lighted pier fishing at night

[alcom]

Small fish are drawn to light, and walleye (especially) cruise the shallows to feed at night. This would suggest that a lighted pier that's dead during the day could be a hotspot at night.

Testing this would involve a lot of lost sleep, and the visual experience would be pretty limited. But it could be productive. It would be a case of the fish coming to you (or to feed on small fry attracted to the light).

Has anyone tried dead-of-night fishing from a lighted pier? Are there any especially productive times, other than settling in for the night?

[mcfly]

I once spent a few nights in a row fishing from a lighthouse in a town called Prescott that's on the St. Lawrence River. Lots of spiders on that lighthouse and lots of mosquitos flying around but it was worth it! Constant action for bass and panfish. Perch were plenty as well! But this was years ago before the damn Gobys came and ruined everything! I'm sure in the right environment, a lighthouse can produce great results. Where I was fishing had lots of rocks, and a steep drop-off to 25' or so. Never got a walleye there though.

[MuskieBait]

I used to fish from 8pm to 3am on a frozen pier for brown trout and steelhead during the fall run. Not really a lighter pier, and the fish aren't exactly in the area feeding either.

At least for these spawnig trout, the fishing is best an hour or two after dark and an hour or two before light. During the dead of the night, the action slows down a bit...but you can still catch a few decent fish throughout the night.

It was sick back then...I would get off school and my buddy would get off work, we drive an hour to fish and we fished all night, then get back to Waterloo at 5am, maybe get 3 hours of sleep before I went to lectures and he went to work. We used to do that 2-3 during the week and some more fishing during the weekend. That was the life...

I know in the US lighted piers are good for crappie fishing.

And I know lighted piers are really good for saltwater pier fishing.

As much as walleye like to cruise the shallow to feed in the dark, I find that they don't like too much light.

[OldTimer]

But don't forget that it is illegal for an angler to use artificial light as an attractant in most provinces and states - including Ontario

from the 2013 Ontario regs:

   

Regards,

OldTimer

[alcom]

(06-11-2013 03:51 PM)OldTimer Wrote:  But don't forget that it is illegal for an angler to use artificial light as an attractant in most provinces and states - including Ontario

from the 2013 Ontario regs:



Regards,

OldTimer

A good point. Using your own lights is illegal. But this is about fishing where existing dock lights or street lights spill onto the water. The spillover is a magnet for smaller organisms, and the food chain follows. I wouldn't think the regulations would apply to existing municipal lights, but it might be worthwhile getting clarification.

[mcfly]

(06-11-2013 08:08 PM)alcom Wrote:  A good point. Using your own lights is illegal. But this is about fishing where existing dock lights or street lights spill onto the water. The spillover is a magnet for smaller organisms, and the food chain follows. I wouldn't think the regulations would apply to existing municipal lights, but it might be worthwhile getting clarification.

I don't think it applies to existing municipal lights either, but I know using your own spotlights and other ways to attract fish using lights is illegal

[MikeH]

(06-11-2013 11:40 AM)alcom Wrote:  Small fish are drawn to light, and walleye (especially) cruise the shallows to feed at night. This would suggest that a lighted pier that's dead during the day could be a hotspot at night.

Testing this would involve a lot of lost sleep, and the visual experience would be pretty limited. But it could be productive. It would be a case of the fish coming to you (or to feed on small fry attracted to the light).

Has anyone tried dead-of-night fishing from a lighted pier? Are there any especially productive times, other than settling in for the night?

I have fished more than once from a nearby local pier that has street lights on it with some degree of good success. No walleye at this particular location though, but lots of other species. I haven't fished right through the night (but planning to do so this summer) sunset and two hours after dark were very productive.

[mrclownprince]

So i could attach a led light onto my lure?

[alcom]

(06-12-2013 12:26 AM)mrclownprince Wrote:  So i could attach a led light onto my lure?

That would be worth clarification with MNR. It might need to be an integral part of the lure.

BTW, green is supposed to be the magic colour. There's a southern US website that sells a system ($100-200, uses 12V fluorescent lights) that apparently is legal there, and the light is green. It's not legal here.

Taking a clue from this, there's no law that says you can't try green lures for night fishing. It could be that a fish's night vision is especially sensitive to green.

Aside: The human eye use rods and cones for light reception. Night vision is limited to the rods, which are most sensitive to blue/green and don't see red. Red light is used to preserve night vision because otherwise the rods would need a half hour to readapt to low light.

[OldTimer]

Here's what I've seen:

A relative has a cottage on a lake. They also have a large boathouse, which has a light over the lake side door (boat entrance). The boat house has a patio like deck on top.

Late in the evening after the light has been on a few hours after dark - Repeatedly I have witnessed HUNDREDS of fish (rock bass, perch, and smallmouth mostly) swarming in the area below the light - in multiple stacked layers - taking the dropping insects, or each other.

Some of the smallmouth exceed 4 pounds I'd say. I've seen larger ghosts under the crowd and theorize that they are pike (which also are resident in the lake)

So yes - lights in a way can attract fish...... in this case it's the food source as well.

I've got a hunch that fishing this show might be illegal.

Cheers,

OldTimer