question for RANGO

and fellows that nite stalk-------------------------- was wondering about what kinds of minnows that are attracted to lights at night.

last nite i set up my lights and waited for minnows to appear. Saw some dark shadows darting around, so i started watching the water closely. Thought they might be small stripers or small crappie chasing minnows. Actually they were three finger wide shad. Minnows were few and TINY. I did not see what could be called "minnows". Water clarity was not good, so visibility was no more that 3ft. Could minnows have been below the shad?

Is there a special time of the spring when the shad and minnow fry are large enough and plentiful enough to be a factor around the lights? I didn't feel I was attracting what the crappie needed in the food catagory. Since I'm new at this nite game, I would appreciate any and all in-put. Thanks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by willsjwills

and fellows that nite stalk-------------------------- was wondering about what kinds of minnows that are attracted to lights at night.

last nite i set up my lights and waited for minnows to appear. Saw some dark shadows darting around, so i started watching the water closely. Thought they might be small stripers or small crappie chasing minnows. Actually they were three finger wide shad. Minnows were few and TINY. I did not see what could be called "minnows". Water clarity was not good, so visibility was no more that 3ft. Could minnows have been below the shad?

Is there a special time of the spring when the shad and minnow fry are large enough and plentiful enough to be a factor around the lights? I didn't feel I was attracting what the crappie needed in the food catagory. Since I'm new at this nite game, I would appreciate any and all in-put. Thanks.

---

defined ........ any number of small fish or fry, of various families/species.
SO ... what you were seeing were Shad "minnows". And, generally speaking, they're what are the most likely of the minnow (baitfish) species to be drawn by the lights. Brook Silversides are another. They're the pencil shaped, pointy nosed little critters, that swim right on/below the surface. They are also one of, if not the best, Crappie bait "minnow" that swims !!
The lights draw the "planktons" to them ... Shad, Brook Silversides, and other phytoplankton eaters will come to feed on them .... then the predator fish, sensing the schooling/feeding "minnows", will come to dine on them.
"Minnows", as in the kind you buy at a bait shop, and those indigenous to the waters you're fishing .... generally don't come to the lighted area. And, there's really no need for them to, as long as the Shad & Brook Silversides are there.

I could be wrong, so .... someone with more experience/knowledge, please correct me, if I am. But, this is IMHO ... correct & viable information.

Visibility of 3ft isn't "good" :eek: .... I'm thinking visibility of > 1ft is "good" :p so 3ft would be some seriously "clear" water, to me !! It's been my (limited) experience, that Crappie like to stay 6-8ft below the "visibility" depth .... even at night. And, I've never had much luck, catching Crappie at night, when the larger Shad are schooling heavily under the lights. They tend to draw the larger predators, like Hybrid Stripers - Stripers - White Bass - Catfish - and toothy critters (if you have them) ... which tends to send the Crappie into hiding ;) I've even moved, several times during a night, just to get away from schools of the larger Shad. They can be 3 inches LONG ... but, I don't care for the 3 inch WIDE (body depth) size (when targeting Crappie).

...... cp :cool:

the bait that comes to our lights are shad minnows. usually they are of various sizes with the smaller ones at the surface around the lights and the bigger ones seem to be deeper or near the surface out in the dark away from the lights .. i dont know if the lights attract shiners or any other type of minnows deeper than i can see. i cant remember ever seeing any if they do. from what ive seen, the bait minnows that come to the lights are shad. it would be interesting to see what is actually swimmin outta sight in the water below the lights

In my experience Shad where always the small fish that came to the lights when night fishing. After having the lights on for a couple of hours, on your depthfinder screen, they will extend down 6 or 7 feet. Eventualy if you have chosen a good location you will see larger fish beneath the shad and that will be the crappie.

thanks for the help, fellows. I remembered from last year that the water was black with small 1" shad hovering around the light swimming in a counter-clockwise motion. (do they ever swim clockwise?).

when I saw the eating size shad, my first thought was that the small ones had not either hatched or weren't large enough yet to venture out into the wilds of Aberdeen Lake.

you know, Spiderman, I never turned the depth finder on. How's that for being dumb.:) :)