We had a good turnout and a good time at the night fish-in.

Thanks to Mark B, Chuck, Faz, Ray and his son, Jose, Carlos, Phil and Brian, Pat S, Jon, Says and his fishing partner Som for coming out.

I'll need some of the others to add in their individual reports about what they caught and how, because we met up under I-90 for a few minutes at midnight to compare big fish, but didn't have the usual BBQ time to talk about the details - we just went back out on the water.

Jose and Carlos fished with me in the aircraft carrier. The weather was beautiful and we had the stereo going all night. It was calm all evening with a slight breeze from about 10 PM on. We fished Groat Pt first and Jose caught a 2.4 smallie on a spinnerbait. We went down to Colman Pt after that, but we think we missed the best topwater by about 30 minutes. We had a few good blowups on Sammys, but no takers.

After that, we fished Pleasure Pt and Jose caught a fat 4 lb 9 oz smallie on a dropshot. It was a really nice fish. Jose can add the pics.

After midnight we went back to Groat and Carlos caught a 2 lber on a dropshot while we were moving to another spot with the trolling motor on high. The fish must have grabbed it on the drop, because we were really moving at the time.

I had never been night fishing before. It's everthing good that people have said about it, as far as I am concerned.

Thanks again, everyone, for a cool fish-in.

Stu

The best part of the night was getting to know John, who had never gone night fishing before.  I wanted to get him on crankbait bite, but the fish were really skittish.  No matter how slow I ran the crank - they would bump it but not take it.  Just at dusk John did picked one smallie up on a spinnerbait over the weeds, but all the rest of the fish for the night (approx - 15) had to be coaxed with tiny plastics moved painfully slow. 

John picked up several fish close to 3 pounds and I had one go 3lbs -4oz.  One of the interesting experiments of the night was when I put on a white 3 inch grub.  Apparently the fish didn't read the magazines that suggest night anglers use black, black, and black.  Caught numerous fish on the white - was fun to dispell that one. 

The scariest thing was hitting a large bouy at 34 miles an hour!  I thought I knew every bouy on the lake - all but the one I hit I guess.  Never saw it coming.  We were approaching the I-90 bridge from the north, and I was focused on two other boats passing on the left.  Good thing I didn't have a fiberglass boat - it made a huge booming sound.  All my old aluminum ended up receiving was another dent to my 11 year collection of dents.   (Though I noticed John wore his life-vest religiously from that point on - wonder why?) 

Still, fun time - I love the quiet and the cool night.  Even if the fish were spooky it was a great night!

Hey thanks Chuck that was lot of fun with a dash of excitement when we hit the buoy  For the record I was not putting on my life vest because of the Buoy incident I wear my life vest whenever running big motor I just had forgot to put it on before that.
The fishing was little tough I think due to the thunderstorms that came early in the day. I started slowing down when I saw Chuck losing a lot of fish on crank baits & he did get one late that night that was hooked in the head so they were just bumping it all night.
I got 1 3lber on a spinner bait slow rolling at dusk 1 3lber on a shaky head A 2lber on a drop shot when all you guys were there at midnight & few others at 1lb or less.
Night fishing was very nice the mild temps no water skiers how can you beat that in the summer. I am sure it's a real blast on a full moon night. Next time Chuck might let me get the big fish