Michigan Sportsman Forum banner

All night fish-athon

3K views 25 replies 18 participants last post by  Sprytle 
#1 ·
Wondering what everyone thinks about starting at 12:00am and fishing through the night...all my fish or 90% of them come before the sun even comes up!?!? Any thoughts!
1,2,3,GO!
 
#3 ·
Not a fan. I normally fish a solo, a few miles offshore. Something goes wrong and it's game over with no witnesses. Even with an EPIRB, to me it's a risk that doesn't need to be taken. Fish aren't worth it.

Maybe on a big boat, 25 foot or bigger, with 4 responsible guys and calm seas.
 
#6 ·
Personally I think it'd be a lot of dragging lines. Whenever I fish at night it seems like you get that flurry as the sun sets on the horizon and by dark or maybe a little after it the bite is done. I suppose it could work but I'd rather see what I'm doing.
 
#8 ·
I am intrigued by that idea - since I have had success night fishing in the past for other species. As long as the forecast calls for calm seas - In today's day and age we can get a pretty good idea of the 12 hour forecast and last I knew the USCG doesn't close up after dark.... Something I would like to try sometime...
 
#12 ·
I did it last year. We marked fish like crazy all night on full moon. It was a very calm night so we tried it. We caught 1 at 1:30am and then nadda rest of night until the 5:30am bite started and boated 2 more real quick. Was so tired we had lines in at 6:30am. We fished from 6pm to 6:30am this time last year in frankfort. I still have the sonar screenshot cause i thought nobody would believe all the marks, literally the screen looked like this all night. thought we should've caught more

 
#14 ·
I've had good success depending on the moon phase. Sometimes the better bite is early morning, late morning, mid day, evening, or late evening. One year I remember starting earlier and earlier as it seemed like each time I started trolling in the dark I hit fish right away. 3:30 am was the limit on that try with not much happening before then. Hard part is finding a crew that time of day. LOL Other times fishing as late as possible an hour past sunset was hit or miss, but on those evening bites it was hot as can be. It seems to me that it dies for an hour or so once it gets completely dark, and then picks up for a bit and then dies off again.

With regard to glow I have had better luck most times with a faded glow vs a just flashed glow. I prefer to give the lures a quick swipe with a flashlight than a couple flashes with a camera flash. Also active fish that time of night are up high and feeding out of temp. Watching the graph come alive after dark and hearing a rod screaming trying to figure out which one fired is a blast. I will say less is more on these trips as too many rods can make for a real mess in the dark. 6 rods is plenty in the dark.

Let me know when you want to go!
 
#16 ·
Do it all the time, solo, in my 14'. Not the slightest bit worried about it, seems to be a lot safer than going out solo in 34 degree water with ice on the deck and a loaded gun duck hunting.

However, never done really well. But caught enough to keep me trying.

Now instead of trolling all night, like Tim said I tend to just go out stupid early. Kind of fun to be headed back in and having to wait at the launch to get a dock.

When I have caught fish, they seem to be higher / out of temp. If the break's down 60, I'll start fishing the top 50' in 70' of water and head IN from there.
 
#18 ·
My buddies on the Wisconsin side have been doing very well for several years now around the full moon in May, June, July, August, and September. Launch a couple hours before sunset, start out deeper and then work your way in towards shore (or wherever you have good temps). My buddy Terry was 18 for 30 on the full moon in July. 15 kings, 10 of which were over 15#. It's gotten to the point where they actually won't fish the mornings during the week of the full moon. If they must fish during the daylight ours, then they launch around 11:00am and fish the mid-day bite, which has been very good this year for them.

Terry likes to use Moonshine stuff, so his glows are bright, but flasher/fly combos work really well too. He keeps it simple...2 riggers, 2 divers, and a board on each side. This month the bite didn't start for him until the sun got below the trees (i.e. they trolled for almost 2 hours without a bump) then all hell broke loose from about 8:30 until they quit at midnight. They have a two hour drive home, so usually they are back a the dock by midnight.

I'm going over next month for two nights (weather permitting). Terry has told me that the best nights are when the sky is clear. Overcast nights the bite isn't nearly as good. He believes that you can fish a couple days either side of the full moon and still have really good success. Slow down too....1.5 at the ball.

And yes...your boat/motor/safety equipment must be in tip top shape, and everybody on board needs to be responsible and know their way around a boat.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Well we are heading out tomorrow morning at 2:00am wish us luck!

Port Sheldon- Well ...Dreamchaser & I met up at 2 with it raining a bit but headed out as radar looked like it was passing to the north. Got to launch about 2:45...lightning to the west as we stood around thinking of what we wanted to do and continued to check radar. Got quite windy but rain had stopped and hadnt seen any lighning for a while so headed out about 3:15. Black cloud over the lake to the west with a big hook to south. Radar still looked like it was headed north so we ran out to about 55 to the south a bit. Got 2 riggers set as the blackness came over us. We were marking good fish. The radar showed alot of green with some red mixed in coming at us and kept growing bigger. Not worth it we decided so pulled and loaded up at 4:20. Started pouring right as we were headed out of the lot. Passed a truck pulling a bigger boat right at Lake Mich Dr. Was that you Kearly?? Wonder if he ventured out?? Try again tomorrow at same time.
 
#25 ·
We launched out of Holland, Sprytle. We had to wait out the storms as well. Didn't leave the launch until about 6. Set up in 80 foot of water and in 40 minutes we had two Lakers(one released), a King(11lbs), and a steelhead. Fished until 11:30 with not another bump.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top