Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

For anyone who enjoys warm summer nights and explosive bites right off the banks ....what your favorite lure for this ocasion?

mine is probably a spook or a scum frog..

Brushhog or a black spinnerbait with a single large colorado blade.

Hard to nail just one favorite down... One of my favorite baits would be a wooden or urethane wake-bait. A.C. Minnow, M.S. Slammer, Wake Jr. etc. Nothing like slowly waking that in the moonlight and hearing it get just crushed! These baits also produce noise which helps the fish locate them in the dark.

4 inch robo worm (something with a little glitter like summer shad, or MMIII, or crystal shad) on drop shot with a lindly no snag sinker or a floating rattle trap. (depends on the time of year and the body of water)... (mind you this is if I am standing on the bank and not in a boat).

In a boat you can change that to a regular drop shot weight and just the robo worm. They are deadly on all the No Cal lakes and in the delta.

That black lure, heavy vibration thing is nothing but a dumb myth. I do a ton of summer night fishing and they all like the drop shotted finese. you can also dart head them on spot lakes.

Those bass see perfectly at night, black lures don't do any better and fish can tell the difference between subtle color changes like a tiny bit of glitter in the dark.

The only reason I threw in the floating rattle trap was to compensate in some of the places that are hard to bank fish from. Floating traps can get themselves out of some snaggy situations and work decent at night. (same exact colors you throw during the day for the same body of water).

Good Fishing,

-Paul-

M.S. Slammer, Black Buzz Jet, 10" power worms, 1/2-3/4oz. jig with brush hog trailer and 1/2oz. single colorado black spinnerbait. I guess thats more than one and nothing special but thats what works for me.

What is a floating rattel trap?

I have been fishing floating traps since the 80's...

http://rat-l-trap.com/2007/index.php?op ... &Itemid=68

It's a Bill lewis rat-l-trap that is sealed frog butt tight with smaller BBs inside so it floats on the surface instead of sinking. They also make suspending traps too, and e-chip ones, etc.

They can be deadly for shallow bass.

nipples thats a new one ...at least for me...i've never tried to drop shot from the bank....do you use a longer lead from your hook to the weight or still have the same amount you would as if fishing it from a boat?

junebug Big Dead Ringer

Yeah! Dead ringer 8" black red fleck or june bug.

Brush hogs and 3/4oz jigs. Also any loud topwater bait

Nipples has this one right on. Use brown and olive jigs all the time on night fishing, never noticed a difference. I still like to use a black topwater or wakebait so I can still see its shadow when I'm looking for tangled hooks before casting. Other than that, never noticed a huge difference with black. Finesse will do fine also, caught plenty of fish on tough nights with a 4" Robo on a DS. I always use a skinny DS sinker at night, cause I can't see shoreline obstacles or shallow water crevices like I can when day fishing. I usually throw a wakebait, jig, crankbait or spinnerbait when night fishing. For me, the biggest fish have always come at night on jigs or big wakebaits like the MS Slammer. But there is no doubt big fish wil hit small stuff at night, just take a look at Castiac Lower Lagoon. Lots of big night fish caught on Robos at night

So if you are using a wake bait would color matter or just noise? How about full moon versus no moon?

mincal wrote:nipples thats a new one ...at least for me...i've never tried to drop shot from the bank....do you use a longer lead from your hook to the weight or still have the same amount you would as if fishing it from a boat?

my son and i dropshot from the bank all the time (since we don't have a boat). we tie the rig the same as when we do get a boat ride. obviously we can't just drop the bait straight down, unless i want to fish two inches of water. we cast and retrieve --- include some shaking too.

I like the moon so I can see what I'm doing and where I'm going. As for fishing I think the new moon is better.

mincal wrote:nipples thats a new one ...at least for me...i've never tried to drop shot from the bank....do you use a longer lead from your hook to the weight or still have the same amount you would as if fishing it from a boat?

Sorry about the late reply Mincal, It's been a busy weekend (I had guest in from the east coast and took them down to Monterey yesterday).

Anyway.. Drop shotting from bank.

I don't do a lot of bank fishing now days, but occasionally, I get the urge to go throw a few casts in the murky dark of the lunker dinner hour, and I don't want to deal with the boat. So bank fishing fits the need very nicely.

