Night Fishing???

[TheHawg]

After reading many of your posts, I see that many of you fish at night for crappie. I'd love to hear how you do this; baits, lights, drift or anchor, depth, etc.
Thanks,
TheHawg

[rango]

Hawg, im off to wateree this morning. Ill answer your question when i get in tonight. Im sure some these other guys will give you an answer today. thats one thats open for a huge amount of discussions

[kunes]

After reading many of your posts, I see that many of you fish at night for crappie. I'd love to hear how you do this; baits, lights, drift or anchor, depth, etc.
Thanks,
TheHawg

The basic idea is to use lites to attract baitfish which in turn attract crappies. The boat is anchored with one anchor out the front and one out the back to help hold it steady. That aids in keeping the lines from crossing as they might with a boat swinging around and helps the bite be more easily detected. Rango likes his anchor ropes to be taut as piano wires. I'm not so fussy and kinda like the bait to be presented in a slightly larger area afforded by a small amount of play in the rope. Everyone has their own ideas on which lights work best. I've been doing it for 24 years and tried em all. I've never really seen any difference in performance. I heard a guy even caught a fish under a green lite once :D Once the boat is anchored and the lites put out we usually tightline minnows over the side. I start with one just off the bottom and set another 2-4 feet higher next to it until I've covered most the depth to the surface. Then its a matter of seeing where most the bites come from and adjusting. Most folks use minnows. I've heard of some use jigs. I don't know what use jigs are in the dark but again, everyone has an opinion. A good trick is to paint the tips of the rod with white paint so they show up in the dark. I've nitefished with alot of guys and part of the difference between the ones who consistantly catch fish and those who don't is the ability to detect the bite. A soft tipped rod painted white helps. Concentration is the key. The bite will be a dip in the rodtip, a suddenly slack line or a lateral movement of the line. You have to stay alert for any of those signs. 4-6lb test with #4 hooks seems to be the norm. That's my take on it Hawg. Hope it helps.

[DarthCrappie]

I hear you Hawg, I'm in the same boat. I'm new at this, acquired a pontoon last summer. Tried night fishing a couple of times with limited success. I hung out some of the flourescent green lights, they did attract a ton of baitfish but only caught a couple of crappies.

I would like to know how deep most people put their lights? Say you are fishing a brushpile 25 ft deep, do you put the light just under the surface or drop it down deeper?

Also, what about equipment? I've wasted $ on several different rod/reel combinations. What is preferred as far as rod length and reel type (spinning, trigger spin, or spincast?

That's my questions for now, I'm sure I have more. Anxious to see rango's replies....he could probably write a book on this subject..

[rango]

ok guys, Kunes pretty well covered the methods used by us nightstalkers. i have just a couple of things to add. I usually try to find water fairly deep, around 20 ft or more close to something that will attract crappie to the area. drop offs, ledges, brush piles, etc. If its a brush pile i dont wanna anchor directly over it as the hangup and breakoff problems you will encounter.. the last couple nightstalker ventures ive been on, we set up in shallow water, around 17 ft and done real good, but as a rule of thumb, i go deeper. I like a tight anchor, meaning ill hang both anchors then draw the boat tween them till its tight enough to not shift in the wind or wave action if youre unfortunate enough to have it start whuppin you. I like rods with a very soft tip, as you arent gonna be using much weight to hold the minnows down where you want em. and you wanna soft tip so you can see the bite. trying to do this kind of fishing with stiff bass rods is giving you a serious handicapp to start with right off the bat. use the soft tipped rods. I usually use a # 4 removable splitshot.
theres a lot of varied discussions about the lights used. I like the qbeam submersibles and i set em just a couple ft under the surface, hanging of the side of the boat. the floaters work great to. some swear by green. i swear by white qbeams.
the rods i use are the ultralite ugly sticks with a soft tip and the 9 ft crappie rods, which also have a very soft tip. all my tips are painted white for better visibility. If you dont think that helps, go with someone who has the white tips and you will see what im talking about. It makes a huge difference in your bite seeing ability. the reels are ultra lite spinning also. brand is a matter of preference. i have shimanos, diawas, & mitchels for the most part. a great way to learn a lot of things fast is try to hook up with one of the regulars and make a trip with em and you will get a first hand look at whats going on.
the lighting i use in the boat is the coleman northstars. used to use three of em, but now just use two. i mount em on 3/4 in conduit poles with a hook to hang the lanters on over head so they shine the light down into the boat so theres plenty of light to see whats going on.
the info given by kunes and i should get you started and once you start nightstalkin, you will begin to have some of those wonderful catches you reading about being made by crappie.com members. good luck and if you looking to hook up with anyone, feel free to aske em and im sure youll get positive results. also keep in mind the social being thrown by the nc boys at the buster boyd landing saturday beginning at 3pm

[TheHawg]

Thanks so much guys. This night fishing things sounds like great fun. I spent all day today driving around looking at boats.
I did have time to shoot a round of sporting clays between shops.
I looked at the War Eagle 16' boat at two different shops. Do any of you guys have an opinion on which 25 hp motor is better, 2 cycle Johnson or Yamaha? Also, do you have an opinion about War Eagle vs. Bass Tracker Grizzly 16' ers. The Grizzly is a modified v while the War Eagle is flat. Decisions,decisions, decisions.
Again, Thanks a million.
TheHawg

[rango]

Hawg, i fish out of a sea ark, so i aint much help with any advice on any of the boats you mentioned. hopefully someone will be able to help you who has had experience with them. whatever you get, you gonna be gettin into a whole new ballgame with learning to night stalk. you could try to look at some of the guys boats and see how they set up and see which boat you got in mind would suit your desires as to how you wanna set yours up.

