If you are not night fishing this weekend..............you are missing out.

[RumRiverRat]

Full Moon is Sunday.

I plan on fishing Friday and Saturday night.

Night fishing has very good for me this summer. Started with Bass opener and has continued all summer.

Key baits for me have been.

Black Buzzbait

Black Northstar Custom Baits Bladed Jig

Black and Blue single Colorado spinnerbait

Black and Blue 10" Power Worm

Black Northstar Custom Baits Southpaw Jig

Pick a lake that you are familiar with. I like to get on the water an hour or two before sunset.

Inside weedlines have been the key for finding fish. Before the sun goes down I catch fish on the outside weedline, once it gets dark and the moon climbs higher in the sky the fish surge towards the inside edge.

When they are making the move from outside to inside they tend to travel in the upper third of the water column.

Positioning the boat in shallow water and working the baits from deep to shallow and covering as much of the weed bed as possible with each cast is important.

The skeeters are only bad right at dusk and for about an hour after.

If you have not done much night fishing this is the weekend to do it. Mostly clear skies and bright moon are glorious to fish under.

[corncob]

I have a hard enuff time unloading and loading the boat during the daytime, just cant imagine what kinda mess I would get myself into after dark thirty....backlashes, hooks in fingers, trying to find baits,falling overboard trying to land the "Nighttime Mucho Grande"......I'd need to lash myself to trolling motor....Nah!, I don't think so.

[JBMasterAngler]

Last time I tried night fishing, we were absolutely assaulted by billions of little fuzzy moth type bugs! They didn't bite or anything, but their tiny little wings would tickle us to death!

[th64]

I can tell you the worst time to load your boat is at dusk-lots of people at the launch and skeeters are at their worst. I stay out 'till full dark-fishing is great and skeeters by the time you get to the launch are not as bad.

[RuddyDuck]

I hope to get out this weekend locally, but probably won't be going at night. I watched too many Jason and Michael movies as a kid and am scared of the dark now!

So do you use a light when fishing or just for retying and messing around in the boat? I suppose with a full moon you can see ok for casting while you fish.

Good luck out there.

[RK]

I might get out after dark this weekend but probably not until Sunday night. Night fishing is a blast, both in terms of being effective at times, and just because it's a neat experience.

I'd add crankbaits to R3's list. But I bet I've caught more after dark on jigs than anything else. I think they eat a lot of crayfish after dark...

To me the main thing at night is to just be prepared. Have everything in the boat put away before dark, and just keep the absolute essentials in arms reach - a small tackle box and as few rods as possible. Stow everything else. Something to trip on that would be a minor inconvenience in broad daylight can be a disaster after dark.

As others have said, the bugs are bad for the first hour or so is all. If it's available, I make it a point to fish mid-lake stuff right after dark if I can just to get away from shore a little. Otherwise a Thermacell works pretty well too.

[EBass]

Last Friday I was out from 7PM-3:30AM, um Catfishing though.

[RumRiverRat]

I wear an adjustable LED headlight.

Use it when I am landing a fish, unhooking fish, tieing. Most of the time I let the moonlight be my light.

After a couple hours in the dark your vision really adjusts and using a light messes it all up.

I try to use the light as little as possible.

Like RK said a shallow crank or a Wake Crank also works well.

[Pherris]

I used to fish night tournaments in Florida. We would go out at 9:00pm and weigh in was at 3:00am In the heat of the summer it was really the only way to enjoy fishing without melting. Like Rum said you want as little light as possible once your eyes get adjusted to the dark. One thing we did find helpful was putting a white sock over the anchor light to dim it but still remain very visible to other boats. It was a blast fishing and catching those Florida monsters in the dark. We used the typical black spinner/chatter bait but the most productive for us was always a purple or black 12" worm T rigged.

[RumRiverRat]

Do not tell anyone.....a 10 or 12 inch worm rigged on a weighted swimbait hook and fished with a slow steady retrieve, just ticking the tops of the weeds does not catch fish........not a single one.......

[Lals]

Sunday Major from 12:43AM to 2:43AM...

[RumRiverRat]

Juan Grande with a 20.25" Full Moon Toad.

Caught on a Northstar Custom Baits Bladed Jig.

[KickNBass]

I know that spot.

[Juan Grande]

I look like I was smoking a "J" right before setting the hook on this one.

[RumRiverRat]

I think you are hooked on night fishing JG.

A few more bigger fish would have been great.

But 50 plus fish put in the boat and having 15 or 20 come unbuttoned during their aerial acrobatics is nothing to complain about.

[TomHuynh]

I will be out tonite and tomorrow night also. I will fish for bass and troll for walleye. I love the full moon in later summer and fall. Good luck out there!

[RuddyDuck]

Great looking fish Juan. You do look a little funny. Have another twinkie and bag of cheetos!

[RumRiverRat]

2 nights, approximately 17 hours fished, 125 fish give or take a few put in the Boat, over 30 fish coming unbuttoned during jumps, raw and torn up thumbs/palms and the image of Juan's 20.25" fish jumping at the side of the boat illuminated by the moonlight, me yelling Big Feesh........incredibly satisfying.

Having a good friend in the boat Friday night to experience it was a bonus.

I had a plan, we executed the plan and virtually everything I told Juan would happen actually happened.

[RuddyDuck]

Sounds like you had a great time night fishing this weekend! Your arms must be sore from all those fish!

I did make it out this weekend, but not till 7:30am on Sunday. Had to catch up on my beauty sleep!

[RumRiverRat]

It was pretty awesome Ruddy.

That lake is going to be incredible this fall.

The shallow wood and dock bite has started already.

Can we skip the next 3 or 4 weeks and wake up in the middle of September?

[Superduty]

See ya out there...

[RumRiverRat]

I am sure you will......Beebe is a great lake.

[M1dwestF1sh]

You guys make it very hard to try and figure out what lake you're on... Just when I think I got it I think of a whole other list of lakes it could be...

[Basschaser]

I'm pretty confident I know what lake these guys are fishing. If you have read these posts long enough, you will see that they have spilled enough beans to figure it out.

[RumRiverRat]

Some days it is like an HSO gathering out there. At least a dozen guys from the forums fish this lake.