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I was going to try my luck with night fishing.
What lights do you recommend?
Do you use flourescent line so you can see it at night?
Also are there any good night fishing places in the Little Rock/Pulaski County area? The two lakes in the City of Maumelle (Valencia and Willastein) close to the public each night at 11 PM, so I was wondering if there would be some decent places that never close or stay open past midnight.
Any suggestions are welcome.
I have been having catching some pretty good crappie at Greers at night.
If you use a 'black light', the blue mono. line really shows up. Don't forget to take a lot of bug dope. Haven't tried any of the red lights that are on the led headbands. They might work really well.
lake maumelle and lake Conway never close
I use the green LED type night fishing lights. They're not cheap but they work pretty good, and they won't run your batteries down like the old car head lights we used to use will. When I was a kid we would hang Coleman lanterns off cedar tree limbs on Greers Ferry then move from light to light and fish. There are a few of those lanterns on the bottom of the lake because the heat would sometimes catch the limb on fire and it would break off and drop it in the lake before you could get there. Last year I heard they were doing really well night fishing by some how suspending the light at the surface, and float a battery with it I guess, and then spider rig around the outside edge of the light. I haven't for sure got that figured out but it sounds good to me.
first time I saw it was at Toledo bend back in the 80's. I was bass fishing and went to the marina early to twinkie up and 2 guys were buying ice. I asked "You icing them down already?" they said they had fished under lanterns the night before. I asked if they caught any and they said 165. I asked if there was any size and they said I could look and decide for myself. They had 2 72 qt. coolers plumb full of slab crappies. all pushing 2 pounds. needless to say I was crappie fishing that next night. only got 48 but it was enough to get me back down for several more night trips after that. We have caught them on norfork and greer's but white bass and hybrids can be pesky. Heard of a group that wore them out on Poinsett a few years back but I have never hit them and skeeters are worse there than the big lakes. Green lights seem to draw minnows but the old coleman lanterns were used on my best trips.
Be careful and know your lake well.Fish in daylite before night venture. A good jump start from wally world are real handy for running lights. A hat light clip on is real handy also.We use the black lights from bass pro runs on c batteries and has a plug in and is moble for moving around on the boat. We like the full moon nights if it fits your schedule. Be safe and wear your life jacket.let someone know where and how long you will be fishing anything can happen espically after dark!!!Have caught a lot of fish the 1st hour after dark and the hour before daylite.We catch a lot more fish fishing with out lights if you can it takes a little practice and your really learn the feel of the fish biting and the area you are fishing!!!
The comment about the red head lights is a good one. The bugs will not come to it. Its amazing. You can have the LED on fixing your line or whatever, be covered in bugs, then turn the red on and they go away. I use bobbers a lot, so glow paint sprayed on the top half works really well.
As already stated, know your lake. Have points that you can see, moonlight is the best time. Especially just starting out. A GPS is very handy...mark a trail during the day making large turns around bends and staying the deepest water. Remember that trail may not always be correct though, as lake levels fluctuate. Life jackets and kill switches and make sure someone know where you are as already stated. If you can turn your gauge lights down or off it helps..sometimes the glare can mess with you on very dark nights.
Night is my favorite time to fish...SOOO peaceful. Cool fall night on the water CAN'T be beat!