Night fishing with soft plastics produces the goods

[linewetter]

With the recent hour change, it seems like it's getting darker and darker, sooner and sooner.  A bad day of work today lead me to scramble home quickly and grab my fishing gear and go fishing.  I checked the tides and wind on the way out and decided to go somewhere I have been to many times before for practicing my casts, but have never been successful at getting that many fish. 

By the time I arrived to the spot, tied my leader, and setup, I was down to 45 mins of fishing time before I had to go, and about 10 mins of daylight left.  Conditions like that, I would normally have just gone to the nearest wharf and put some bread on a hook but I have fallen absolutely in love with soft plastics fishing all over again.  I haven't done much night fishing with lures aside from the other night, but with it getting dark much earlier nowadays, fishing in the dark was something I was going to start having to get used to if I wanted to fish at all during the week.  

I initially tied on a Squidgy prawn lure with a little bit of interest but no hookups.  This went on for about 15 mins before I decided to change lures.  I wasn't feeling the Squidgy prawn today and a big part of lure fishing is confidence.  I decided to change my plastic and now had my choice of grubs or paddletails in a variety of colors.  It was pretty dark at this point with the sun below the horizon.  I decided to go with a paddletail and in a white-ish color with fleck in it.  My reasoning behind this being...I plan to slow roll this lure.  In my mind, the paddletail works better than the curly tail grubs on a slow roll when it comes to drawing attention.  From my view, if you roll the grubs a little quicker, the tail flaps really fast but I personally don't like how fast it flaps, it's kind of unnatural to me, they're better off on a much slower retrieve or on a lighter jighead where they can slowly sink and the tail wavers on its own, that's where I think they shine the most.  The paddletails even when I roll them fast, they still look pretty good.  So paddletail it was.  In terms of color, I went with white-ish with fleck for a reason as well.  A while back during a lesson with @DerekD we were going over fishing for kingfish and he explained he liked both pink and white colors.  White because it reflected the most light out of any color and last color to disappear.  That stuck with me because it made a lot of sense and really simplified choosing lure colors for me.  Since it's nighttime, I'm figuring it can't hurt to go with the white color because even if it's dark out, it'll stand the best chance at reflecting any light available compared to anything else I can have on now.  But of course, lure fishing is like 95% about how confident you feel while fishing them, and this was what went through my head when picking what plastic to put on next that made me feel confident.   I'm sure the grubs and any other color likely would have worked just as well or maybe even better, but this is what made me feel good about using the one I picked.

 

So on went a Zman paddletail.  I applied some scent to the lure and out it went.  As a visual for how dark it was out...

 

 

This is how dark it was.  Can you see me in the photo?  Cause I'm in the photo...right in front of the camera  😁  

The only source of light was my headlamp which I left off because it attracted a lot of bugs - tip for anyone else who goes night fishing...get a headlamp with an option for red LEDs if you can & ideally white LED.  I read that red won't attract the bugs and that LEDs won't put out UV which also attracts the bugs.  I unfortunately did not have red on mine so...it was bug central anytime I wanted to see so the light stayed off for the most part.

 

First cast with the Zman in the dark.  Fishing in the dark like this really tests your abilities and senses.  Sounds and tactile feel is definitely heightened.  I was alone fishing here and every slight sound made me swivel my head to make sure I wasn't getting sneaked up on.  But it also heightened the feel of every bump, every rock that my jighead came across...and every tug as well.  It was during this first cast, I felt a something...was that a fish?  I couldn't tell because I was trying to pay attention to the rustling behind me too.  I paused the lure to see if it would move again.  If it moved again....well snags don't move on their own.   Nothing happened.....I gave it a quick hop - line felt a little taut....hmm..is it weed?  Pause again...Gave it another hop hop which were weightless - meaning this wasn't a snag or weed and then suddenly felt a jerk as the fish ran off with the lure.  After some runs and fish head turning, I brought the fish in:

 

A very nice looking bream!  I turned my headlamp on for the photo and instantly the bugs and moths came.  Quick unhook and back in the fish went.  Okay okay....one fish on the first cast after swapping to the paddletail.  All about the confidence in working the lure.  

 

After a few more casts and head swiveling, I was in the same situation I was in before.  Feeling of....what's that sound??? Wait was that a fish??  I decided to play it cool again...quick hop to see what happens....nothing.  Let me roll it a little back to me...nothing.   Quick hop and slightly faster retrieve and bam!  I was onto another fish.  This one was a bit smaller based on feel (can't see until it's at my feet basically...) but it was making more runs than the last one.  I brought it in close and could see it was a bream then it made a last dash away from me.  There was a lot of oysters around so I was actually a little worried it would break me off but I managed to get it in:

 

Another good fish.  An observation I had on this second fish....the water was surprisingly warm dripping off this fish.  Almost like lukewarm.  I was expecting colder water since it was in the harbour, but yeah.  

