Hey everyone,

I'm going to my first night tourament on july 31 with the scbbbc at clearlake. I was wondering if anybody out there had some pointers on what to do? We will be launching out of State Park if that helps out. Any help would be great, thanks.

David Brown

Pretty much the same baits that work in the daytime will work at night. You may want to go with darker colors though. Black spinnerbaits and buzzbaits are a good bet, as well as big cranks like Poe's 400s and DD22s, and the big LuckyCraft cranks. Big brush hogs and worms in dark colors will be a good thing to have on hand also. definitely carry some big bulky black jigs and large trailers. If you have a blacklight, you will be much more able to watch your line if you use one of the flourescent lines like blue Stren or one of the yellow or flourescent green braids. That will save a lot of strain on your eyes. Work your jigs and worms REALLY slow, retreive your blades at a slow steady pace, and make sure to bang your cranks around on dock pilings and rocks to make a lot of noise. Spooks and Jitterbugs are some all time night favorites(black, black, and black will be you best colors).

The most important thing about night fishing though is not what baits and techniques to use. The biggest single thing is going to be safety. Be sure to have a good light. Most folks go with a head mounted lamp, and those are great becaue they will allow the use of both hands. I know I'm going to have a chemlight attached to my hat where it can be seen from 360 degrees in addition to the headlamp. A PFD will be a good idea for night fishing from a tube also. There will be bass boats out fishing, and it really would suck to get run down by one because they don't see you in the dark. Bring some warm clothes too, because it will get pretty cool at night out there. Bring your cell phone if you have one in case of emergency.

Thanks alot, I agree safety is very important I recently purchased pfd suspenders at walmart. They don't get in the way and it has a manual pull not automatic. Once my wife knew I fishing in the Delta she made me get them. I really appreciate the help, on these team tournaments I want to contribute and not be a human live well. Also I have one of those bike lights that blinks intermentlly would that be a good idea? Thanks again.

David Brown

Hey Travis,

Great suggestions for any night tournament. We want everyone to have a great time, but most important, we want everyone to be save and that means taking the right precautions.

Thanks for the advise

William-SCBBBC

KEEP IT SIMPLE!

When I used to go on my trips to Sonoma at night, back in the days, I would only need two rods. A spinnerbait rod and worm rod. I now have too many but remember, you only need a few baits as you don't have to match colors much at night. Try to not turn on and off your light (except when needed, of course) much either as that will mess up your night vision. I try to not use my light at all except when retying and landing fish.

Also, of vital importance, use trailer hooks for your spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. You can also use much heavier line too.

But, as Travis and William said before me, safety first. Keep your hears open and if a boat is anywhere near you make sure to shine your headbeam right at them to make sure they know you are there. Don't count on your back light. It is amazing how many stupid boaters are out there (most, thankfully, are not fishermen).

Todd