Night Lures

[Simp]

I've tried my hand at night bassing recently, but the fish don't seem to want to take anything...I know they're active, but nothing. Tried floating cranks, jitterbugs, in black of course. Tried jigs in dark colors, swimming and diving cranks, all sorts of things. Is there something I'm missing about fishing at night? Should I be doing something differently?
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[gdn443]

Wait for the warmer weather and go top water like buzzbait in black. Spinner should work as well in black. I'm asleep by 8, LOL
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[fsh4fun05]

I got a pond that I love to fish at night in the summer. A pole, a red light, and some bug spray and I'm ready to go. I can't recall the name of the worm I like to use but it's a straight worm with three hooks in it. On a full moon I'll reel it in fast enough to create a V-shaped ripple in the moonlight and BAM! Fish on!!!
I'll try to think of the name of the worm...
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[Simp]

I'm a night owl, really. But I enjoy getting up early when its worth it. I wish that warmer weather would hurry up. My god its freakin' April, almost May and it's still cold. crap.
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[lurtch]

anything that makes alot of noise..jitterbugs..hulapopers..buzzbaits..topwatter rapalas..dont be afraid to work the agresivly.the more noise the better..
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[Simp]

Yeah, that's what i figured. I work the jitterbug I guess like you'd work the hula popper or the rapala skitter pop. I jerk it real hard and let that little bill thing make a big splash. Haven't had any takers on it yet. But I have a hula popper or skitter pop or one of those like that. It's in firetiger i believe. It was in my girlfriend's dad's old tacklebox.
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[lurtch]

i new a guy a while backwho would tie some peices of rag together then tied it to a big hook..then at nite he would drift along the shorelines smack this rag lure on the watter let it sit 20 seconds then smack it on the watter again .continued this till he got a strike..i never went with him but did see some of the bass he cought tyey were big..
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[crappie_hustlr]

find anywhere that there is the most light shining on the water and iv caught them on rat-L-traps and black worms carolina rigged best. get you a clamp light with a tin dome over it and hook it up somehow to where its shining straight into the water about 3 feet above water and let it sit for a lil while and when it gets dark they will come to the light to feed on bugs and shad. it atracts all kind of fish. i have one on my peer and can catch stripers, bass, perch and just about anything thats there. but at night no matter what you use black will always be your best bet. or black and blue. but i have caught alot with white rat-L-traps or chrome around lights.

in my lake we have alot of ppl that have a green underwater light at the end of peers. it atracts fish great. you can literally see the fish swimming and throw a crank or trap or something past it and bring it by them and watch them take it. i have caught 14+ lb stripers and 6+ pound bass all at night around green lights using black culprit worms and traps. iv caught more and bigger fish at night rather than day time
www.thegreenmonsterfishinglight.com
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[Martini78]

You can certainly try Carolina rig. I fished some open night tourneys last year and had success on Carolina. Carolina rigs attract more attention to the bait, especially in areas with a silt bottom. Dragging your sinker stirs up lots of silt and that adds visual attraction. The glass beads make a little noise, too, but not a whole lot. I fished a 4" black grub on a 18" leader behind a 3/4 oz tungsten barrel weight and two glass beads. You don't want more than a 12 or 18 inch leader because the bait will be too far behind the noise and silt disturbance.

At night, you have to take extra steps to make the fish notice the lure. Use dark solid colors because they are easiest for the fish to see. Even with extremely low light, a dark silhouette makes the best target. If you're fishing an area with some lights, like a lake with a road next to it and street lights or possibly a good bright moon in a clear sky, try something that they will hit on the way down. A black or dark Senko works well. The fish will see the dark outline very well against the bright sky.

Other than that, you can try a spinnerbait with a Colorado blade in black. I think Strike King actually makes a midnight special or something like that. Its a black spinnerbait with a big, thumping Colorado blade to make a lot of commotion. If you're going to fish a spinnerbait, use a steady retreive and a trailer hook. Its hard enough for the fish to home in on a lure, let alone if you're jerking it or pausing.

And, as with anything... match the hatch (simply put, throw lures that mimic the fish's natural food source).

- In ponds, fish will hammer small/baby snakes that swim the surface at night. Get some dark colored 9"+ worms and rig them weightless. Cast them out and swim them back steady on the surface. I caught bass at night this way.

- In some lakes, alewives become active at night. They'll be nipping the surface at night in schools. Throw a wake bait or some other minnow-type imitation. I bagged a 4.1 pound smallie in a night tourney last year doing this in the middle of an alewife school.
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[bigpikeguy]

Simp brother! No wonder you aint getting nothing on the jitterbug! That is not the way you are supposed to work it. what you do is cast it out and let is sit for 10 to 20 seconds. Then you real it in maybe 10' give or take and let it sit for 5 to 10 seconds then start to real again. Be careful though 90% of the time the fish will grab your lure right as you start to real in again. And i always get fish before i even real it in. I will cast it out and it will be sitting there for 5 or 6 seconds and BAM! I did not even need to do anything. when you real this lure in it should wobble back and forth and it will make a bubbling sound. When you here that you will know u are doing it right.

BTW i never really have luck with this lure in the spring, but u live in AL so ya never know. I always do good in the summer with a black jointed jitterbug.

The jitterbug is not a popper, so don't work it that way.i think you will have much better luck with what i just told you. Let me know how u make out.
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[fsh4fun05]

The worm I was talking about is a Berkley 6" Rigworm. I have tried poppers and such and they work on well on some areas but I always score on the worm. The only problem with it is that it will hook anything it touches. That is why I reel it in fast enough, weightless, to create the V on top of the water. In open water I'll pause and let it sink for a couple seconds.
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[Simp]

Yeah. I figured though, the bass would hear it makin a racket, and might strike it. I'm pretty much just trying anything I can to get a bass to strike. I guarantee they're all floating behind me saying to one another "What an idiot. I don't know how he got bob the other day." Then bob chimes in "Well crap guys I hadn't eaten in a while, so I had to get something, I didn't realize it was a trick until it was too late!" Then the rest of the guys would go about criticizing bob for his stupidity and then not inviting him to the grub bbq planned for next weekend.

...Ha ha ha....
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