Dropshotting from bank works great. Remember that this is a technique that spawned from a bait fishing rig, very commonly thrown from the bank.

I have done it (both day and night) on Oroville, Shasta, Clearlake, Delta, and Berryessa. From the bank, you will always be working a drop shot up the bank from deep to shallow (even when casting down the bank). This is a situation where a regular drop shot weight snags up more often. I like the no snag sinkers for this because it means more time fishing and less time re-tying...

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 0_100-10-3

I prefer the 1/4 oz size for the no snag sinkers.

I will use both long and short leaders from bank. Sometimes as little as 4 or 5 inches and sometimes 2 or 3 feet. I always start off long and keep shortening it until the fish let me know what they prefer. Generally I nose hook a 4 inch robo worm, but sometimes I'll go wacky.

Even when fishing from a boat I sometimes cast a drop shot shallow and work it back to the boat (usually shallow to deeper). But sometimes I will get the boat next to the bank and work it back to the boat (just like I am standing on the bank) going deep to shallow (especially on points). It all depends on the fish and how they are positioned in their wait/search for food. (Usually they face into the wind/current, etc and wait for the food to come to them and then capitalize on any tasty opportunity that swims or floats their way.

Ever technique you can use from a boat can be done from the bank. I remember reading in Basswest, June/July 2007, page 54, great article by Terry Battisti titled "Shoreline Swimbait Tactics". He goes over some really great swimbait bank fishing strategies used by Southern CA trophy hunter Adam Hinkle. Some of those So Cal trophy lakes don't allow boats and some only allow jon boats with electric motors only. Most anglers would never consider dragging swimbaits from shore let alone have the drive and guts to do it and do it well.

The boat is a great advantage, but then again, so is the rod, line, lure, electronics, etc. etc. But the real advantage is the angler holding the rod, using the electronics, controlling the boat, spooling the reel, pairing the right rod, reel, to line and lure, understanding the fish, etc. I have caught some great fish from bank, I have smoked guys in 50K bass boats while fishing from a 12 foot jon boat on the Delta and other lakes (granted I would have perferred to do it from a better boat). All the advantages in the world don't do anything for a person who cannot understand them and use them to their full potential. And sometimes, not having to deal with a boat can allow a bank angler to concentrate more on the fish.

Even if I never "had" to bank fish again for the rest of my life, I would still do it from time to time. The change offers me a different perspective, sometimes I can concentrate on the feel of the fish and rod better while standing on solid ground. I enjoy throwing a few casts from the dock or the launch ramp when I've got my feet planted on hard gound. And sometimes, it's just a nice change.

Diversity is the spice of life and perspecive is the love and happiness.

Good Fishing,

-Paul-

SethB wrote:I like the moon so I can see what I'm doing and where I'm going. As for fishing I think the new moon is better.

If you get the chance, pick up a battery powered black light and spool up some trilene XL in Floescent clear/Blue. The line glows under the black light and it makes 8lb test look like thick glowing rope. It is very cool. You can't miss the line jumping when a fish so much as farts next to the lure.

I fished clearlake one night in my buddies boat with a black light. Pretty cool.

WOW, you said night fishing with a Full MOON!!!!
What ever happened to the to the Black Jointed JITTERBUG????????[/u][/b]

LARGE Black Jitterbug

Lugnut wrote: LARGE Black Jitterbug

I third that Jitterbug! Yet the last 5 years, I've prefered ta BUBBA UP with the Arborgast Muskie Bug!!!!!!!! That big slow moving, gurgling top water is my absolute favorite bait ta fish at night!Course I always have that 1/2 oz Jig-n-grub on the deck too! That's my confidence bait that puts fish in the boat, yet not near as exciting as The BUG!

isnt arbogast a AC plug?

I have really done well with this one.

i bet those will catch a **** load of fish

I have never seen one of those but i do think that should be the lure that every person who wins a tournament shows when they are asked .....what was your success to this win...lol...where do you find these at?

10" Berkley Powerworm. Everywhere I go I catch big fish at night with this either texas rigged or carolina rigged.