Fish feed by sense at night, not by sight. Using some of the proven techniques below, you can turn an average night of fishing into a fish fighting frenzy! Having bait that is in good shape, which will only enhance these methods.

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It is important to keep your bait lively, and move it. Pump your rod tip up and down and jiggle your bait by wiggling your rod tip stimulate bites at night.

One effective technique has been to start with your bait at 20 feet down, and lower it 5 feet at a time. Raising the pole high above your head and then letting the bait flutter down is also a good method for stimulating bites.

If the bite is really on, never let your bait sit still for more than 30 seconds. Keep moving it to keep the bite going. Another effective method of this is to have rod tip extended out to the side. Lift and drop the tip several times while swinging the rod 180 degrees. Let it rest 30 seconds and swing back, it takes about 10 seconds for bait to catch up. Watch the line catch up to your rod, and give it a yank on any twitch or slack – you’ve got a fish on!

When fishing with lures, work them slowly. Surface lures are best for swarms of feeding fish at night though this does not mean fish will not take underwater lures or baits after dark.

Cast your surface lure to a promising spot; let it float; then pop it gently. If this does not bring a strike, reel the lure along for several feet, or pop it along steadily so that it makes a big commotion on the surface. Then slow your retrieve and bring the lure along. By kicking up a commotion in the beginning, you may attract a bass or some other game fish. By slowing the retrieve down later, you will give the fish a chance to locate the lure and strike it.

Sensing Night Bites

Did you know that many bites from the big boys go completely unnoticed? Sometimes the smallest tug brings up the biggest fish (in my experience). Here are some proven methods to increase your sensitivity to these subtle big game bites.

Braided line saves a lot of retying of frayed line and its sensitivity makes subtle bites easier to detect.

Wearing a headlight for focused light is recommended. When you have a bite on, you need to put that focused light on your rod tip to help you. If you are fishing deep, when the bite is on, the rod tip will barely move because the fish is swimming out, not down. If it swims up, the rod will slacken – in either case it will be hard to tell unless you have some light on that rod tip.

Equipping your reels with fluorescent monofilament line will dramatically increase your catch ratio. Use it in combination with a black light so that you can detect subtle strikes in total darkness.

By the way, a black light is probably one of the most important pieces of night fishing gear. It will make fluorescent monofilament line glow like a laser beam across the dark water and will allow anglers to detect subtle strikes that would ordinarily go unnoticed.