Boat Fishing at night....

[Matty_B]

Thinking of doing an all nighter this week while there's a settled period with us, I've never been out ALL night so not sure what to expect.

 

Obviously I'll check the boat is "tip-top" before going out and we'll go out no further than 2 miles from Brighton.

 

What can I expect fishing wise? Will Bass feed through the night? Flatties? I'm not really interested in congers.

 

Thanks.

[maidstonemike]

I didn't used to find any difference between day and night fishing from a boat. I suppose you are fishing in deep water where it makes no difference, unless you are in the inshore shallows. A bit more nerve racking though! Make sure you know where the lighted buoys are or shore markers, and their flashing sequences for identification.

[Shonzy.]

I've only ever fished in a boat at night 3 times and that was off of southsea blokes and every time you'd but money on catchin doggies and not so much money on smuts but did catch a few bass. Every skipper i've spoke to bout this ave said like mike that there isn't much difference.

[Salar]

Night fishing for the first time is very scary. I can still remember my first trip, after conger. A mate and I went round to the edge of Sandown Bay (IoW) near the cliffs over a nice patch of rock, dead calm, very peaceful. As the sun went down we thought it was idyllic. After we had been fishing for a couple of hours the mist started to drop and the shore lights dissapeared one by one. Then our ears started to play tricks. Was the sound of waves on rocks getting nearer? We spend the whole night with our eyes on stalks, waiting for the crunch. No bites either. When the dawn broke we were exactly where we were anchored, obviously, but viz was still poor. We decided to head in, but as we rounded Bembridge we ran into a pea-souper and could see about 30 metres ahead. I piloted by GPS, mate hung out of the side to watch for pot floats and to scream if he saw the ferry. Just as I was wondering if I could find the entrance to Langstone Harbour between the lethal sandbank and the lethal sewer outfall, we came out of the fog bank into brilliant sunshine. Memorable, but not for the fishing!

[Stoaty]

I do it quite a lot as my berth is tide dependant. The only difference is soles. You get a lot of them at night and hardly any in the daytime. Don't forget it will get very cold even this time of year.

[chesters1]

remember to get to your patch well before dark as everything suddenly becomes very different at night ,we always found tying to a bouy the safest way rather than dropping an achor willy nilly (or dropping your anchor next to a fixed structure NAB tower is very good unfortunatly near the forts result in lost anchors),leave at dawn not in the dark even finding the entrance to pompey harbour at night is a job suddenly the sea is full of lights and along the shore as well ,very confusing the first time,bognor is the easiest just head for butlins and kip in the triangle of grass infront of the unusual caravans although their probably gone now

 

[ 03. October 2005, 06:53 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Toerag]

Be aware that you will catch conger on clean sand at night, they're quite happy to roam around and feed on clean ground in the dark. My mate had one of 40lb in a fishing15 on his own tied up 100yds away from the nearest reef.

[Matty_B]

We're staying out all night and will not move from the spot we choose - I'm thinking the cliffs between Brighton Marina and Newhaven as that's a good mixture of ground in about 5m to 10m of water.

 

I quite fancy a few soles, I've never really fished for them before - I guess small hooks and worms?

[M.P]

Most of our trips are in the dark one way or another, especially as the days get shorter. Either we end up fishing all night or making our way to or from our chosen venue. However we do try to get back into one of the local rivers and pick up a mooring before going to sleep. Next day it's a good fry up then head for home.

[chris parker]

I do this quite a bit and have my boat wired with 2 batteries, one for the engine and the other for all the rest of the electrics.

 

As a precaution I set the Anchor alarm on the GPS sets to 300 feet. When the tide changes it is not unknown for the anchor to trip. This alarm sounds when the tide changes so I can keep an eye on it. As belt and braces I set the shallow alarm to the depth of water anticipated at low tide under the boat just in case we do drag.

 

It is a good idea to tip off the coastguard where you are fishing as lights on board can be taken for signs of distress from shore. Could save a turnout for the RNLI.

 

Have the end of your anchor rope buoyed so you can drop it and move at an instant's notice. Good if anything big comes your way. Saves having to haul it and you can return to pick it up later from your GPS plot or just press your MOB button to mark it.

 

I fish with regular partners but we all have a brief before we set off in case someone goes overboard at night. There are 3 or 4 of us and we decide which job we each have in the event so there is no confusion, we can all skipper the boat, use the radio etc if needed.

 

Have a place for everything and once used put it back, you need to be very organised or it becomes hard work.

 

Good luck , you will enjoy it. If it is cloudless look up, you will have never seen so many stars.