Summertime Bassin’ Tips for the Nighttime

                Oh summertime, summertime.  The desert sun is definitely flexing its muscle again.  As temperatures consistently hit triple digits, so does the number of recreational watercrafts.  The combination of the heat and lake activity is enough to make most bass fishermen turn their sights on night fishing.  And if you think about it, all the commotion during the daytime has to affect the feeding habits of the bass.  It is no secret; these predators do and will feed at night.  All you need to know is how and where.

                Lets start with “where”.  Typically bass hold in deeper water as the surface temperatures heat up.  They may come up to feed, but promptly return to their deep-water sanctuaries.  I have caught them as deep as 50’, but have heard of bass being caught even deeper.  I usually target fish in 30-40’ to begin with.  Look for areas such as main lake humps, reefs, rock piles, or brush piles, with both deep and shallow water in the same area.  The key is main lake structure with a change in depth.  Bass primarily feed by ambush and take advantage of these types of areas.  Once you have located an area that fits the bill its time to get down to business.  The summer temperatures that affect you and I, affect the fish much the same, even at night.  Hot days tend to make us both lazy.  So this is probably the most important part of fishing bass at night, SLOW DOWN!  A big bass can feel vibrations and see just about as good at night as in the day, but is not likely to work too hard or travel too far for their next meal.  You will have to either hit him on the head with your bait or move it slowly enough by him to where he can’t resist.  It is now time to break out your larger baits, such as 8” lizards and 10-12” worms, and work them slow.  Not only do they want an easy meal, they like a big one that will hold them over a while.  You should also switch to darker colors like black, purple, blue fleck, pumpkin, or greens as bass see these colors better at night.  The techniques utilized by most night bassers are Texas and Carolina rigs.  The bottom line is you can catch some quality bass on an Arizona night if you first find them, and second fish slow.

                Here are a few other things to remember when planning a nighttime excursion.  It is a good practice to check your weather forecast.  It is the season for fast moving monsoons than can become dangerous in a hurry.  When you see that wall of trouble coming in you need to get out before it hits, no matter how good the fishing.  I have seen some bad ones and have been in a few hairy situations that could have been avoided.  In preparing for your trip it is a good idea to throw in a 1,000,000 candle power light for your travels across the lake.  No matter how well you think you know the lake, water levels are often changing, such as Lake Pleasant, and islands can come out of nowhere, so slow down too.    A friend of mine went across a 30’ stretch of land last year at 35 mph and was very lucky he wasn’t hurt.  I can’t say the boat was as lucky.  You may want to pick up a hands free headlight of some sorts also.  A flashlight is good, but a hands free light is much easier.  A lot of people use an onboard fluorescent light/ blacklight combo, which is pretty slick.  The fluorescent light gives you enough light to tie hooks, etc. in the boat while the blacklight shines on the water.  The blacklight, when used with fluorescent line, gives you great visibility of your line in the water.  In fact it makes your line look ten times as big and you can see every little twitch of the line.  Another important step is to make sure your front and back boat lights are in working order prior to leaving the house since you don’t want to be trying to fix them in the dark.  You are required by law to have these lights in working order and without them you put yourself into a dangerous situation   Good Luck and Good Fishin’, Kip Pollay (AZOD)