I was feeling pretty good now so far.  Two fish in the dark, on a soft plastic.  I can't even see where the lure lands at this point, it's entirely based on sound and feel.  It was almost time to go so I decided this would be my last cast.  Right as I cast it, I hear MORE RUSTLING!! I look around and see a figure walking by...then something right at my feet.  Look down and it's just a dog.  Guess the owner didn't realize anyone else was here.  I don't blame him, I only saw him because of his silhouette, I would look practically invisible from his perspective looking at me against the water.   Back to fishing.  I did a mixture of slow rolling and hops here.  Really, really slow rolling though...like increments of quarter turn a little at a time.  Suddenly I feel a tug.  This was definitely a fish.  I pause the lure....nothing.  I give it a quarter turn, half a second pause, then another quarter turn and I'm on. This felt like it was going to be the best fish of the night.  This was a pretty smart fish.  I noticed as I brought it closer to shore, it was starting to try to run parallel to the shoreline where the oysters were.  I managed to turn its head before then and bully it in.  At my feet, it made a last run for it but the lure was hooked well into the corner of its mouth so it wasn't getting off so easily.  Brought it in and it was another nice bream and the biggest of the night:

 

 

And another shot of the same fish to celebrate catching it on the last cast of the night:

 

 

Overall, I was pretty happy with three good bream on soft plastics at night like this and it turned a bad day at work into a pretty good day at the end of the day.  It was proving to myself that even in the darkest of environments where I can't see, it doesn't mean I can't catch fish on the plastics.  It's frees me from believing that I could only fish bait at night to catch fish reliably.  I know that for myself, I used to hold the belief that others like Shroom on Youtube could do it because they were more skilled or put a lot of time into it for the video, so for me, this was important to prove to myself I could do it too.  All that to say that if I can do it, anyone else can do it too, just have to literally...wet your line and try it out.  That's the only way I was able to catch these three fish tonight, because I decided to try it out instead of going my usual way of grabbing some bread slices and going to the wharf like I normally would.

I encourage anyone who has similar doubts like I did about fishing soft plastics/lures at night to really give it a chance if that doubt is the only reason stopping you from fishing at night.  Though do bring a friend or someone with you, the constant paranoia detracted from the experience a little 😅

Edited April 11 by linewetter

[Little_Flatty]

What an epic report @linewetter and a fantastic session to balance a bad day at work. I’ve been having a few of those lately too

Yeah I have had a couple of sessions fly casting in the dark where people have wandered right into my back cast. I now look 360 degrees around me for a few 100m radius before commencing a fly cast. Part of me wonders if there might be value to creating a wearable sensor/alarm as an extra safety precaution…I’m only half joking!

Also don’t feel bad about using bread. I do it a lot too. There’s something fun and challenging about it that I really enjoy.

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

What an epic report @linewetter and a fantastic session to balance a bad day at work. I’ve been having a few of those lately too

Yeah I have had a couple of sessions fly casting in the dark where people have wandered right into my back cast. I now look 360 degrees around me for a few 100m radius before commencing a fly cast. Part of me wonders if there might be value to creating a wearable sensor/alarm as an extra safety precaution…I’m only half joking!

Also don’t feel bad about using bread. I do it a lot too. There’s something fun and challenging about it that I really enjoy.

Hahaha your idea is sound! I have some LED bands I wore when running at night to remain visible. Maybe I need to wear them when fishing too 🤔😁 
 

I still love using bread for catching fish. I don’t really eat bread that often though so I always have to buy bread pretty much specifically for fishing and use it up within the next couple of days before it goes moldy. Makes it a hassle at times when I want to go fish then have to make time to get the bread, or feel pressured to use it all quickly before it goes bad. I hate wasting it and just not enough room in the fridge/freezer to throw it in there. Love bread as bait, so easy to work with, no smelly fingers after, doesn’t go bad sitting out in the sun. And it’s cheap! Most of the times though…the fish end up getting an extra helping of free bread after my bread sessions since I can’t use it all before it goes bad and better them than to have it waste in the garbage! On longer fishing sessions of like several hours, I always try to bring some bread because if the bite is tough, I know that at the very least bread will get me something and likely a good fish too if they’re there. 

Edited April 11 by linewetter

[DerekD]

Hi @linewetter,

If there was an annual Fishraider award for most improved I think you'd be a very strong contender. Please keep these reports coming as I have enjoyed every one so far.

Regards,

Derek

[Yowie]

A good detailed report, and the fishing paid off considering it was night time.

When you retire, you can fish anytime. 😂

[Little_Flatty]

26 minutes ago, Yowie said:

A good detailed report, and the fishing paid off considering it was night time.

When you retire, you can fish anytime. 😂

No more bad days at work either!

[bessell1955]

What a great result for your nights fishing!

 

[linewetter]

2 hours ago, DerekD said:

Hi @linewetter,

If there was an annual Fishraider award for most improved I think you'd be a very strong contender. Please keep these reports coming as I have enjoyed every one so far.

Regards,

Derek

That means a lot Derek! I’ve always enjoyed creative writing so these reports are always fun to write up so I’ll keep them coming as long as I keep having outings worth writing about 😄

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

A good detailed report, and the fishing paid off considering it was night time.

When you retire, you can fish anytime. 😂

I am impatient, I want to fish anytime now! 😂 

[big Neil]

Another great report. You certainly are a keen angler. You have mastered the Aussie fishing very well. Cheers, bn

[lhan]

You're really on fire @linewetter! Keep it up 

[Robbo from Sydney]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:18 AM, Yowie said:

A good detailed report, and the fishing paid off considering it was night time.

When you retire, you can fish anytime. 😂

and we have worked hard to get there so we get to enjoy it!!!!