the bass has it's night vision fully adjusted. Then that's the time to try for them.