The night has an eerie flavor, like something
straight out of Hitchcock. A light mist hovers on the
lake’s calm, black surface. Here and there a star
twinkles through the fog, but for the most part there
is only night. As our eyes adjust, we make out the
shoreline -- sensing it as much as actually seeing it.
Out there in the darkness, large creatures are
making swirling, splashing, unusual noises. I’m at
one end of the boat, and about twelve feet away is a
friend, and his friend, who had never fished at night.
This is my favorite time -- when the stripers go on the
night shift!
Fishing for stripers at night in the spring is great
fun. (April 21 to July 1). Daytime fishing in the spring
is good, fun, and exciting, but I think nighttime
fishing is much more exciting.
A large body breaks the surface, and then falls
back, and in the darkness, this sound, by itself, starts
the heart pumping. We cast a surface plug to the
shore, by a point where the alewives are spawning.
The stripers are feeding on them, so the surface lure
has to imitate the action of the alewives. We’re using
jointed Redfins, Long-A’s and jointed ThunderSticks.
With our rod-tips down, we slowly pull our lures
across the surface, slowly enough to cause a “V”
shaped wake across the surface. Another swirling
splash occurs even closer this time as we retrieve our
lures. Suddenly an explosion of the water shatters
the night’s calm-as if someone had thrown a cinder
block in the water. We can see this explosion, as our
eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and the blow-
up in the water creates a large white area on the
surface.
I lean into the rod and set the hook, and I begin
to feel this giant on the rod. “He’s a good one,” I
yell, as it dances around the bow of the boat, bowing
my fishing rod. No matter how many times you have
done this, it will make you as excited as kid on his
first fishing trip. We land the fish and he’s over 20
lbs. Another fish hits with a vengeance and blows
up the water. This fish is another good one, but
he manages to stay on the surface, thrashing the
water, eventually throwing the hook. I had never
seen a striper do this; he must have thought he was
a Tarpon. We continue to catch more fish just as
exciting as the first, and all nearly the same size.
This night is a “dark night” (about 7 days before
and 7 days after a “New Moon”). On a moonlit night
(approx. 7 days before and 7 days after a full moon),
we would reverse our tactics. Instead of having the
boat in deep water and casting to the shore, we
would place the boat in shallow water (approx. 3 ft.)
and cast to the deep water with a deep runner. I use
a deep broken back Rebel, a Little Mac or a deep
jointed Redfin. In both cases (deep and shallow) I
Fisherman’s
Almanac
by Bob King
Beat the heat and avoid the traffic: try fishing at night! The lake is a different
world after the sun goes down. In the daytime, Smith Mountain Lake comes
across as a big enough lake, but after dark, it seems even bigger. Subtle lake
noises, barely noticed in the daylight rush, take on a different tone after dark!
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