Silas Gray: Try fishing after jet skiers have gone home

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July 22, 2006

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sat Jul 22, 2006, 11:06 PM CDT

By Silas Gray

Globe columnist

Before we began loading our equipment onto the boat the weatherman on the motel TV had said it was 97 degrees today and would be 100 tomorrow.

The 100 degrees didn’t concern us since we were more interested in the overnight low of 75. During the heat of the summer, the best largemouth bass fishing may be under the cool cover of darkness. A full moon is always welcome but any night without a thunder storm is just fine.

It was mid-July and prime time for night fishing. The summer sun combined with an endless parade of boats during the day tends to send bass into hiding way back into the shade of heavy cover. The night, however, brings them out into the open and sometimes into extremely shallow water to feed. That’s when I like to be there.

With the boat in its slip and the rods tucked safely in their lockers, we returned to the welcoming temperature of our air-conditioned room. Red 11 Port Resort located near Grove, Okla., was the base of operations for our fishing adventure.

I had pried my pal Tony Herrin away from his granddaughter, Kylee Jean, for a couple of days of fishing. This was a rare occurrence since three-year-old Kylee is the apple of her grandfather’s eye.

The dock at Red 11 was well lighted and close to where we had planned to fish so we didn’t need to start out until near sundown. This gave us plenty of time for a nap to help prepare us for the long night of fishing ahead.

After a couple of hours of trying to sleep I walked down to the dock to check the boat and sort my tackle. Crawfish patterned Bomber Model A crank baits, quarter-ounce swimming jigs and three-eighths ounce chartreuse spinner baits with a single silver Colorado blade were tied on and ready for fishing at dusk. I placed everything I would need after dark where I could easily find it since it’s amazing how hard simple tasks can be in the pitch black of night.

The sun had just started down as we idled the boat away from the dock. The air was still in the low 90s, making the breeze of the moving boat most welcome. Once clear of the no-wake area we put the boat on plane, crossed over this arm of the lake and headed up Wolf Creek.

It was still a couple of hours before the bass would move from their shady cover into shallow water where Tony and I wanted them. We fished the edges of docks and piles of rock and brush while working our way up the creek. Using spinner and crank baits we caught several largemouth bass, the largest being three pounds.

Once the sun sets the fishing slows for an hour and this slow-down period was a great time to make final arrangements in the boat, remove the daytime lures we’d been using and tie on the proper baits for night. Now the real fishing began.

From the back of the boat Tony began alternating between a black half-ounce jig and a black three-quarter ounce Ledge Buster spinner bait. He would cast into the shallow areas behind and between the docks.

His job was to fish along the bottom of the lake starting within a few of feet of the shore and work the lure back to where the lake bottom drops to about 20 feet. Depending on the time of night the fish can be anywhere along that zone.

I was on the front seat using a quarter-ounce black and white spinner bait targeting fish that were extremely shallow and easily spooked. By casting up onto the shore and pulling slowly back into the water I’d many times get a ferocious strike seconds after the lure left the bank. If I had a bad cast and the lure didn’t make it to the shore I’d often hear a big splash as a bass was spooked and took off.

I’d usually come back later to fish the area where the bass was startled as they often return to feeding after only a few minutes.

Once the lure was three feet from the bank it’s not as productive so I reeled it quickly back to the boat. However once in a while the sudden fast motion of the bait would trigger a strike from a bass fearing his prey is escaping.

Team fishing the bank the way Tony and I did was very efficient.

He was targeting fish that would never bother chasing my little bait near the shore and I wasn’t spooking his fish since I quickly reeled back in over his water. We caught a lot of nice fish using this technique and two were over five pounds.

Night fishing may be just the way to extend your fishing season throughout the hot days of summer.

On your next angling adventure try sleeping in and start fishing as the jet skiers are headed home.

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