Therapudic night fishing.`

Thudpucker

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I went out just before dark last night. Stayed out till nearly 11PM.
Fishing off some cliffs and rock slides, with a long distance to the nearest sign of humans.

I turn my ligts off when I'm fishing that close to shore. (Casting distance)
I dont like the interference to my vision.
I figure if anybody's gonna come close to me in that Location, he's gonna get his due just a few seconds after he hits me anyway. I turn em' back on when I head off toward the launch ramp though.

I saw an Otter going along the shorline. His head was as long as a Duck's body. It wasn't a Duck though. I didnt take any of that Clear Liquid out with me.

I got strikes but no fish. Anytime I go fishing it turns out to be an expensive boat ride. Although whoever goes out with me catches fish.

You cant beat Night fishing for Therapy.
Quiet. No bright sunlight to deal with. No traffic. Cooler than the daytime too. If you get any breeze at all its cool. The Smell of Barbeque drifting across the lake. Quiet...did I mention that?

A school of Stripers makes a lot of splashing noise when they are feeding. They move along rapidly, chasing the bait fish as the Bait fish try to escape.
At night you can hear those Stripers from several hundered yards away. Just one more good reason for the absence of Noise.

Bright starry night. Lots of room to lay back and wonder at the sight up there.
Some Native kid a few Centuries ago probably looked up and wonderd: "just what the hell is all that?" I bet he might have wasted an Arrow at the Moon on one of those really bright moonlit nights.

This part of the country didnt have any natural Lakes. Alabama's Lakes are all man-made. So that poor kid could only find wide spots in the Creek beds or River to gaze upwards. Trees everwhere would block his vision. He may have thought those bright lights came out of the tree tops somewhere. Like Lightening bugs.

Sometimes at night I put over a couple of Catfish hooksets and lay back to enjoy. Wait for something to happen. That's when this native kid comes to my mind.

One more good reason: The Circus at the Ramp is all over and done with by the time I get there.
 
I can literally picture what you are describing. Are you related to the Ernest Hemingway family by any chance?
 
I read "the old man and the Sea" and saw the movie too. There's a guy who could talk with his typwriter.
Many thanks for the Compliment Bill. When the swelling under my hat goes down....
 
Thanks Thud!

RWS
 
OK Thud...try catching a bunch of the bait fish before you go out and bring 'em with you next time...when you hear a school of Stipers again. Release 3 and send a couple out rigged with no hardware, just line and a hook. In 5 minutes...release a couple more...etc. These fish are aggressive and will swallow baits whole. Sounds like you had a nice night indeed. Tight lines,
Perry
 
Perry, I'm in enough trouble as it is. I called the Fish Cop a 'thug' and had an argument with a Judge who's running for re-election.
If I got caught netting fish of any kind I couldnt afford to defend myself against my enemies.

One thing (on bait fish) I did notice the other night.
I made a bad cast and had to reel back quickly. When my lure got almost to the boat, going at a helluva rate of speed, it scared a half dozed shiners into jumping clear out of the water. That was new to me!
 
Oh, my. "Thug" indeed! Why didn't you just invite him to fish, too, then hand him a lit stick of dynamite? ;)

Sounds beautiful. It's why I like night boating...
 
Two things...1) if you can get the bait fish to jump into the boat wouldn't that be fresh bait...2) Hey, I pin hook my bait...how ever you need to get them in the boat is up to you. I even make special bait fishing trips with my son and friends...they fill the bait jail and I let them come back to the dock in the boat...good times...
 
Always with the kids it's a good time. Especially when your going after bait fish.
I handled the boat once, while my Cousin handled the three boys. Oh the clamor!
Casting nets, strings of hooks, everything except the Dynamite!
It's a wonder we didnt have to go straight to the Hospital from the lake.

The best Bait fishing I ever had was out of Biloxi MS. We were going way out after Drum etc, but needed bait.
The guy running the boat stopped us in a crook of the channel and we got out the BASS rods and caught a cooler full of Bait fish. What fun. A fish on every cast. That's the time and place the kids would have had a ball.

When you speak of Fish jumping into the boat, it reminds me of the mouth of the Green River in Seattle WA.
When the Silver Salmon are running in, they jump blindly and real often.
I had my boat out there, my wife and son in the boat. Both had Nets trying to catch a Salmon.
First, a Salmon jumped very near the boat. My wife screamed, the kid jumped, the boat tipped wildly, and another Salmon jumped right into the boat and hit my wife in the back of her leg.
This time she really shreeked and I thought she was headed out of the boat.
My son was a bit disgusted with her, but grabbed the Salmon to put him into the box. About that time another Salmon landed on the front deck.
The boy made a leap from the middle of the 16' Boat to the bow and trapped that one too.

How can a person stay on the beach and still call hisself living?
 
Now that's fishing! Look at all the equipment you didn't have to break out. No snags, lost gear, etc. just pick up the flopping mass and drop into cooler...ole'

You don't need no stinkin' dip net, you need a butterfly net and catch 'em in the air...
 
LOL :)
I'm headed for the lake with two 10 Yr old grandsons right now. Fishing, Swimmin and beachcombing is on the agenda.
If Papaw's patience holds out.
 
Me and those boys had a great time. They saw the 'wilds' of a very large lake. Fished with lots of different lures, and we went into that shallow water. They got out and waded.
When they saw the Raccoon in a tree about 40' from the boat, they jumped back into the boat quickly.
We had wind to deal with, too dark for my old eyes to tie knots.
I had one on. He jumped and threw a Circle hook but both boys saw it all. What a nice big shiny sided fish he was too. It put a little Zip into their fishing efforts.
They like fishing those carefree plastic worms a lot. We got the ones they stuck up high in the trees back. Only lost a couple.
Good time, they are already talking about next time. They want to go earlier in the Day next time.
 
Thud,
Now that's a good time...great for you. Love the Raccoon...very funny...

an easy knot to tie when its dark is the Palomar. Very fast to tie and highly durable. I use it on 80% of all my knots.

Good on you,
Perry
 
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