Night Fishing Tonka

[Griggs]

Got it, thanks

[Griggs]

Ok well I went a few places and nobody carried the DCG but I got a Beast Teaser which seems like the same thing. Its 9 inches long, triple skirts, double 9 blades, 1 7/8 oz, Tandem hooks

I'll give this a try trolling when I do make it out for some night fishing...

[Griggs]

Well I made it out for my first night of fishing for muskies. I wasn't able to make it out before dark so I was kind of guessing on some spots that looked good on a map. I launched from Spring Park Bay and found a LOT of shallow milfoil beds near the islands by there. I worked my new DCG on the outsides of those weeds without any luck. We tried a mid lake hump and my friend caught a 3 lbs bass on a bucktail which was a nice bonus. We trolled a bit with DCG and didn't get anything.

I feel like we didn't cover a whole lot of water so I need to refine my tactics and spots. It was nice to be the only boat out there and my headlamp worked great. I have one of those outrageously bright spot lights and that helped looking at what type of weeds there were, but it was a bit of a pain not being able to identify the better parts of an area right away. I definitely need to have my bait in quality spots for a longer period of time.

0-1 night fishing tonka

[cjac]

Griggs,

If you have a GPS, make a dayside trip and scout out some of the water, the GPS shold have a tracking function that can help to identify tracks to follow come night time. Also, mark some spots to help orient yourself, like key points, turns, etc. I realized how much this can help last year on a couple walleye nights on 'tonka, I was not as prepared as I could have been and spent too much time in non-productive water, despite having the GPS and a detailed map. Maps don't account for the milfoil walls that grow!

If no GPS, make some marks on the map, it'll help you out.

You say 0-1, but I score you at 1-0 in the "did I learn something" category.

Good luck!

[Griggs]

I went out bass fishing tonight and tried a little bit of trolling and I think I learned exactly what you said. It doesn't matter how good an area looks on a map, because when you get there its not known how fishable or trollable a spot is because of the weeds. I didn't last long without getting weeds on my DCG.

Like you said, I think I'll go out during the day and find some good trolling routes and good spots and get them all prepared first. Thanks for the tips...

[cjac]

You'll also find a difference in the weed growth between the upper and lower East/West ends of the lake. Found that out the hard way last year too for walleyes. 8-12 fow on the West was good water, the East it was milfoil walls.

Keep in mind the weeds are still a bit behind this year, what you'll find now may be different still a couple weeks from now.

[nater]

Griggs,

I hear you on the advantage of the headlamp. I also went out night fishing for muskies for the first time last night and I thought I wouldn't be able to see my lure to figure eight in time, but I could see it quite well. Anyone know if that light would scare them off or don't they mind? I mostly used the LED light.

My GPS needs to be utilized better as well, I don't have any trails only points so some in between areas I was kinda guessing. The lake chips would be extremely helpful in staying along a certain depth at night. I was also in the 0-1 category for success, but like Cjac mentioned you learn a lot.

[cjac]

My preference is not to keep the headlamp on all the time. In my opinion it will spook more than you think. I've done it enough to tell by the rod tip and lure action when I'm close to the boat, but sometimes I do use the glow beads that you put on the line above the leader. That way you can see when you're at the end of the retrieve and it's time to spin an L-turn into an 8.

In all reality, the expectation and probability of a boatside fish on the 8 at night is low, I'd rather make sure I'm in the right water with a presentation that will trigger a fish instead of teasing one, just my personal preference.

To your point, I think, myself included, we don't use the features and functions of the graphs and GPS units well enough.

[Rebel9921]

CJAC... what would your opinion be when one is using black light or red light???

as far as fishing... Hugobox had his blacklight headlamp on and we saw a follow...

Matty and I had our headlamp on... me either blacklight or red... Matty red... and neither seems to influence the fish... neither seems to scare the fish...

[Griggs]

Ya, I think my plan will to be go out and just find some troll routes and save the trails. Then also find a good bunch of spots to cast. Thats a start for a plan, at least my baits will be in the water a longer period of time...

[HugoBox]

I don't have years and years of trying it with the headlamp on or off but Friday night we had four guys in the boat all with the lamps on and got one 34" that hit fairly close to the boat. We also had a copule hits and 2 get off. It was by far the clearest night I've been out and maybe 4 or 5 hits could have been 10 without the lamps on. Also the boat was really noisy so we probably scared our fair share. I think the biggest accomplishment was four guys casting with no casualties!!

Finally to the crew on the pontoon partying on the south end of WB - I think you had more fun than us!! Its a family sight so I'll keep the details to myself - lets just say the 15 million candle power spotlight came in handy...

[Griggs]

Ok, so I'm curious about speed and line length. I know we have already gone over this, but 50ft seems pretty short according to my diawa line counter reel. Its seems like its about half a cast and definitely in the wake of my motor.

I also found out that my bow mount troller goes somewhere between 2.6 and 3.1 mph and my big motor at minimum throttle does about 2.8 and if I try to increase it, my speeds goes up to about 4 mph so unless I want to troll at 4 mph, my bow mount is about as effective.

Do you guys troll faster during the day and slower at night? I know on angling edge they said they've troll up to 6 mph.