After Dark on low vis lakes

[PlayDoh]

Some of my best fishing has been from sunset to midnight, yet I’ve been fishing Eagle lake quite a bit this year and the visibility is awful. Not even an inch with a camera.
Low enough that I tend to use noise and gear with lots of flash to attract. I’m not even sure how they feed swimming in pea soup.
Anyways I’ve noticed the ‘magic hour’ before dark, comes earlier and stops well before sunset. After that I’ve only got a couple pike with glowing lures.
I’m wondering if it’s a common thing on murky lakes? I know everyone packs up long before people would on other lakes.
I had almost 2 hours where the eyes we’re one after the other. No more than 2 lbs but over 2 dozen for sure. Then the expected stop “dinner times over”, yet for 2 hours after nothing on the flasher.
This is a pattern on Eagle. Rather than the 20-45 mins cycle, they seem to close shop for the night. My guess is it’s too dark even for eyes. That and probably the available prey.

[SNAPFisher]

I've done the same on Gull which I would consider murky. I've noticed the same thing. The witching hour is great but as it gets actually dark it slows down. The burbot spawn might be one exception but I figure they need some time to "do their thing" anyways :)
I usually leave the lake then just before or after dark as I find it not really worth it. Just my .2 cents.

[NSR_RAT]

I’ve noticed the same thing at Wabamun in the winter, an hour and a half to two hours before sunset I start to see more fish come around and the action picks up for not only walleye but for pike as well if they’re in the area, then everything slows down and the fish disappear just before it gets dark, then nothing when it’s pitch black, that’s usually my cue to pack up.

[RavYak]

Two things.

1) For pike I find the bite shuts down once it starts getting dark out regardless of water clarity. Wabamun used to be a great example of this as it is clear water and you could catch 50 pike in an evening after work but soon as the sun went down you would struggle to catch one.

2) Walleye on the other hand can be caught in the dark although I usually find it to be slower. One of the tricks is that they don't stay in the same spot, during the day walleye usually stay in deeper water but once night rolls around they start feeding in the shallows. This fall at Pigeon was a great example, I was fishing my normal drop off spots and catching some fish into the evening and the odd one in the dark but the bite practically shut off. I started heading in and spotted a few sets of glowing eyes in the shallows and they were all over the place in 1-3 fow.

Murkiness of the lake and even ice fishing in general does come into account as the water quality and snow/ice cover makes a huge difference on visibility. In the summer the pike bite doesn't shut off until the sun is setting whereas in the winter it might be half an hour before and maybe even earlier on overcast days or with murky water etc.

[Alberta Bigbore]

Vexliar FLX28 will help u see in the dark 😉

[PlayDoh]

Vexliar FLX28 will help u see in the dark 😉



My LX-5 does that, yet a flashers footprint isn’t much in our lakes.

[PlayDoh]

Two things.



1) For pike I find the bite shuts down once it starts getting dark out regardless of water clarity. Wabamun used to be a great example of this as it is clear water and you could catch 50 pike in an evening after work but soon as the sun went down you would struggle to catch one.



2) Walleye on the other hand can be caught in the dark although I usually find it to be slower. One of the tricks is that they don't stay in the same spot, during the day walleye usually stay in deeper water but once night rolls around they start feeding in the shallows. This fall at Pigeon was a great example, I was fishing my normal drop off spots and catching some fish into the evening and the odd one in the dark but the bite practically shut off. I started heading in and spotted a few sets of glowing eyes in the shallows and they were all over the place in 1-3.


Very true. From my knowledge it’s when the amount of light is dark enough that it gives the eyes a significant advantage over their prey. This can happen at any depth or time of day, but sunrise and sunset are daily.

Another point is fish don’t eat constantly, and I suppose how eventful or successful the dusk dinner is, determines what happens after dark.

I’ve often wondered what impact on fish behavior anglers are responsible. By that I mean we’re a pretty good food source with our tubs of Minnows. Now that biting at a lure isn’t a great way to find a frying pan, they surely key on us.

I think Pigeon’s PP virtual offshore boat parking lot at the drop off, is likely evidence of that. Not like the fish understand the how and why, but I’m sure their aware that there’s tons of pretty shiners there from July to Sept especially. Who knows I guess.