Night Trolling?

A

All in Fishing

Well-Known Member
Has aanybody every experimented with trolling after sundown? Any comments?
 
There would be a lot of hazards that you would have to consider. Proper lighting on your boat, hopefully if another boat is out, it was properly lit up . I assume the commercial nets stay out overnight, and you would never see them at night . I'm not saying it wouldn't be worth a shot, but be very careful and I would suggest letting someone on shore know which direction you planned to troll, and when you will be back. My two cents
 
I did it about 15 years ago fished until 3 am...fishing was good....use glow in the dark lures.......problems we had: bad lighting, hard to see rod tips and lines, hard to see fish when netting, people on shore thought we were in trouble...called police...they came and visited, plus 2 other boats came to see if we were ok, navigation was and isssue...no land marks or boats to use as heading, must rely only on Gps or compass, kind of erie driving into complete darkness..... lots of debree out there right now plus the nets are hard enough too see in day lite.........when u do go ....i suggest trolling right into shore...so when u hit something it won't be as costly
 
Looking at the moon last night I was thinking about this. I know I have correct lighting. I have radar, GPS, etc. I have spreader lights on the back so i will see my rod tips. Even my lighting on my hard top will go blue or red or white (I don't know why)! But it is a long way to go. I am assuming you could probably fish in less than 50FOW?

At least with the moon you should be able to see shore and have a chance at seeing other things.
 
actually when the moon is shinning a bit and there is a minimal chop you can see everything laying in the water, much better than the light on day were water is like a mirror
 
I AM all rigged up for night fishing,have had great success at sundown,BUT, u have to know where the nets r:oops:,I start early so I can see them an MARK them,so I know to stay away,the rest is pure fun:D
 
We did it regularly up north and it had it's issues with keeping the boat straight and rigging bait. Jigging is much easier. I wouldn't think about doing it on Erie for many of the reasons @jrr lists. It's hairy enough during the day when there is a pack of boats out there trolling or blind in the fog. No way not me. There were great reports from guys trolling off Nanticoke last year. I was 25 and indestructible once. One guy I know hit a navigation marker at 30 MPH and nearly killed his crew and himself.
 
I would think that with my set up I can do it relatively safely - but that is because I decked out the boat with raymarine. Sorta seems like a waste to only use it on nice sunny days ;) Too bad having young kids means I can't stay up past 11pm anymore.
 
I have had success night fishing for walleye on Erie. This however was a few years back and not in your typical "walleye area's". Back in the day of the hydro outflow, we used to troll up the outlet, very slowly. In this scenario, it was lit up quite well and the drive home to Hoovers was short. Open lake night fishing would be a different scenario.
 
I have had good success in the past fishing moonlit nights on northern lakes and also on Erie. But... that was when I was young and fearless or was it just plain stupid. Anyway... I wouldn't try it 10-12 miles out on Lady Erie. When your out that far in the daylight and that lake happens to blow up is one thing but in the dark it's a whole different ball game.:eek: When I look back now I was just darn lucky on more than one occasion to return home to my wife and kids. @jrr those great looking kids in your avatar deserve to have their daddy come home. :)
 
i did a night troll about a month ago out of kingsville, walmart colour silver streak spoons took all my fish surprisingly nothing on crank baits. it was a lot of fun.
 
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