Tips for the Night Bite

• If you want to chase a group of fish that hasn’t received much in the way of fishing pressure go out after dark. The fish that are on a night bite schedule don’t see many lures since they sit suspended over deep water all day and move into the shallow feeding flats after the sun goes down.

• I prefer a spinning reel over a baitcaster at night. It can be tough to get out a backlash when you only have a headlamp to see with. Spinning reels tend to provide much less in the way of line-tangle problems which is a tremendous benefit in limited lighting.

• You can’t have too many flashlights. As well as the headlamps you wear at night, keeping plenty of flashlights spread out in the boat is going to benefit you every time you use the net on a big fish, every time you grab a pliers to remove a deep hook and every time you need to dig out a new lure from the tackle box and tie it on.

• Think shallow(er) at night. Walleyes, pike and bass all move up to the tops of flats and points under the cover of darkness and while the pattern called for a deeper presentation during the day, that changes when the sun goes down and those fish move higher in the water column.

• Use the net sparingly at night. The lures always get tangled in the mesh and it takes four times longer to get everything straightened out when it’s dark. Use a lip-gripper when you can or hand grab the smaller fish. Only use the net on the big fish and you’ll be fishing more and untangling less.