Night fishing

[floatfisher]

Anyone do it?  I have not done it at night and really thinking about trying it out this year, maybe this weekend.  I am thinking in general about going to Lamoka as this is where I have quite a bit of access and I hear the crappie fishing can be pretty good.  I have never caught one there although I have never specifically targeted crappies either.  I know tip ups are not the preferred method I am going to try setting these up and putting glo sticks on the flags to see them from a distance in the dark.  Any other tips or tricks for finding them on Lamoka would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[Lucky13]

I stayed late on Honeoye a few times.  Jigging through the whole water column in 10 ft of water or less, the crappies we got were usually suspended.   The more successful guys were using lanterns on the ice.   This was quite a while ago at the north end.

 

I would be hesitant to go out on new water at night after these freeze thaw/rain cycles unless I had checked it first during daylight, a lot of posts around on other sites about holes getting bigger and dark spots opening up in the rain and melt of the last few days.  Creepers, spud, headlamp, etc....... 

[floatfisher]

Thanks for the tips. I was going to ask about taking a lantern. I would most likely go out late afternoon early evening to get set up then stay late to see what happens.

I have heard about the holes opening up too. I am an advocate for using smaller auger for this reason. And especially because I take my kids most of the time and don't want them to step in a hole.

Thanks again.

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[Sk8man]

Lucky 13 has given you some good info. I would add the following:

I wouldn't go out there alone and I wouldn't take kids either at night.....it can be VERY spooky with the ice cracking etc. and it could end your trip soon after it begins.

I'm assuming you are intending to use a shelter as contrasted with sitting out in the open (I have done both and a highly mobile shelter with some battery powered interior lighting is the way to go)

I fished Honeoye many times at night in the past and it is easy to get disoriented out there because at this time of year many of the cottages aren't occupied as they are in the warmer weather so little to no lighting to orient yourself when it is really dark. (although I think there is now a light pole near the launch) Generally for the crappie fishing for numbers or potentially for the walleyes you'll usually need to be out quite aways from the launch. There have been many of the streams active that flow into the lake recently so the ice integrity is a question mark especially near the shoreline.

The temps are considerably colder after the sun goes down and /or the wind comes up so a good working lantern is very desirable. An LED head mounted light with extra batteries is also a good idea. Although tip-ups can be great in the non-windy day time they cab be a bit clumsy or cumbersome to manage at night and thus jigging is really the preferred method for a few reasons a) You are able to see what you are doing near the light, b) you aren't running around out in the dark and chasing potential windflags....safer, unless you absolutely have the greatest spot identified ahead of time you'll need to move around to some degree to locate fish and you'll be very reluctant to do that in the cold with tip-ups. I usually waited until I had definitely located some fish by jigging before setting them out.

I was also assuming fishing the south end. At the north end there are many gas pockets and spring upwellings  etc. which are hard to see in the daylight let alone at night as I normally avoided fishing the north end at night. Often Trident Marina has had a bubbler going which adds to the potential treachery for nearshore entry/exit at that location.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Sk8man

[floatfisher]

Thanks sk8 for all of your insight! More to think about than I thought.

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[Lucky13]

16 hours ago, Sk8man said:

Often Trident Marina has had a bubbler going which adds to the potential treachery for nearshore entry/exit at that location.

I used  to go out at Sandy Bottom, but I was always out there in daylight and then just hung around later.  I never had problem with the gasholes up there, although that is where they are mapped, but I generally didn't go out until there was 8" or so of ice, and I followed the well worn path out toward the shanty town, and then stayed away from anything that looked sketchy.  I always picked up the tipups before dark.

[bosco]

I'm going to Honeoye after work today to fish for Walleye through sunset and then for Crappie by lantern light. I enjoy this kind of fishing because I usually have plenty of solitude. As far as targeting Walleye after dark, like pulling an all nighter, I've tried it on Honeoye and didn't get anything until twilight the next morning. I plan to try an all-nighter for Walleye again in the real near future but not around here (Rochester/Finger Lakes area).

[Silver Fox]

Honeoye is pretty darn muddy I hear.

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[Sean Youngblood]

4 hours ago, Silver Fox said:

Honeoye is pretty darn muddy I hear.

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I fished yesterday.It was differently stained.

[Sk8man]

The muddy characteristic is usually following warm days as the creeks run pretty good and empty muddy water into the lake as well as stir things up where it enters the lake proper. Other times the water takes on a sort of iridescent quality looking like the lake turning over  which obscures vision and I'm not sure what causes that.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Sk8man

[bosco]

I went out of Sandy Bottom yesterday figuring the water might be less stained being so far from the inlet. I started in 13' and was able to see me lure go down to the 7 foot mark. The fishing on the other hand...I had a real hard time marking ANY fish. Bounced all over the place. Finally I found a spot that got me about a dozen or so dink perch. I stuck in that area and fired up the lantern after dark to try and call in the Crappie. Not a single blip on the Vex for nearly 2 hours. Anyways, I was grateful just to get out. I went up to Quinte over Christmas break for a couple days, started to get a bad stomach ache on the ride home and 4 days later I was on the operating table getting my appendix removed. That was followed the next week by a bad infection at the largest incision point. Anyways, I was finally feeling good enough to try and get on the ice last night so I was extremely grateful just to catch a dozen dink perch. 

[Lucky13]

I always did better on 'gills if I found the drop-off from 8' to 12".  A friend who used to fish Walleye and Crappie always fished even shallower for them.

[Sean Youngblood]

42 minutes ago, bosco said:

I went out of Sandy Bottom yesterday figuring the water might be less stained being so far from the inlet. I started in 13' and was able to see me lure go down to the 7 foot mark. The fishing on the other hand...I had a real hard time marking ANY fish. Bounced all over the place. Finally I found a spot that got me about a dozen or so dink perch. I stuck in that area and fired up the lantern after dark to try and call in the Crappie. Not a single blip on the Vex for nearly 2 hours. Anyways, I was grateful just to get out. I went up to Quinte over Christmas break for a couple days, started to get a bad stomach ache on the ride home and 4 days later I was on the operating table getting my appendix removed. That was followed the next week by a bad infection at the largest incision point. Anyways, I was finally feeling good enough to try and get on the ice last night so I was extremely grateful just to catch a dozen dink perch. 

I found the exact opposite fishing mid Lake Thursday.I only found Crappie. Only caught one 9in. Perch.Marked fish and caught fish in almost every hole.Depth really didn't seem to matter 20 to 30 ft.I would catch 2 or 3 fish in a hole then I wouldn't mark anymore.Drill another hole and repeat.I stayed about an  hour  after dark and only marked 1 fish.  

[bosco]

I surely would've preferred mid lake. My folks used to have a cottage just south of the Ranch so I could park there and walk across to the trench with little difficulty. They sold it last year so now I'm either Sandy Bottom or State Launch and a lot of hoofin' it. I'm just not yet in a position to take on that distance. Hand augering wasn't terribly comfortable either. Maybe in another week or so.  

[Gator]

You should have sent a text...we were there last night off Trident...only stayed until 6:30 because it didn't look to be so hot, but we managed a few keeper crappie in 20' or so on tip downs, including two behemoths. It'd be nice not to have to worry about the shoreline ice, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen for a while. 

[Lucky13]

It's supposed to drop down to 9 by Tuesday night, get marginally warm Wednesday and Thursday, and then February is supposed to start the Arctic thing again, very cold into the weekend.  And that is in Rachacha, its colder down in the hills.