Fishing at night?

[OutwardBound]

Ok I see that there are quite a few people on so I hope someone can help me out. I really want to try night ice fishing...I dunno why:evilgrin: I'm wondering will we have more luck fishing Pine Coulee for burbs or to try for pike at another spot? Any tips or experience would be greatly appreciated...I'd like to try and get out tonight when Dustin gets home. Thx also.

Danni

[Bushmaster]

Well, good luck to ya, its been my experience that nite fishing isn't all its cracked up to be !! :D

But I'm sure you'll have some fun.

[Versatile]

Dont bother for pike after dark. I havent caught any at night. I would traget walleye, trout, perch, or burbot, hey even sturgeon in the summer.

[packhuntr]

Ive tried twice to fish pike through the ice at night. I used my tip ups, and smelts. There was no wind either night, no moon, and a fair amount of snow cover on the ice. We took turns sleeping and doing watch in the headlights. Both times we fished on known big pike holding structure, both times we got our azzes handed to us. Not even an sniff of a slough shark. I think if the conditions were different, the outcomes might have been different. Havent tried since, but i know there are big pike caught by walleye fisherman at night, so they do feed after dark, no question. I think motion is a BIG BIG thing. The lateral line plays a big role as does the {dont know what they are called} holes under the jaw line of the bottom jaw. They have excellent motion detection, even from extended range. They have poor night vision though in comparison to walleye and musky. Walleye have the best night vision, musky follow in second, and pike bring up the rear for our predators in that catagory. I believe it has something to do with cones vs rods or something like that. I think in soft water it may be easier to target predators at night. If you have a lake you know well, have maps of etc, if you trolled or casted slower moving, noisy baits, you may get hit. I might be tempted to try top water stuff, but work it slowly, and i wouldnt use a bait that darted from side to side, theres lots of names out there. Sticking to something easier to get a solid take on might be best. Top water lends its self to lots of hits, but lower percentage hook up rates for sure. Even larger profile jerks, twitch baits, i might try something with rattles in it as well. I guess i might try to make as much racket as possible, and do it with as slow, straight of moving bait as possible. I dont know though, i havent done er, well mabey a couple times on soft water as well, but ive learned lots since i tried that scherade as well. Good luck, catch some fish....

keep a strain on er.

[TundraBuck]

Yes like packhuntr I have tried at night for pike too, only every caught 1 and it was small. Best bet would be to try for burbot, I have done that more than once and always have incredible fishing, one night in 1996 at Gull Lake we caught 44 burbot from sunset to sunrise.

[Mish]

I've heard walleye love to cruise at night. I've been meaning to get out at night and target some.

[Lethalconnection]

If your nite fishing i would suggest targeting burbs and walleye cause nothing else has as good of nite vision or appetite during the nite, might get lcuky with a pike but its a rare occasion. Definitely an experience but if you do it and you have tip-ups get tipup lights, when the flag goes up a light starts blinking, saves the gas and the battery on your vehicle. Also a whole new rush when you see a light start to blink in the dead of nite.

[Versatile]

We just use those little glowsticks. When they are verticle instead of horizontal you know a fish is on.

[Canuck44]

Nothing beats night fishing the tailend of a caddis hatch on the Bow. Big 25" browns cruisin the flats. Wrong time of year tho, maybe in 5 months...

[jrs]

Summer the night produces the majority of my big fish, the winter all I've managed are a few pike. I'd say Pine Coulee with some glowing jig heads and bait would be fun. Walleye and burbot can be fairly nocturnal, may be a good bet. Last time i went night fishing down south (winter) was at Traverse and all i caught was a messed up decent size pike. Was missing the top half of its mouth and chunks of its bottom, someones bad hook removal and release was my best guess. Sure was a tasty one!

[fishman]

My biggest trout caught ice fishing are usually in the dark....