Author Topic: Nice Night Bite Last Night (Read 2975 times)

Hexagenia51 · « **on:** Feb 28, 2019, 08:59 AM »

Friend and I got out last night, first night fishing I've done in years and it was well worth it! Set up on fish in 15 foot of water and started catching them right off. We only fished two holes for the next two and a half hours they bit steady and pretty aggressively. They seemed to want it setting still and then just nail it! Buddy was just using a bobber and he got as many as me. Between us we ended up with 44 dandy gills. If that's my last trip out it was a good one, and a great time! Hex

Gartoon · « **Reply #1 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 09:01 AM »

Thanks for the report Hex
Look to be some dandys!

river_scum · « **Reply #2 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 09:29 AM »

good pile WTG!

what jigs were they liking after dark?

Operator435543 · « **Reply #3 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 09:55 AM »

Nice haul.

Hexagenia51 · « **Reply #4 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 10:09 AM »

Buddy had pink and I had a black with gold glitter. Getting ready to put the blade to em, few 9s and most over 8". Here's a pic! Hex

RobertFitz · « **Reply #5 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 10:31 AM »

Some nice fish bud!

RoeBoat · « **Reply #6 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 11:50 AM »

Nice mess Hex!!!

CWlake · « **Reply #7 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 12:02 PM »

I have never had a bluegill bite after dark. Does this happen on many lakes?

Hexagenia51 · « **Reply #8 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 12:13 PM »

I know of probably 4or5 that have after dark gill bites. Probably a lot more also! Hex

river_scum · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 05:35 PM »

yea nice spread there!

thanks for response. in summer we get them with roadrunners, beetle spins or tiny cranks after dark.

musky8it · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 06:07 PM »

Quote from: CWlake on Feb 28, 2019, 12:02 PM

I have never had a bluegill bite after dark. Does this happen on many lakes?

4-5 yrs back I read a post in here, the guy said he caught gills late at nite on a lake I fish. I tried it several times and the biggest gill I caught all year was at 11:30pm, 9-3/4" in 13fow. Maybe if gills are close by the lantern light draws them in but not sure.

OMIGHTY · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 08:59 PM »

Good Show Buddy! Only a few ponds I fish ever produced gills at night.

Jig_Head · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 28, 2019, 09:49 PM »

Quote from: CWlake on Feb 28, 2019, 12:02 PM

I have never had a bluegill bite after dark. Does this happen on many lakes?

I was thinking the exact same thing. I love night fishing on the ice but do it for crappie and walleye. I've only got a couple random gills ever after dark while targeting crappie.
Way to get on em Hex

tater140 · « **Reply #13 on:** Mar 01, 2019, 05:18 AM »

I have caught lots of gills after dark. As mentioned before not every lake will have a night bite. Its just a bit of trial and error to find one that does.

Spooled85 · « **Reply #14 on:** Mar 01, 2019, 06:17 AM »

Quote from: tater140 on Mar 01, 2019, 05:18 AM

I have caught lots of gills after dark. As mentioned before not every lake will have a night bite. Its just a bit of trial and error to find one that does.

I'll second that , I've had hills bits from sun down to 10 pm and left them biting

kcskypilot · « **Reply #15 on:** Mar 01, 2019, 06:32 AM »

So far my experience has been that lakes with lots of pike and walleyes don't have a night bite. Lakes that only have bass and/or catfish the gills will feed all night long.

I haven't tested this out on more than a few lakes so there could be other factors at play.

river_scum · « **Reply #16 on:** Mar 01, 2019, 08:20 AM »

one factor could be a food source hatching at night, in those lakes? most cases when we have caught gills at night, they don't seem to want worms on floats. I mean, we caught them in around the floats with the cranks. not one float ever went down. that leads me to believe they key on minnows. but we had minnows under those floats too!? go figure. we found these bites years back testing for "the reel lites" guy, bob spare. we set out to catch either eyes or crappie and ended up with a sack full of 8-10" gills. no other type fish was caught either when the gills were swarming us. why? you got me? other times, on same lakes, we caught the species we targeted. more pieces to puzzle need to be noticed on this to understand I think.

kcskypilot · « **Reply #17 on:** Mar 01, 2019, 09:31 PM »

Quote from: river_scum on Mar 01, 2019, 08:20 AM

one factor could be a food source hatching at night, in those lakes? most cases when we have caught gills at night, they don't seem to want worms on floats.

Agreed.

On the same lake, I limited out on gills within 2 hours during a mayfly hatch. Another time on the same lake during a mayfly hatch they wouldn't eat anything I offered.

I always do better with jigs when night fishing. I save the worms for the perch while the sun is shining.

musky8it · « **Reply #18 on:** Mar 02, 2019, 12:26 AM »

Quote from: kcskypilot on Mar 01, 2019, 06:32 AM

So far my experience has been that lakes with lots of pike and walleyes don't have a night bite. Lakes that only have bass and/or catfish the gills will feed all night long.

That thought had entered my mind also. Logically I thought if there are predatory fish the gills would hold tight after dark for safety but if no predatory fish are present they may roam and feed at night. The lake I caught gills late only had bass.

Hexagenia51 · « **Reply #19 on:** Mar 02, 2019, 06:12 AM »

My buddy and I got out again last night, same lake, same depth (15') and same area. They didn't bite quite as good but not too bad. We ended up with 38 dandy gills all but a couple over 8"and a few 9+". No wind last night made for a beautiful time on the ice. We probably only fished for two hours total, so they came in pretty steadily, but weren't as aggressive on the bite. I'll post a picture of em when I start to clean them! Hex

river_scum · « **Reply #20 on:** Mar 02, 2019, 07:02 AM »

no predators theory don't hold water. the lakes I get night gills have good predator populations.

Hexagenia51 · « **Reply #21 on:** Mar 02, 2019, 07:54 AM »

Picture as promised! Now I got to get to filleting them! Hex

206 kendall · « **Reply #22 on:** Mar 02, 2019, 08:37 PM »

Nice mess of gills. Envious

tater140 · « **Reply #23 on:** Mar 02, 2019, 09:44 PM »

Definitely some nice ones in there.

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Author Topic: Nice Night Bite Last Night (Read 2975 times)