First Time Night fishing + No good = need advice

[blue hooks]

first off, long time lurker, first time poster. great site, tons of great info, thanks to all who contribute.

Ok....so i have been gathering up all my supplies to do some night fishing, strictly because the summer heat and crowds during the summer can be brutal, so i thought this would be a good way to escape both of them, and still bag some crappie. this past weekend, we went for our first time. i have a 4 foot, 40 watt "green monster" light that i made (similiar to the 4 foot green hydro-glow i think). anyhow, we decided on a 100 acre private lake that we have permission to fish, strictly because we KNOW there is a good population, as we mop them up in the spring. we found what we believed to be the best spot was approximately 6-8 foot of water, just on the edge of 12+ foot. instead of attaching the light to the boat, we hung our battery to an old standing tree, and then submerged the light from there, that way we could use the trolling motor and fish around the area without moving the light. sunk the light with the top of it being about a foot under the surface, which would mean full on light from 1 foot to 5 foot.

almost instantly, baitfish gathered and not long we had what i would consider a very nice bait ball circling the light, and got bigger and bigger over time. we backed off and fished on the edge of the light, in the dark outside the light, in the light, deep and shallow. never even got so much as a bump.

where did we go wrong, or is it possible that the fish just werent biting?

keep in mind this was last friday night, and a decent cool front had just came thru, and thats about the only thing i can come up with that may have had the crappie shut down. also, the moon was pretty full as well. we are in central arkansas if that matters. any ideas, advice or opinions???

["G"]

After the baitfish moved in.......did you ever see any fish come in to them?

[blue hooks]

After the baitfish moved in.......did you ever see any fish come in to them?

nope, nary a one. not any chasing in or around the light whatsoever, just wads of baitfish

[gabowman]

I've never nightfished in water 6'-8' deep as I would suspect the light would light up the water from the surface to the bottom scaring the fish away. It's just my opinion but I feel the fish like the safety of the darker water to come undermeath the bait for their surprise attack. My suggestion would be that the next time you decide to nightstalk wait on a night the moon isnt so full, head to the backwaters, set up in 25'-30' deep with anchors holding the boat still and submerge the light about the same as you did the other night...barely under the surface. Instead of you trying to troll around the light going to the fish stay still and let the fish come to you. Be patient as it sometimes takes awhile for the fish to find the light and the bait. Some places will be good for ya and some wont so try different places on different nights. Learn your lake and enjoy the fishing. When you hit the right spot you'll know it.Thumbs Up

BTW, there's several threads listed below that you can open and read about nightstalking and there's a search box you can type into to find things of interest. Welcome to the boards from GEORGIA.

[Locator79]

I never set up any shallower than 15'

[Spawn]

If you set up in shallow it should be in fall or spring

[dblevens]

We always try to avoid the full moon as well. The light is supposed to create a full moon effect, so if you already got that, it don't work as well. Also, we like really deep water, and preferably a steep bluff to anchor beside. Helps to find a creek running up beside this bluff. But I have always wondered how it would work in places such as your talking about. Sorry it didn't work. Keep trying.

[dblevens]

I wonder if a lantern above the water would work better in waters like this.?

[sailfish1]

me and my friends are still not sold on the big green lights, we made them also and usually catch more fish from the old headlight style floating lights. we have talked alot and wonder if these big green lights have too much light penetration, with the smaller ones, we catch the fish on the edge of the light, right where it starts getting darker. with the green ones, and i am talking about the 4 ft long ones, there is light out to around 15 ft or more and no need for a lantern to see the rod tips. we would like to know if anyone else has had any similar results

[NeonMoon]

Don't know about anyone else, but there's been many times over the course of my lifetime that I've been skunked. Don't necessarily think the reason for that was from my doing anything wrong, sometimes the fish just refuse to bite. That's why it's called "fishing" and not "catching".