Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey there....was just wondering what thoughts/experience y'all have with Muskie fishing at night.

With it being my 1st year getting in to it, I've spent a lot of time trying to study and learn the fish online. I've stumbled across a few articles that discussed night fishing for muskies.

A few weeks ago, a friend and I decided to give it a whirl and fish for a few hours (11pm - 2 am range). About an hour into it, he hooked a "weed". About the time he said..."I think it is a fish", the fish came out of the water, threw the lure and made my friend want to suck his thumb and cry for not setting the hook.

As we were heading in and about to call it a night, we had our headlamps on and were trolling along the edge of a weedline. I heard my friend say, "is that a log, what the...is that...ummm....", lol..... as I looked into the water, a big tiger was just sitting right at the edge of the weedline and we were nearly over the top of it. It didn't move until almost the entire boat had gone past it and then it took off like a dart. Figuring that girl was gone for good, I decided to make one loop around and come back through after 20 minutes or so just in case. As we were probably 100 yds from the spot, I looked back with the glare of the moonlight and saw the top probably 1/4 or so of this submarine cruising on top of the water and then disappear right near the spot we had originally seen her. With a renewed hope of having a chance to boat her, we headed that direction.

I was throwing a top water buzzbait with a large brush hawg trailer at this point. Probably the 3rd cast or so as we neared the area, she came up out of the water after it. As one of the downsides of a topwater, and especially at night, is the misses that occur....that split second when I saw her come out, heard the sound of what sounded like a small child doing a canonball when she hit was a heart pounding, adrenaline rushing split second. As she came down and into the water, there wasn't so much as a slight nudge on the line...she missed.

All of that to say, this was a few weeks ago and the only time that I've given them a go at night time. While a 'nearly' productive time on the water, I recognize 1 outing is not enough to be a good indicator so I was wondering if any of you have given them a go at night...and, if so, what kind of results have you had?

Thanks!
Darin

Darin,

Night fishing can be quite the experience! Many anglers back in the Midwest have gone to "night fishing" to escape the pressures of day fishing and some of the chaos of other boat traffic, jet ski's, wake boarders etc!

Chapters, 57 & 60, of Muskies, Inc. just had a 24 hr. Tourney on Lake Curlew in September... It was great fun! As you have mentioned the night-world is totally different from the day-world when it comes to fishing for "Tigers". Many of our anglers are "novices" also when it comes to night fishing and we learned many valuable lessons...LOL!... Like how far to stay away from the shore when casting... We had many tree branches caught that night!

Our tourney was on a Full-Moon night... clear, cool, and beautiful. I also was using a top-water lure, the "Awaker", made by Poe's. It was awesome, I could see the rear spinner-blade as I reeled it in reflecting off the Moons light... very cool. Yes, there is a greater risk of a Muskie missing your surface lure at night, but what a rush when they strike! The explosion on the top of the water and that giant white-water splash!.... That should get your heart going!
For me, at night, I like to use something that makes some noise, provides some flash, and I move the lure a little more slowly than I would during the day.

There are other methods also of night fishing Muskies, such as, casting crankbaits, or bucktails etc...However, you had better be pretty familiar with the structure of the lake that you are fishing. If not, you may "snag" a few of your favorite lures... and they will become the property of those lure grabbing stumps below!

Night-Fishing has been the topic of several fishing DVD's, Magazines etc... Some of the best articles I have read were in "Musky Hunter" and our own Muskies, Inc., "Muskie" Magazine that our Members receive.

We will be having our Tourney again in September 2011 if that is of interest to you. You can always contact us the NW TIGER PAC, Chapter 57, or Chapter 60, the "Mountain Muskies", over there in the Spokane area for more Muskie information.

Good Luck! Don't forget to check your batteries before heading out!

After having that night experience in 2010, I decided to take a few more stabs at the night thing this past year. This photo is a 42"er that hammered a Jitterbug XL on top.

There is just something about that explosion on top at night that makes the short hairs on your neck stand up.

I'd be curious to hear if any of you have given the night tiger hunting a whirl...and if so, what has been your experience?



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Right on! That's a great looking fish.

I have personally not done a lot of night fishing, but this may be my year. I may have to hit the lakes several times and pull a few all-nighters to get a handle on it. If you're game, shoot me a pm.

Sounds good...Sent ya a PM.

Lookin forward to getting back out there with you Darrin. I think I am gonna buy an Annual Idaho License this year and fish Hauser and CDA a lot more. And if you and Doug can hook up out there, do it. Hes a good guy and has schooled me many times Tiger fishing.

Your day will come Mark! Tell you what, these muskies have schooled me more often than I have schooled you.

Yo Mark...I'm looking forward to it as well. I still laugh every time I drive by the spot where that dude soiled his shorts when that big ole bass hammered his topwater inches from shore. I'll look forward to hopefully getting out with Doug as well.

I splurged and bought an Annual Washington license this year too. Hopefully I'll get that direction enough for it to be worthwhile. With pretty small numbers stocked originally...no stocking now....and the tigers getting older in Hauser, it'll be interesting to see if there are enough Tigers left to keep it interesting this summer. I know I certainly won't be heading out to CDA in dad's little boat or I'll end up on Gilligan's Island! lol

Nice! I'm sure we'll hit Newman plenty too then. And that was a damn nice bass!