Night fishing with light and shad net

4161 Views 103 Replies 14 Participants Last post by fisherman505, 11 h ago

fisherman505

Discussion Starter · 1 mo ago

Thought I would start a threat devoted to night fishing with lights. Feel free to add to it if you want to.

Went out of Cranfield and got down on the water just before dark at 8:15. Motored to the shoreline I wanted to fish and nosed the boat in and threw the anchor in about 5 feet of water. Backed out to 45 feet of water and dropped the other anchor and then jocked the two lines until the boat was 30-feet of water. Dropped my submersible LED light over the side and let it sink down 10-feet and then positioned the 1/2 inch shad net with the top at light-level and hanging six feet below the light. The water was very clear and the light was perfectly visible at 10-feet.

In about 15-minutes, shad started to show up on the fish-locator and 10 minutes later, I had enough shad in the net to hang four rods over the side in rod-holders. I put small clip-on bells on the rod tips so I can tell when something is messing with the shad. Since the back of the boat was in 30-feet of water, the front was 17-feet out in maybe 36 feet of water and I had three rods with shad one foot off the bottom and one rod down 20-feet with a shad chugging round for any suspended fish.

Big fish were not all that aggressive and the fishing wasn't all that great but I did manage to get two six pound hybrids and one 13-inch crappie. I also caught a 17-inch walleye that I threw back but forgot to take a picture of it. Anyway, I'll run this thread for this moon-phase which lasts about 20 days until the moon gets too bright for fishing with a light.

Here's a picture of the fish caught and I'll post more pics of fish and setups as the thread progresses. I should be out there for most of the 20 or so nights, weather permitting.

Fin Fish Marine biology Ray-finned fish Tail

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #61 · 18 d ago

Jumped in my trusty Tundra last night to go fishing and the battery was dead. Ran over to Wallyworld and picked up a new one and slapped it in and the computer components were going crazy, even though the truck would run okay. Figured, okay, I'll just jump in the Avalon and tool on down to the river and give the walleye a hard time. Drove 22 miles to where I wanted to fish and they had so many generators on that it was unfishable. So not much of a productive night.

Got a call from the garage and I need a new alternator and probably speed sensor and probably won't get the truck back for a couple of days. So that's the end of fishing on the lake for a few days. Might try the river again if they ever get the generation right.

Incidentally, I purchased the battery that went dead back in the latter part of 2019 and it seems those things only last for four years. Anyway, that battery cost $109. The same battery purchased last night cost $153. Lil bit of a markup over four years.

Cheers......

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #62 · 17 d ago

Night of 24 May:

Got my truck back so it was back to the lake night fishing. That said, it wasn't all that hot. Water temp was up to 80 which is when holding shad in the live well using regular lake water gets tricky. I threw maybe 25 shad in the well and after two hours, three of them died so it's about time to leave the shad in the net.

I did manage to catch one 18-inch walleye:

And my take for 3 hours of fishing:

A couple of Channel Cats, two crappie, the one walleye and one lonely white bass. More than enough for dinner though. I did lose a big fish, probably a striper which did a pole-dance around my anchor rope. Will try down around the bridges tonight and see if it's any better.

Cheers.....

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K-Mo

· #63 · 17 d ago

fisherman505 said:
Night of 24 May:

Got my truck back so it was back to the lake night fishing. That said, it wasn't all that hot. Water temp was up to 80 which is when holding shad in the live well using regular lake water gets tricky. I threw maybe 25 shad in the well and after two hours, three of them died so it's about time to leave the shad in the net.
View attachment 396256

I did manage to catch one 18-inch walleye:
View attachment 396257

And my take for 3 hours of fishing:
View attachment 396258

A couple of Channel Cats, two crappie, the one walleye and one lonely white bass. More than enough for dinner though. I did lose a big fish, probably a striper which did a pole-dance around my anchor rope. Will try down around the bridges tonight and see if it's any better.

Cheers.....

