Night Fishing 101: Slow Moving Baits

Its been 6 weeks since we started this series on night fishing. If you’ve been following the series you now have a grasp on moon phase, topwater, and subsurface reaction baits. Now we’re going to jump into fishing slow-moving baits on the bottom. Watching this video crosses you over the threshold and past the half-way point in the series. The last two will be swimbaits, followed by jigs.
Typically the lag time between videos comes when I know a video will take a great deal of thought and I begin to procrastinate. The video on fishing jigs at night is one of those videos. I knew it was going to take a great deal of time and thought but for once I filmed it ahead of schedule instead of lagging behind. Believe it or not, its already filmed, uploaded, and awaiting its turn. Alright, let’s get back on track.

Slow moving baits, while not glamorous, have a place in every night fisherman’s arsenal. Some nights the fish don’t want to chase after a bait, other nights they don’t want to move, even for a slow moving bait. When you encounter these conditions very few baits on the market can top this top 5 list. The 5 baits being discussed in this video are the creature bait, straight tail worm, curly tail worm, stick bait, and ring worm. Of course its a night video so they’re all plus-size baits in dark colors but you get the point.

If you learn to properly apply these 5 baits you will absolutely catch more and bigger fish at night. I can’t count the number of nights a big senko worked slowly, or a 10″ power worm slightered through the rocks has saved an otherwise tough night.
Most of the baits mentioned are available at your local retailer but some may not be. If that is the case, here is a link to the 7″ senko at tacklewarehouse. You can also find the Spear Worm, Brush Hog, Hag’s Tornado, and Pivot Point Football.

Snagproof Open August 6-7

For those of you on the west coast, you probably know that this weekend is the annual Snagproof Open on the Delta. For those of you around the world, the Snagproof Open is a unique 2-day tournament in which anglers weigh in 3-fish limits (instead of the typical 5) and are only allowed to use Snagproof brand products. In other words, its a topwater frog tournament.
Unfortunately I won’t be fishing the event this year. However, I will be there to help where needed so track me down and say hello. Northern California as a whole has had an EPIC frog year thus far and that should translate into some big weights at the tournament.
In the spirit of the event I thought I’d throw in a quick video of a fish from last week. She’s not huge but she absolutely crushed a Bobby’s Perfect frog in Cicada color while walking it in open water. If I had the option to fish the event, there is no question that this is the bait I would be using and would fish it in similar conditions. (Open water between weeds and tullies)

Best of luck to those fishing the event and again, take the time to say hello. I’d love to put faces to names and maybe we can grab the camera and shoot a clip or two for the site. See you there!

Night Fishing 101: Subsurface Reaction Baits

Have you ever had one of those nights where you get out on the water, start to fish, and suddenly notice that there is nothing out there? There isn’t a bird, a squirrel, a fish on the surface, nothing. Everything around you just seems dead. Typically, that isn’t the time to be trying to throw a topwater. Obviously the fish haven’t gone to another lake, they just aren’t being active on the surface. That is when its time to try your hand at subsurface reaction baits.
I’ve broken it into 5 baits that I like to use. In no particular order they are the Chatterbait, spinnerbait, deep diving crankbait, small lipless crankbait, and large lipless crankbait. Between these 5 baits I’m able to do just about everything that night fishing can throw at me in terms of high-speed fishing.

I hope you’re able to take these tips and turn them in to big bites on your local fisheries.
What are your top 5 reaction baits? I’m always curious to see what other anglers are using. Of your top 5, which one seems to consistently draw the bigger bites?
For those of you wanting to pick up some of these baits that aren’t available at your local retailers, head over to tacklewarehouse. Here is the link: Matt’s go-to Lipless bait on tacklewarehouse

Night Fishing 101: Moon Phase

Would you rather fish on a tough day or an easy day? Of course, we’d all like to fish the easy days full of hungry fish. What if it were as easy as looking at the calendar and knowing which days to fish? While its not always that easy, understanding the moon phase calendar will go a long way to helping you catch more fish. Its amazing how a big rock so far out in space can impact the feeding patterns of fish in the local reservoir but it absolutely does. There are peak feeding times and if you understand when they are you can eliminate a lot of wasted time.

By watching this video you have potentially eliminated 17 “less than ideal” days of fishing during the month of July alone. Its not a guarantee but if you stick to the 10 days in July (and 3 at the end of June) that I’ve recommended your likelihood of experiencing a great night on the water will go up significantly.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic and by the end of the month, your success stories. Good luck out there.