Trout fishing at night - Part 4
Lake Fishing at Night from A Boat
Drift or Motorised Fishing
Trolling, harling and jigging can all produce fish at night, but some adaptations of daytime techniques are usually required.
The influence of the amount of light available can be the most significant factor (see the following section on moonlight). On darker nights fish tend to move closer to the surface, and deeper on bright moonlit nights.
Because fish may not always be found at the depths they were holding during the day, a sounder is invaluable when fishing at night. It can save hours of time finding the right depth. But if you do not have a sounder, and there are more than one of you fishing, try setting your lures at different depths until a fish hits, then all lures or flies can be set at that depth.
If trolling, try a lumo fly behind a dark lure, if the night is dark. If moonlit, try a very bright lure with a bright sparkly lure behind. If harling, similar combinations should be tried – a dark fly with a lumo fly behind (or a lumo fly with a dark fly behind) – or on bright nights a bright fly.
When jigging at night try a jig with some lumo skirt tied around the hook. Soft-plastic jigs on lead-heads also work well, fished slowly on both the drop and lift. On dark nights try a black and gold jig, on bright nights a chrome jig. Try adding a small soft-plastic bait to the hook on the jig – it gives extra action and fish-enticing vibrations.
On a calm night with just a little breeze – enough to just move a boat with the motor off – try harling a lumo Booby fly off a very fast sinking line or shooting head. This can be very effective if the boat can be drifted along the face of a drop-off, or near the edge of a reef or similar bottom structure.
A Booby fly fished on an intermediate line – one with just enough sink to pull the Booby under – can be very effective on surface feeding fish.
Anchored or Dead Still Fishing
All the techniques that were covered under the earlier section on fishing from a lake’s shore can be used with great effect from a boat.
Under the Silvery Moon?
The subject of [whether to fish in bright moonlight] or not is one that is likely to produce a polarisation of views among fishermen. There are those who do and there are those who don’t. But my observation is that the big majority does not fish when the moon is bright.
Smelt lakes
It is true that most lake-shore fishermen who fish lakes where baitfish are a significant part of a trout’s diet, stay home on moonlit nights. And they may have a point. Excluding the smelt spawning periods, early and late summer, there definitely appears to be less smelt in the shallows during bright conditions – day or night. But when it clouds over, or there is little moon, smelt begin to appear again. Where the smelt are, there or thereabouts will be some trout. If the smelt are not there, trout will be where the smelt are – elsewhere?
But it isn't always necessarily so:
- Some of the biggest fish I have caught and seen caught on Lake Taupo and the Rotorua lakes – browns and rainbows – were taken on bright nights. I also have to say that on those nights very few fish were caught, but those that were, often only two or three fish amongst a few anglers, were big – some very big.
- I have also noticed on these occasions that there was the usual absence of smelt, but there were large numbers of very small trout splashing and flitting about. Trout are cannibals, especially large brown trout.
- In addition the flies that tended to catch these big fish were big bright flies – large glittering streamers, big fluorescent bodied Boobies, or horrible large Glo-Bugs.
- More info to add to the pot. In the Rotorua lakes a successful technique on bright nights is to use Booby flies tied with white heads, sparkling white chenille body and a white tail with crystal flash tied in.
Fishing in ‘smelt’ lakes on a bright moonlit night is an exercise of true patience, hundreds of casts for little result. But if a result is achieved it may well be that trophy fish you were seeking.
A Splash in the Dark
Night fishing is often an acquired taste. Some simply cannot handle the general disorientation that occurs in the dark, but the more you fish at night the less the disorientation.
Once you have experienced the sudden weight on the line somewhere out there in the dark – that first slashing run, followed by a large splash as the fish takes to the air – you will be as hooked as the fish.
Fishing at night [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] Fishing in bright[moonlight]
Fishing at Night in Rivers
The original chapter on fishing in rivers at night was unfortunately a less than thorough look at all the aspects that go into fishing at night in rivers - especially the potential dangers. For a much more complete article see [this]
