Some people like to drift or slow troll around with the TM with the lights out, but I’ve always preferred to find a hump like you said and stay put. I haven’t been out with the lights yet but I would think maybe a hump in something like 45 -60 fow…just a guess though. Ive had good luck this time of year at night in the past set up around pine island. Can be hard to draw the bait in with this moon. I would definately bring some in case you have any problem drawing them in with the lights.
I had bait in my lights out from pine island about 10 days ago. Last night I couldn’t get the bait to the top with the full moon. Fish have been on the short side for sure.
Well I need to give you guys a report on how my first night fishing adventure went.
We pulled off of the dock in Beaver Creek around 8:30 PM and motored up to the Jim Spence island that sticks out the most in the lake. Got right off the western point on a drop off into the main channel. We put out the nights, but it was not totally dark yet, so it took about 25 minutes for the bait to show up. Ending up catching 5 fish in the first 90 min. Three were over 21 inches, and the rest were 18-20 inches. The moon came up and the bite turned off.
We decided to go to the Lexington side of Bomb Island up on the East end. Bait came up within 15 minutes. The herring were so thick that you have scooped them into the boat with a dip net. Got to see some short Striper crashing the bait, but we did not put one into the boat. Had two wicked pull downs but the bait was robbed.
We moved in closer to the Bomb Island at the West end and marked more fish, but the bait that came up was not as thick. We did not get any more pull downs. It was 3:30 in the morning and the moon had the lake lit up like a parking lot, so we called it a night and headed in.
The lights were super fun to use, and I will not get bait before I go next time. I could have filled the boat with one cast net throw.
Questions:
How deep do you fish your baits when you have the green lights out? I remember someone telling me that the Striper hide in the shadows just out of the light then ambush the bait. If I put the green lights in the water around 5 feet deep should I fish my baits 20-25 feet or 30-35 feet?
Do you guys catch some extra bait while you are fishing and cut them up to start chumming? Even if the fish are down deeper than the lights…you could chum them up. (Just thinking out loud.)
Request:
I also would like to get a sabiki rod before I go again this weekend. Anybody got one they want to sell before I go buy a new one?
Big shout out to Jace Kyzer for killing three batteries on his boat in one
Those fish coming up into the lights will do this all summer. They can withstand the warmer water. The big fish will stay below the thermocline once it establishes itself. It may have already. I haven’t been on the lake to see. My first evening trip will be this friday. I would put my baits below the thermocline no matter where or how deep my light is.
DO NOT rely on bringing bait up everytime. You will get your feelings hurt eventually. It may take several trips or it may happen next trip but it WILL happen. You will be sitting there with all the bait shops closed and no bait to catch…ha
I would not waste my money on a sabiki rod. I have and ended up just giving it away. They are very bulky and cumbersome. And they do not handle a fish very well. You will hook up with striper while catching herring especially if you down there deep trying to catch the big herring. The larger herring will stay down below the smaller ones usually. I catch more herring on a sabiki in the day time though. Dont know why but they just seem to bitr better. I will either use your srandard striper gear with a sabiki or my favorite it to use a small casting rod with a 4600 on it. I try to get a rod that has small eyes without breaking the bank on a micro eye pole. I put a piece of 1" thinwall pvc pipe over the eyes and rig when in storage or not in use.
I do chum if I am fishing a hump or a certain area. I dont usually fish tge channel in the summer unless I am trolling for a few hrs. The fish will wait on the chum to come to them. You should be able to see your chum fall on the depth finder. It falls alot faster than people think. If you chum the channel and are drifting your just wasting chum. .ha…I only chum when spotlocked or working a Verysmall area.
Hope any of this helps
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
I’m talking about chumming stationary in the deep water and trying to bring those fish up above the thermocline. You’re saying the fish won’t get worked up and break the thermocline…they’re just going to wait for it to drift to them.
Would this behavior start to change as we move into fall? That is the fish not coming up to bait and chum.
Reason I want the sabiki rod is my kids. I just know I’m going to ahve to extract hooks out of them if I don’t have one.
I’ve tried at least a dozen times to catch herring on a sabiki in the lights. I’ve caught plenty in the schools at the towers mid day. If you shut the light off and immediately throw a cast net on the bait you will have more than you could ever use. Not only will you get a lot of bait, but shutting the light and throwing the net almost always triggers fish on the opposite side of the boat. When you shut the light out the herring will dart to the surface looking for light. If you leave it on they see the net falling and move out of the way. You will get some, but if you shut the light out right as the net is about to hit water you will fill it up.
We all know the bigger fish are lazy anyway. But in the summer time almost all of the fish become lethargic and the larger ones more so than the rest. We can see this in the lack of fight they put up in the summer.
Now picture a fat kid sitting on the couch in a nice cool living room with the AC on at 72 degrees…ha…the kitchen isnt but 20’ away but it over 80 degrees in the kitchen and very hot to him…he wants some ice cream which is in the kitchen. But hey lucky for him ice cream keeps floating over to him and he doesnt have to cross the thermocline…ha…those fish will sit there and watch that chum fall right to them. Put your baits down there too…
“All fisherman lie. And if they say otherwise, then they’re lying”
Almost all of the fish I catch up shallow in the lights are small. I do not think the thermocline has formed yet, so you may see them come up for a little bit longer. But once it forms you need to keep your bait below. As far as chum goes, I will use it to keep fish on a hump when I am spot locked and fish are near the bottom. When I am fishing up lake and going back and forth over a spot I will chum as well.
Now I pose this question. In years past I trolled alot, usually using stretch 25’s and 30’s. Obviously these baits ran right above the thermocline or within 10-15 feet. Managed to catch some larger 20 plus pound fish. In the last 5 or so years this has not worked as well (not much at all actually) Best luck was right at daylight and dusk. I always figured that the water was cooler and the thermocline was not as pronounced with the cooler water. Theories?
My biggest lake murray fish came on a freeline in July just before the sun came up. There are always exceptions to the rules. A stretch 30 will run 30’ deep 65’ back using 30# braid. So if you use mono, which I know you do, and you drop it back farther it will dive below the thermocline. as you know there are not nearly as many nice fish on the lake as there was before the 2007 fish kill. Before that most of my trips had at least one fish over 10#, and I was a rookie.
Three were over 21 inches, and the rest were 18-20 inches. The moon came up and the bite turned off.
Got to see some short Striper crashing the bait, but we did not put one into the boat. Had two wicked pull downs but the bait was robbed.