The Night Shift
Category: article
Aug 14th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Aug 14th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
The Night ShiftIt’s late summer and the dog days fishing blues are impacting many anglers whose passion is to pursue bass. Fear not, you don’t need to methodically pursue your piscine quarry with only slow finesse tactics in super-deep water or work through dense slop trying to rip a fish out of the thickest cover. Nope, you just need to change the time you head out to your favorite body of water. Try the night shift.Anglers who want to bass fish at night should head out on their favorite body of water just before the sun goes down. Make sure you are familiar with the body of water or navigating in the dark can be pretty pointless.Target all of the shallow flats close to the shore where the food sources are plentiful for the bass. You don’t need to fish tight to cover. Instead, fish the open areas near the cover. The bass roam at night and become more open-water feeders.Quite often, the first hour or so after dark can be a bit slow as the fish adjust to the changing conditions. However, once the night settles in the fishing can be phenomenal until morning.The biggest bass in your favorite pond feed heavily at night. Large spinnerbaits, topwater baits, large rattling jigs and large plastics worms are great offerings for a bass buffet. Big profile baits fished in a steady methodical manner, which allow the bass to zero in on its location, is the ticket for success.The single Colorado blade spinnerbait is probably your best overall offering. You can fish this lure around a variety of cover and it’s a basic cast-and-retrieve approach. You’ll know when the fish hits; they usually crush it at night.Color choice is the same as the Model T. You can have any color you want, as long as it is black. Of course, there are other colors that work, like white on a moonlit night, but black provides the best profile at night for the bass to zero in on.Use whatever rod and reel combo you like, but leave the light line at home. Heavy duty gear is best to turn on the big fish and keep them coming to the boat. Plus, line visibility isn’t an issue at night, so you can get away with heavy gear.