[kunes]

Thanks so much guys. This night fishing things sounds like great fun. I spent all day today driving around looking at boats.
I did have time to shoot a round of sporting clays between shops.
I looked at the War Eagle 16' boat at two different shops. Do any of you guys have an opinion on which 25 hp motor is better, 2 cycle Johnson or Yamaha? Also, do you have an opinion about War Eagle vs. Bass Tracker Grizzly 16' ers. The Grizzly is a modified v while the War Eagle is flat. Decisions,decisions, decisions.
Again, Thanks a million.
TheHawg

I have a yamaha kicker motor that I'm happy with. They seem to have developed a good reputation.

[treepotato]

ok guys, Kunes pretty well covered the methods used by us nightstalkers. i have just a couple of things to add. I usually try to find water fairly deep, around 20 ft or more close to something that will attract crappie to the area. drop offs, ledges, brush piles, etc. If its a brush pile i dont wanna anchor directly over it as the hangup and breakoff problems you will encounter.. the last couple nightstalker ventures ive been on, we set up in shallow water, around 17 ft and done real good, but as a rule of thumb, i go deeper. I like a tight anchor, meaning ill hang both anchors then draw the boat tween them till its tight enough to not shift in the wind or wave action if youre unfortunate enough to have it start whuppin you. I like rods with a very soft tip, as you arent gonna be using much weight to hold the minnows down where you want em. and you wanna soft tip so you can see the bite. trying to do this kind of fishing with stiff bass rods is giving you a serious handicapp to start with right off the bat. use the soft tipped rods. I usually use a # 4 removable splitshot.
theres a lot of varied discussions about the lights used. I like the qbeam submersibles and i set em just a couple ft under the surface, hanging of the side of the boat. the floaters work great to. some swear by green. i swear by white qbeams.
the rods i use are the ultralite ugly sticks with a soft tip and the 9 ft crappie rods, which also have a very soft tip. all my tips are painted white for better visibility. If you dont think that helps, go with someone who has the white tips and you will see what im talking about. It makes a huge difference in your bite seeing ability. the reels are ultra lite spinning also. brand is a matter of preference. i have shimanos, diawas, & mitchels for the most part. a great way to learn a lot of things fast is try to hook up with one of the regulars and make a trip with em and you will get a first hand look at whats going on.
the lighting i use in the boat is the coleman northstars. used to use three of em, but now just use two. i mount em on 3/4 in conduit poles with a hook to hang the lanters on over head so they shine the light down into the boat so theres plenty of light to see whats going on.
the info given by kunes and i should get you started and once you start nightstalkin, you will begin to have some of those wonderful catches you reading about being made by crappie.com members. good luck and if you looking to hook up with anyone, feel free to aske em and im sure youll get positive results. also keep in mind the social being thrown by the nc boys at the buster boyd landing saturday beginning at 3pm

Hi rango, I have also just had limited experience at night. One question I would like to ask you is , do you usually stay put all evening in one spot whether your catching them or not or do you move around till you find them and if so how far? Are you willing to pull up stakes and move say a mile or so in the dark or do you stay in the same general area? I have heard that you should stay put so you can get a good supply of baitfish around your lights . I have on occaision had huge schools of baitfish around my lights but caught very few crappie. Also do you notice any difference in crappie size at night? Do they tend to be any bigger or are they pretty much the same size that you would catch during daylight? Thanks for all your help, you guys are great!!.........treepotato

[rango]

Hi rango, I have also just had limited experience at night. One question I would like to ask you is , do you usually stay put all evening in one spot whether your catching them or not or do you move around till you find them and if so how far? Are you willing to pull up stakes and move say a mile or so in the dark or do you stay in the same general area? I have heard that you should stay put so you can get a good supply of baitfish around your lights . I have on occaision had huge schools of baitfish around my lights but caught very few crappie. Also do you notice any difference in crappie size at night? Do they tend to be any bigger or are they pretty much the same size that you would catch during daylight? Thanks for all your help, you guys are great!!.........treepotato

tree potato, cause i am so particular with my anchors, and at times they are hard to get set, i seldom, if ever move once i set em and get my rigs out. kunes offered a novel idea about shifting the boat towards one anchor or the other at times that seemed to help him with his bite. Ive never tried that method but whatever a man can get to work for him will be a good idea in my book. ive found that by staying put, sometime during the time we are set up, well catch fish. not every time, but most nights well do alright. last falls night bite seemed to be about the worse ive seen for us on wylie. I think most all us nightstalkers was struggling big time trying to locate and catch fish. be patient on your set up. If it dont pay off for you that night, then the next time you go, try settin up in a location with a different underwater layout. soon youll start finding places thats gonna pay off for you. If you got friends nightstalking, and they catching fish, ask em how they doing it and the kind of locations they fishing. and if they dont mind telling you, where they was fishing. in the spring when i troll we catch a lot of big fish, the spring and the mid winter when its too cold for me at night, is about the only time i do any daylight fishing. the size of the fish varries. on most nights the sizes are varried and we catching em from taterchips to slab netters. the last two outings weve made, most of the crappie we caught have been real slabs tho, with few taterchips involved. however thats not the norm for us as usually we have a mixed bag of fish of all sizes. we usually throw back the taterchips unless they are fataly hooked. one night last spring i was fishing with kunes and someone else and i wanted all the fish for a fish fry and it so happend that was a taterchip night and i wound up with a bucket full of tadpoles to clean for the fry. I promise you this old coon wont do that again. I dint think id ever get all them little suckers cleaned.