Night Fishing 101: Moon Phase

Would you rather fish on a tough day or an easy day? Of course, we’d all like to fish the easy days full of hungry fish. What if it were as easy as looking at the calendar and knowing which days to fish? While its not always that easy, understanding the moon phase calendar will go a long way to helping you catch more fish. Its amazing how a big rock so far out in space can impact the feeding patterns of fish in the local reservoir but it absolutely does. There are peak feeding times and if you understand when they are you can eliminate a lot of wasted time.

By watching this video you have potentially eliminated 17 “less than ideal” days of fishing during the month of July alone. Its not a guarantee but if you stick to the 10 days in July (and 3 at the end of June) that I’ve recommended your likelihood of experiencing a great night on the water will go up significantly.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic and by the end of the month, your success stories. Good luck out there.

Night Fishing 101: Topwater

Prior to creating this site I had no idea how many anglers were interested in night fishing. I don’t know if it is the taboo of lurking in the dark, the potential of giant bass, or simply the appeal of a new technique but the constant barrage of emails and calls requesting information on night fishing have made it clear that this topic requires attention.
What I intend to do is create a very in-depth series of videos on night fishing. This first video highlights a variety of top water techniques. It will soon be followed up by subsurface patterns, the impact of weather, moon phases, and a handful of other elements. I hope to create a resource in these videos that you can tap into again and again.
Night fishing is an exciting way to more and bigger bass, all across the nation. Whether you are new to this genre of fishing or a virtual pro, I hope you enjoy this video as well as those to follow.

As always, support your local retailers. However, if the baits mentioned in this video are not available I recommend you take your tackle warehouse. Here is a direct link to the Lunker Punker on their site: Lunker Punker at Tackle Warehouse

I assure you that the next few videos will become more and more in-depth as I share what I know of night fishing with you. Like any technique, on the surface it is quite simple but there is always more to know. My goal is to shorten your learning curve as much as possible so that you can see immediate success on your next outing. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Swimbaits part 2: When to Fish

While you may be the exception to the rule, most anglers don’t get a single bite on their first outing with big baits. After surviving a day of drudgery (let’s face it, those first days are tough) a plethora of new questions have probably arisen. Most of those question revolve around doubt and fear that you’re doing it wrong.
Chief among the questions of doubt is whether you’re even fishing when the bass are biting. Let’s get this one out of the way as quickly as possible. First off, there is never a wrong time to throw a swimbait. That said, there are certain times when the odds of you being successful are much higher than other times.

My suggestion to you is to pay attention to the little details as you continue on your journey. Each fish you catch can be a memory soon forgotten or provide you with tidbits and clues that will lead to future success. The difference is simply whether or not you choose to pay attention.
I recommend you begin logging your significant catches. Don’t spend hours journaling but jotting a few lines about a successful (or brutally tough) day can provide insights down the road. You will begin to see patterns develop and soon you will see when the best times to fish your local fisheries really are.

Wakebaits and Jigs

“Junk Fishing” is a term often used to describe a day spent on the water in which the fish were caught on a wide variety of lures or techniques with little rhyme or reason to seasonal or daily patterns. Junk fishing allows an angler to adapt to the surroundings instead of trying to force the fish to eat a certain lure. While I go into every trip with some sort of game plan the majority of my outings turn into a junk fishing day.

The exception to this rule is the night bite. I have confidence in a few key techniques and tend to use them exclusively to find fish in the dark. This night, however, was much different. We arrived at the lake with the intention of throwing wakebaits from sundown to sunrise. After a few hours and only one wakebait bite we began using other techniques. By the end of the evening our 5 best fish were caught on five completely different baits! It just goes to show you, even at night, the best policy is to adapt until you find the fish. Our five biggest bites came on 1) MS Slammer Wakebait, 2) Homemade Swimbait, 3) Zoom Brush hog w/ 3/8 oz weight , 4) Dirty Jigs 1/2 oz Flippin’ Jig and Uncle Josh pork Chunk, and 5) 6″ Yamamoto Senko.

Don’t be afraid to change it up! You just never know what you might catch.