I commonly fish in the evening until it is actually dark out and then end up tidying camp under a hail of mosquitos. Only problem is, other than a few good fish right at dark, I'm usually shooting blanks for the next hour.

Any advice out there for a want-to-be night stalker?

MT  

well youve said it about as well as it can be said. the dusk period (and dawn) are the two best times of day for walleye. i can only assume that is what you are fishing for based on your question. pike and bass are visual predators with very little low light sensitivity. thats why you dont really catch them at night. walleyes have great night/low light vision but here is the kicker! walleye baitfish are active during the day periods and then go into hiding when dusk falls. the overlap is the 'nite bite.' after dusk, the baitfish are hiding and walleyes are out prowling. generally the way to go after fish at night is to do exactly what is the most troublesome part of fishing. fish the weeds, timber, and snaggy rock areas. THE SNAGGY STUFF! the baitfish hide here, but getting frequent snags in the dark is really annoying. fish light stuff, you have to fish based on your sense of feel. fish small stuff, fish weedless stuff. i tend to stay away from the weedless jigs with bristles on them because they really seem to reduce the hook ratio. i prefer soft plastics with the hook point lightly burried to avoid snags.

with that said, you are better off just fishing during dusk and when the bite subsides, call it quits. the bugs get worse, the fishing becomes very finicky and often times its much more frustrating than enjoyable.

GOOD LUCK!

Hey Jax
I have thought about your post and you make some good points. Now that you mention it the baitfish are indeed vulnerable at night and probably can't see at all. Just look at those tiny eyes. I bet they do hunker down in the weeds and such.

Not with you on the bass not eating at night though. In my teens and early twenties when other normal kids were out at the movies and such my pals and I were sneaking into private farm ponds, golf courses and gravel pits and tearing the bass up in the middle of the night. I have since reformed of course   8-) .

I like night fishing and will probably still keep trying. I'm probably quitting to early. Maybe things don't get rolling until later. Just curious as to QJ members take.

Use a good headlamp... 8-)

Ditto on the good headlamp.  To avoid the tough snags after dark, try a glowing slip bobber tipped with a leech.  Rare snags and very entertaining watching a glowing bobber hovering a foot under the water.  Of course you need to be where you can have live bait.

I was heartbroken when the Quetico put the ban on live bait. I love fishing live bait. I like catching it and I like fishing it. Seems like it would be a blast, as Kleiser says, to flop a leech under a lighted bobber. Although I've never had the pleasure it seems like it would be a hoot. Alas, not to be able to sit in camp and watch the fire AND your bobber :'(

A tip for for anyone who paddles at night (or stashes there food instead of hangs it and tries to find it in the early morning darkness) is to hang a "runners reflector" from a limb. These are attached via velcro and glow with only the slightest light upon them.

mastertangler wrote on Aug 18^th, 2010 at 11:12am:

A tip for for anyone who paddles at night (or stashes there food instead of hangs it and tries to find it in the early morning darkness) is to hang a "runners reflector" from a limb. These are attached via velcro and glow with only the slightest light upon them.

I use a large scallop-sized solar, solar powered lawn light (light portion only) for this purpose.  To diffuse the light, I put it inside an translucent plastic tube (like Tang and Crystal Lite drink mixes used to come in--I typically use them for round cracker storage anyway) and sit it on a clear spot on the shore line (or bungee it to a tree limb).  Even this small amount of light is clearly visible from a VERY long distance away if it is dark out).  Then you don't have to rely on having ANY light at all to reflect off the strips.  Just make sure that you turn solar-panel-side-up during the day to get the battery recharged.

[At the risk of hijacking your thread] I also like solotripper's idea for food packs:  use a personal alarm if you are stashing your food pack (in camp or on a longer portage trail).  A google search produces several choices that produce a 120-130db alarm ... I may even go with one that has a flashing light source as an additional deterrent ... would also make the pack easier to find in the dark if its disturbed.  BTW:  For those planning a trip to WCPP ... don't count on finding trees suitable for hanging food packs.

As for hanging reflective strips from my stashed food pack ... if it makes it easier for ME to find it in the dark, doesn't it serve the same purpose for a curious bear?

dd

Quote:

As for hanging reflective strips from my stashed food pack ... if it makes it easier for ME to find it in the dark, doesn't it serve the same purpose for a curious bear?

I was thinking the same thing? I suppose if the strips only illuminated when a flashlight was on them, then I don't think it would attract a curios bears attention :-/

Some reflective materials, like those neon type plastic baits your charge with a flashlight, give a glow for hours. I'm pretty sure that's not what you want on a food pack. Black bears are smarter than dogs and as curious as a cat.

The flashing light would be okay on the "bear alarm", but unless a bear is deaf or senile, I can't see how it could tolerate the noise, never mind a flashing light.  You find a bear that can, it must be a throwback to the 60's 8-)

I thought this was about night fishing...