Beginner Steve's night fishing questions

[BeginnerSteve]

Hey fellas Beginner Steve here, I appreciate the help you've all given me so far and hopefully you can help me out with my next project: learning how to night fish.

Last year we did go night fishing once and found ourselves woefully unprepared. The biggest issue we had was lighting, we obviously didn't have enough illumination in the boat to see what we were doing. 1 Battery operated lamp just wasn't going to cut it. So I guess my first question is does anyone have any product recommendations for what we can use to see what we're doing? I've read a bit about head lamps, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for there...

Also, are the same types of baits and techniques that work during the day going to work at night? For instance its very popular here in jersey to fish with live herring or shiners, but can fish find those at night to bite on them? Or would drifting with live bait be a waste of time at night?

Thanks and unfortunately no fishing success picture to share this time .

Beginner Steve
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[Tarpon4me]

What you are targeting is going to effect the type of tactics you are going to use. Like catfish for instance. During the day, the deeper holes usually provide the best results. At night, the tactics shift to the shallows. The moon effects fishing at night, just as it does during the day. Consider what you're fishing for, and go from there. As for live bait, that's good anytime. []

Lighting wise, I've always prefered a spotlight that connects on to a battery with alligator clips. They never die, and never lack for lumens, so to speak. [cool] you can also get spreader lights mounted on the boat, which works very nicely. What ever light you use, I bet you found that if you hold the light towards the rear of the boat, shining forward, you couldn't see crap. The reflection off of the boat (especially a white fiberglass boat) will hinder your nightvision useless. Getting the person with the spotlight to the bow will allow you to see, with out straining your eyes. Inside the boat, for fishing use, I like a very dim light, like one of those coleman battery powered lanterns.
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[Dynamo]

Drifting live bait is not a waste of time. Yes the fish can find these fish especially if you clip a litte fin off to make them lose body fluid and also have struggled movement.
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[davetclown]

yep, sight sound smell and taiste. [cool]

[Barnacles]

Using red lights allows you too see without ruining your night vision! ..and apparently some animals, though I don't know if it includes fish, can't see red anyway so you wouldn't spook them like a traditional type of light.
Live bait works at night just as well as during the day though if i choose a lure, I pick the darker colors. (normally black) because it helps to show the lure silhouette against the sky. At least that's what they tell me.
have a safe fishing trip
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