You may have been over this already, but what kind of hook are you using?

fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #64 · 16 d ago

I really like the Size-6 wire circle hook, K.Mo. It's strong enough to hold big fish but thin and small enough that the shad can easily swim with it. Here they are on eBay:
100 GT 2X Offset Circle Fish Fishing Hooks size 6 - 100 hooks 7384 | eBay. The octopus circle hooks are pretty good as well.

Cheers.....

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #65 · 14 d ago

The last three nights have gone from bad to worse. Guess I'll blame it on the moon. Funny thing is I have had no problem catching the shad. It's just that the big fish are either not around or have lockjaw. Last nigh (27th), the moon was at almost 50% and the water temp was 79 degrees. The shad held up fine in the live well though and after catching all of four white bass, I released the captured 30 or so and they swam off into the West.

According to my moon program, the moon gets back into position for night fishing with the net on 5 June. So I will either be fishing the lake during the day or I can still go after the walleye at night on the river where the moon actually helps out. I'll probably add to this thread again after 5 June. I could go out on the lake in the moonlight and slow-roll spinnerbaits but my rotator-cuff tells me all about it the next day.

Cheers.....

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NA3VY

· #66 · 12 d ago (Edited)

Could be time to go park under 101 bridge and use light to see if any crappie are at home. Parking over one of AGFC's fish attractors or close by a dock might help too. The fish don't just stop eating. I'd like to drop my Gopro down over a fish attractor at night and see who is home. Or time to deploy 25 pool noodles with live 3-4 inch bluegills and see what happens, or drop a half dozen crawdad traps for a crawdad boil.

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #67 · 12 d ago

I did something like you suggested, Na3vy. Went out to one of my favorite spots and just dropped the light over with additional weight to keep it straight down while I slowly moved along the shoreline with my trolling motor in 18-20 feet of water. I used a #5 Jigging Rapala and swam it a foot or so off the bottom and caught these in about two hours. That biggest walleye is about 24-inch long.

Sorry for the poor quality picture but for some reason, I can only attach a thumbnail and then blow it up which distorts it. Not sure if it's a forum problem or just a problem with that particular picture.

Cheers.....

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NA3VY

· #68 · 11 d ago

If they won't come to you - go to them.

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #69 · 11 d ago

Gonna try that picture again:

That's more better.

Cheers.....

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Saltydog

· #70 · 11 d ago

I've been enjoying this thread fisherman505....
You should think about starting a blog.
It would be a library of information for anyone interested in fishing that lake...
Now... and in the future...

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OFD

· #71 · 11 d ago

fisherman505 said:
Gonna try that picture again:

View attachment 396686

That's more better.

Cheers.....

Great mess of fish!

Dmille5

· #72 · 11 d ago

I am also enjoying this thread so keep ‘em coming.Still waiting on that FLATHEAD pic.

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #73 · 11 d ago

Thanks, ya'll. A blog is too much of a commitment for me. Prefer to do this just as a fishing thread.

Anyway, I really thought I had broken the code and was going to fill up the boat last night. Got out to the point where the bass were chasing shad just before dark and sat there for over an hour and seen three fish come up and had one hit and it got off. When it got dark, put out my light and did my slow-troll thing in 20-feet of water and this is all I got. The night before, fish were all over the place but last night it was slim pickins. But that's fishin:

That channel cat was about 5 pounds. Still waiting for that big flathead. Incidentally, I am catching all these fish on this little guy:

That dumb looking little lure is Communist China's answer to a Jigging Rapala. The difference is Bass Pro sells the original for 6 bucks and this thing set me back $1.47. It actually has a better finish but I always cover most of the lure with white fingernail paint, with the exception of the eyes, because it seems the fish like it better that way. That lure is about 2 inches long and believe it or not, I did catch a 26 pound flathead on it a few years back.

I am trying to gin up enough interest to go out again tonight considering how poorly I did but if it's a choice between watching TV or floating around out on the lake, the lake will probably win.

Cheers.....

