Lures for Night Fishing for Stripers
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Black Bombers, black smack it jrs and actually 4" chartruse storm shads work really well!
So while we're on this topic, how many of you actually subscribe to the "dark colors at night or dirty water, bright colors during the day in clear water" theory? It's worked for me in the past, but on slow days when experimenting, it's completely backwards sometimes.
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Different situations call for different lures. No one lure is king in all conditions. I know you had previously posted about fishing off your dock at night with a light. In that situation, the pink zoom or finesse fish on a 1/4 to 1/2 oz jig head is king. In more open water, you will see the swimmers, poppers, and bucktails used. That is not to say that either will not work in the other situation, it is just what I have experienced myself. I am sure many others would agree...
You could catch fish all year with a small box of jigheads from 1/4 to 1 oz and some 5 and 7 inch jerkbaits and gotcha shads stuffed in your pocket. I like white during the day, pink if there are lights around, black in the dark and chartruese in dirty water or under a moon.
Start with 5 inch pink and white zoom super flukes on 3/8-1 oz kalins jigheads, a couple blurple bombers and 4, 5 and 6 inch swim shads. You will catch plenty of fish and learn to expand from there. You will find stripers easy to catch and then start to look for bigger fish, new spots, and lighter crowds.
I fish Avalon all the time, more than willing to show you around a bit this spring. Shoot me an email when the time comes.
RyanF
Start with 5 inch pink and white zoom super flukes on 3/8-1 oz kalins jigheads, a couple blurple bombers and 4, 5 and 6 inch swim shads. You will catch plenty of fish and learn to expand from there. You will find stripers easy to catch and then start to look for bigger fish, new spots, and lighter crowds.
I fish Avalon all the time, more than willing to show you around a bit this spring. Shoot me an email when the time comes.
RyanF
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Pink seems to work better for weakies, but is also deadly for bass in the right conditions. I personally use only finesse baits at night. I prefer white/clear over dark so far.
You wanna match the hatch really. See what the bass are popping at and go from there. I have some nice peanut bunker lookin storms that work well. I also got my biggest from the yak this year using a soft plastic minnow(berkley) that was only 2" long and thin.
Remember to fish the entire water column. Lets take a spot that's 15' deep. I usually start just simply reeling the lure in at a decent pace to see if the fish are active. I also like to start out with smaller lures. First couple casts I retrieve keeping the lure 6-12" under the water. If I don't get any hits then I will take a couple more casts in the same spot and go down to 5' or so. No hits and I will do a couple at 10'. Last few casts all the way to the bottom. Still no hits and I will move a couple feet in either direction and repeat the process.
If I fish a spot like that and get no hits, then I will change up the retrieve to a bouncing and/or stop and go and re-work the entire area. If I still don't get any hits I will try live bait if I have it or move outta the area. The important thing to remember is that these fish can turn on and off in a matter of minutes. If you start getting them don't waste time farting around but at the same time, make sure you don't start rushing your retrieve. Hope this helps.
You wanna match the hatch really. See what the bass are popping at and go from there. I have some nice peanut bunker lookin storms that work well. I also got my biggest from the yak this year using a soft plastic minnow(berkley) that was only 2" long and thin.
Remember to fish the entire water column. Lets take a spot that's 15' deep. I usually start just simply reeling the lure in at a decent pace to see if the fish are active. I also like to start out with smaller lures. First couple casts I retrieve keeping the lure 6-12" under the water. If I don't get any hits then I will take a couple more casts in the same spot and go down to 5' or so. No hits and I will do a couple at 10'. Last few casts all the way to the bottom. Still no hits and I will move a couple feet in either direction and repeat the process.
If I fish a spot like that and get no hits, then I will change up the retrieve to a bouncing and/or stop and go and re-work the entire area. If I still don't get any hits I will try live bait if I have it or move outta the area. The important thing to remember is that these fish can turn on and off in a matter of minutes. If you start getting them don't waste time farting around but at the same time, make sure you don't start rushing your retrieve. Hope this helps.
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Pink and White Fin-s, small white bucktails under lights, blurple bombers, redheaded bombers have produced for me as well. Thats all Ive had luck with.
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I fish almost exclusively at night and no one lure gets my nod because as the season progresses the baits and lures I use change. I think color isn't as important as the size and profile of a bait at night. I stick with Black, Blurples, Whites, Yellows, and blackback Chromes
I Know the water I fish at night.I Check it out during the daytime in the light to see how the current moves. I Look for deeper spots.
I'm always checking the water out at night especially around stationary light sources to get an Idea of what type of bait is available to the stripers.
I Check the stomach contents of every fish I keep, and what fish I release might spit up, its very helpful to determine the lures I should be throwing in season.
Remembering how I retrieved a lure and also the direction of the current and how my plug related to it when I catcha fish plays a big, big role in me being able to have some sense of consistancy at night.
Finally, Having confidence in knowing what lures I throw, definitely increases my catch rate. I practice during the day with my lures to try and give them LIFELIKE action so I can do it when I'm blind at night.
If you are fishing regularly you will become familiar with the habits on how stripers feed in the waters you fish, how they stage to ambush prey. Where the Hot Spots are.
In the early spring smaller soft baits fished slowly are the first things stripers will feed on until their metabolisms get up to speed. so keep your presentations on the smaller side. When the Bunker show up ALL H$LL BREAKS LOOSE!...I can't wait!!!!
Good Luck,
Live 2 Fish
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I Know the water I fish at night.I Check it out during the daytime in the light to see how the current moves. I Look for deeper spots.
I'm always checking the water out at night especially around stationary light sources to get an Idea of what type of bait is available to the stripers.
I Check the stomach contents of every fish I keep, and what fish I release might spit up, its very helpful to determine the lures I should be throwing in season.
Remembering how I retrieved a lure and also the direction of the current and how my plug related to it when I catcha fish plays a big, big role in me being able to have some sense of consistancy at night.
Finally, Having confidence in knowing what lures I throw, definitely increases my catch rate. I practice during the day with my lures to try and give them LIFELIKE action so I can do it when I'm blind at night.
If you are fishing regularly you will become familiar with the habits on how stripers feed in the waters you fish, how they stage to ambush prey. Where the Hot Spots are.
In the early spring smaller soft baits fished slowly are the first things stripers will feed on until their metabolisms get up to speed. so keep your presentations on the smaller side. When the Bunker show up ALL H$LL BREAKS LOOSE!...I can't wait!!!!
Good Luck,
Live 2 Fish
<><
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Never really bought into the black at night theory. I only fish long rod and use the same colors at night that I use during the day. When it comes to lures, opaque is opaque. No more light passes thru a white lure than it does a black lure. Baitfish don't turn black at night. If you're drowning bunker at night, do you paint them black?
i
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black bombers have worked for me
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Could not agree me about the color selection... For me, I use a pink zoom 9 out of 10 times!
At night, I use a pink or albino zoom if we have some light around. This is my usual night fishing as I fish by dock lights & the bridges. If no light, I will have my black zoom on the jig. During the day is either white or chartreuse, and if you have a moon glowing on the surface, try chartreuse & pink again.
I dabble with the shads & bombers at night, and have always had great success as well, but my pink zoom is the lure of choice at night...
This year, I was nailing a ton of bass on a translucent pink plastic shrimp lure, as soon as MattList & Insomniac showed me where to buy 'em!
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I keep wanting to get a few x raps...but never seem to find the bunker pattern. I like Sebiles ...This spring I'm gonna definitely pick up a few. Whats the weight on those ?
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Black Bomber and black slugo or bkd
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