I know what you are thinking. It’s just not that easy. Well it is easier than you think! While the “The Evening Secret" is the most effective tool to bring swarms of feeding fish, here are a couple of other tips that have also proven very effective.



Proper chumming

The darker the skies get, the more fish rely on their senses of smell and movement. The fish must sense either wounded prey moving, or the smell of food. A good method for this is to set out a good chum line. Drop your strip bait into the chum, or fish live bait just out side the slick, or at the bottom.

Most species of fish, in either freshwater or saltwater, are predominantly night feeders. If you are able to get a fish feeding frenzy going with either the chum line, even those fish that don’t normally feed at night will jump into the swarm of feeding. One of the best things about fishing when the skies get darker are that fish are much more cooperative at night. The larger of almost every fish species is more willing to bite because they are less wary and have a harder time seeing line or leader.

Typically, when the evening food chain has been started, the larger fish will be deeper. If you aren’t getting hits, bring your bait up a little and catch the smaller skinny ones for awhile. Remember to keep checking deep, the big ones will eventually come. All that food is too hard to resist!

When fishing at night, the use of berley is essential! Use a deep water berley system, such as The Secret Weapon, to get a heap of berley down to the bottom before it gets dark. This is a very effective method that many fishermen either aren’t aware of or don’t use.

The Importance Of Plankton

Most daytime strategies involve frantic pursuit of prey that may not even be interested (hungry) when located. At night, the key is to find the plankton, relax and entice the big game to come to you. The key is locating the plankton, not necessarily your game fish.

You can use daylight hours to locate large quantities of plankton – this is where the fish will feed at night. Most species of bait fish feed on plankton, so it is important to know where a lot of plankton is located.

As you are searching for an anchor spot, make sure to be on the lookout for “stained water". This is water that contains plankton and or the nutrients that attract plankton. You want to target stained water that is 45 – 70 feet deep.