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #74 · 10 d ago

Pretty night out on the lake last night although fishing wasn't that great. Water temp was 81 and I tried to stay in 20-feet of water and slowly jigging my lure right on the bottom. Though I got snagged until it moved and this critter was the problem. I really thought I had a nice flathead but no such luck. Goes to show that the jigging rapala will catch just about anything. I caught this critter fair and square in the mouth:

It weighed 15.8 pounds. Awhile later, I caught this guy:

Funny thing is I snagged this fish in the belly. Guess he zigged when he shudda zagged.

If I had any smarts I'd be working the shoreline with a stickbait or maybe slow-roll a spinner bait in 15-20 feet of water but I'll stick with the light and jigging rapala for one more night in a new spot to see if fishing gets any better. If not, I will probably wait till the moon gets out of the picture which will be June 5th when moonrise is something like 10:30 which will give me a couple hours of good fishing before the moon screws things up.

Cheers.....

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Saltydog

· #75 · 10 d ago

You sure you just didn't happen to drift over a homeless camp?

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #76 · 9 d ago

Saltydog said:
You sure you just didn't happen to drift over a homeless camp?

Well, if so, it's homeless again since I chucked it back. Sure wish you could do something with those things other than burying in the garden for fertilizer. They sure do fight though. Lots of fun on a light spinning rod.

Cheers.....

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #77 · 9 d ago

Night of 1 June:

Well, too much of a moon for my kind of fishing. Lots of boats out on the lake right now since it's easy to see where you are going. I like it better with no moon where you have to either be a bat or have a good GPS. Anyway, two whole fish: 1 medium-size white bass and 1 large bream which I threw back. Am gonna wait for the moon to get out of the picture before I go again. According to my moon program, that will be around June 5th.

Incidentally, that moon program is free and can be downloaded at Volker Voecking Software Engineering. I have it on my computer but you can also get it for your cellphone.

Cheers.....

K-Mo

· #78 · 8 d ago

fisherman505 said:
Night of 1 June:

Well, too much of a moon for my kind of fishing. Lots of boats out on the lake right now since it's easy to see where you are going. I like it better with no moon where you have to either be a bat or have a good GPS. Anyway, two whole fish: 1 medium-size white bass and 1 large bream which I threw back. Am gonna wait for the moon to get out of the picture before I go again. According to my moon program, that will be around June 5th.

Incidentally, that moon program is free and can be downloaded at Volker Voecking Software Engineering. I have it on my computer but you can also get it for your cellphone.

Cheers.....

Be a good time for some daytime bluegill fishing. They spawn on full moons. So, I ordered the circle hooks you recommended. I went with the number 4 instead of number 6, but it still just seems so small for targeting bass and walleye. Do you fish such a small hook because of the Shad or is it just personal preference? Ever tried something more traditional like a 1/0 or 2/0 circle hook?

fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #79 · 8 d ago

I've tried all the way up to 2/O, K-Mo and bigger hooks are just too much of a drag on delicate threadfin shad. I do believe I catch better with the small hook because it's easier to inhale compared to the big hooks. And the holding power is fine for the #6"s. I've caught stripers up to 20+ pounds and if you have your drag set right, there's no problem getting them into the net. The nice thing about the #6 is it will fit in the mouth anything from a bream to a flathead whereas the bigger hooks don't do to well on bream and crappie. But the main thing is I want that threadfin to look as natural as possible and big hooks just don't hack it.

I do have a variety of hooks all the way up to 2/0 in my tackle box though and I will move up to a larger hook if I get big threadfins (3 inches+) when I am using the 3/4 inch net but that doesn't happen very often because I like the 1/2 inch net which the big threadfins bounce right off of.

Cheers.....

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fisherman505

Discussion Starter · #80 · 8 d ago

Many of you probably already use this loop knot but for those that don't, it's a great knot for tying the circle-hook to the leader. What's good about this knot is it allows the hook to move freely on the leader and is easier for the shad to pull around. If you pull on the tag end of the leader, you can cinch that loop down to a very small loop which still allows the hook to swivel but small enough not to be overly noticeable by the predator fish.

loop knot for jig - Google Search

Cheers.....

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