Fishing in the dark

[Akice]

Gonna be spending some time in an ice house/shanty fishing lakers/grayling but alot of it will be NOT during the daylight hours, can anyone share their experience on how much daylight effects jiggin' in 20 feet of water or so?

[Barleydog]

Sure haven't fished for lakers to much at night...  Rainbows, char, and salmon seem to do feed well at night, but I'm sure someone has the intell on night fishing lakers? 
I use a crappie light hooked to a deep cell battery.  Cut a hole just out side your shack and stick the light inside.  This will light up an area around 20 ft. across and attract a mutitude of fish, even in 20 FOW.  Fishing at night can be hit or miss, but on a noisy lake, it can be fantastic!

[Akice]

i wasn't so much thinking at night, but in januarury up north fishing in the daylight sure ain't gonna be for very long...! i was thinking that 8-11am time frame and the 3pm-6pm time frame, you put a light down the hole? below the bottom of the ice level or just right at teh surface of the water? i'll probably have a generator there what kinda light did you use?

[AKFISHRIPPER]

i wasn't so much thinking at night, but in januarury up north fishing in the daylight sure ain't gonna be for very long...! i was thinking that 8-11am time frame and the 3pm-6pm time frame, you put a light down the hole? below the bottom of the ice level or just right at teh surface of the water? i'll probably have a generator there what kinda light did you use?

We just use a propane lantern inside of the shanty and the light goes down all the holes just fine in 20-30ft of water

[Barleydog]

Yeah it's either dark or dusk in the middle of winter in the interior eh!   I use a light designed for fishing crappies.  It's really just a car headlight with Styrofoam around it and two power leads coming from the light to your deep cell battery...  Here's the thing...  Drill your hole ALMOST through to water, stop, clear out the hole and set the light on top of the augered opening.  You WILL light up the lake with such a technique and increase your fishing time by quite a few hours!  Don't place your light right where your fishing!  Back it away from your holes, so you don't give the fish a retinal burn!  AKFishripper I tried the lantern gig and it's not bright enough for me, BUT it does work.  Akice the problem with a generator is it's noise and vibration!  Those fish are adjusting to the quite only offered after daylight hours activities cease...  Place a generator, snowmachine, kids etc... on the ice, and you're creating another noise that'll spook em.  I use a deep cell that powers my electric downriggers, so it's good for 6+ hours.  The cat's out of the bag now!  So if you're already using this technique successfully, don't email me with hate mail issuing death threats on how I gave out the secret!   I have done this trick for years, and find it productive and at times deadly on trout!

[Akice]

great adivice, i can see where not drilling thru to the water would help with the light, it'd be like a lens almost.
Do fish hit better with the light than without?

[Barleydog]

Right on!  It acts like a lens or magnifier for the light.  The biggest pain is clearing the shavings towards the bottom of the hole.  Yes and no...  If there's a covering of snow on top of the ice, then yes, if it's sunny and little snow cover, then no.  It's all about penetrating light for the most part, and attracting those creepy crawleys that trout love to eat!

[travisj88]

I have a friend that says he drills a hole almost all the way through and then lowers a lantern into the hole.  I've never tried it but he swears by it.
Travis

[Barleydog]

Anyone who has fished for trout at night knows it can be productive!  I used to live in Upper Michigan and knew of a lake that had some really healthy stocked rainbows.  You could rarely get these fish to hit anything during the day, (probably due to other water sport activities on the lake during the day.)  One night my fishing partner and I tied a Coleman over the side of my boat and decided to give night fishing a try using live minnows.  Thinking this was more of a loon listening/beer drinking night, I was in for a suprise!  Within 15 minutes the water column was full of leaches, bugs, zoo planktin, minnows etc... and in came the fish!  We never set down our rods, and had phenomenal success all night long on some real lunkers.  I eventually graduated to crappie lights and even halogen portable lights.  Figured it worked well in the summer so why not the winter?  It seems almost equally successful to summer fishing.  Guess I don't have a point, but I am willing to bet you that 75% of the lakes we fish during the daylight hours are just as productive (if not better) during the night!  I have been skunked too, so that's my 25% portion of the ratio...