{"id":2094,"date":"2022-08-12T18:46:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T18:46:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outdoorsniagara.com\/?p=2094"},"modified":"2022-08-12T19:04:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T19:04:39","slug":"can-you-go-ice-fishing-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outdoorsniagara.com\/can-you-go-ice-fishing-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Go Ice Fishing at Night?"},"content":{"rendered":"
So, can you go ice fishing at night?<\/strong> It is a common question for those of us who love to fish. The answer is that you can absolutely go ice fishing at night, and you can do so successfully. <\/em><\/p>\n While many species of fish are active at night, you will have to target those species and leave some others for daytime fishing.<\/p>\n Two species that are active at night include Walleye and Crappie as both have excellent night vision.<\/p>\n If you are hoping to target trout, bass, bluegill, or northern pike, you will struggle.<\/p>\n These fish have poor night vision. If you plan to target bluegill, trout, pike, or bass at night, you will need to do so during a full moon with an ice fishing rod<\/a> and when there is plenty of light hitting the ice.<\/p>\n If you think about the habits of fish that have good night vision, you begin to see a pattern.<\/p>\n Most will leave the deeper water and head to the shallower areas where the weedy beds are to hunt for smaller fish, aquatic insects, and plant matter.<\/p>\n That process begins about an hour before sunset, and it can continue throughout the night.<\/p>\n However, for most night-feeding fish, there are two periods in the night where the feeding is most intense – Dawn and Dusk.<\/p>\n If you decide to ice fish at night you need to set up your hut early to avoid all the noise of drilling holes, and moving your hut.<\/p>\n That noise will startle fish away from where you want to fish.<\/p>\n By setting up your site early and then leaving it alone for several hours, the fish will return, and you will have more success as you fish at night.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Contents<\/p> Ice fishing at night is a growing sport. There are many reasons why people ice fish at night.<\/p>\n These include better access to certain types of fish that may not be as active during the day.<\/p>\n There is also the fact that there is less fishing pressure at night, so you can often choose the best fishing locations.<\/p>\n Another good reason to ice fish at night is the fact that you can do so locally or out in the wilderness.<\/p>\n If you set up your hut to be warm and dry, you can even camp on the ice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some anglers prefer not to ice fish at night. One reason is that you need to use different types of lighting to see.<\/p>\n Using a white light or flashlight, you can startle the fish, and they will not bite.<\/p>\n It can also be difficult to find someone to go with you, especially if you are new to fishing.<\/p>\n Many anglers like to fish in the daytime, but staying up all night can be challenging.<\/p>\n It can also be expensive to get all the gear<\/a> you need to ice fish safely at night.<\/p>\n You will need an auger, a shelter, and warm clothing that will stand up to getting wet and the winter cold.<\/p>\n If you don’t have the proper gear to ice fish at night, the experience can be miserable.<\/p>\n A final reason why people do not like to go ice fishing at night is that it can be scary to be on the ice at night in winter.<\/p>\n Generally, the best night fishing locations are along the shore.<\/p>\n When you set up your night ice fishing spot you want to have the option to fish from 3-5 feet deep to around 10-15 foot depths.<\/p>\n What happens at night for predatory fish is that they emerge from the deeper water to hunt in the shallows.<\/p>\n Crappy and walleye have very good night vision.<\/p>\n They can swim slowly through the cover looking for smaller fish, aquatic insects, and plants that they may consume.<\/p>\n The bonus for these fish is that their prey often cannot see them.<\/p>\n Smaller fish often use weed beds to hide.<\/p>\n For example, in the summer, when the ice is gone and the water is warmer, you can drag a rodent pattern fly or lure over the top of a shallow weed patch and set your hook into a 50-inch northern pike that is lurking in the shallows.<\/p>\n You can also do that while you fish on the ice with a jig<\/a>.<\/p>\n While pike is generally a daytime target, you can find big predatory fish in the shallows at night that are very active.<\/p>\n If you choose your spot well, you can haul in crappie all night long.<\/p>\n If you are fishing on a lake that has walleye you can hit them all night long too.<\/p>\n The best location for night ice fishing is from 3-feet-15 foot depths along the shore.<\/p>\n This band of water offers a few advantages. First, it is shallow, so it will hold more light than deeper water.<\/p>\n It is also full of smaller fish that larger fish will feed on through the night.<\/p>\n Because you are not that far out on the ice, you can set up an on-shore camp if you are fishing for the weekend and allow your fishing spot to remain inactive until you start to fish.<\/p>\n Doing so will help settle the fish and allow them to get on with hunting for food.<\/p>\n The two best species to target at night are crappie and walleye.<\/p>\n Both have excellent night vision and similar hunting habits.<\/p>\n They are also very plentiful making them the go-to targets for anglers who want to ice fish at night and have a lot of fish action.<\/p>\n There are other species of fish that you can target at night.<\/p>\n One of the biggest fishes you may encounter while ice fishing at night is big, fat, catfish.<\/p>\n You will have to prepare to deal with fish as large as catfish which can easily top twenty pounds.<\/p>\n One trick to attract catfish at night is to use a lure or bait that glows in the dark.<\/p>\n Catfish have poor eyesight, but they may investigate subtle lights.<\/p>\n When you fish for crappie or walleye, you can use lures or baits.<\/p>\n When you target fish that have poor night vision, you can use bait.<\/p>\n They may not see a lure, even a bright orange one, but they can follow a scent trail left by your bait.<\/p>\n Catfish are often deep and on the bottom.<\/p>\n They like to hide in structures and those are the types of areas you want to look for if you target catfish at night on the ice.<\/p>\n A fourth target you can ice fish at night is carp.<\/p>\n Carp fishing can be very difficult under the ice, but you can target carp, which are also active at night.<\/p>\n You will need a fish finder that will show you where the carp are.<\/p>\n Most often, carp swim in schools, so once you located where the fish are, you can target them with baits.<\/p>\n Carp mostly feed by following their noses and one of the best baits you can use is sweet corn.<\/p>\n Stinky baits are ideal, and you will need to rig them up to handle big fish.<\/p>\n If you think catfish can get big, then consider battling a 40-pound carp through the ice.<\/p>\n The sweet spot for ice fishing at night is anywhere between 3-15 foot depths.<\/p>\n Most ice anglers will drill two holes in the ice and fish in the shallows and where the shallow water meets the drop-off.<\/p>\n In a lake, that is the spot where the water begins to deepen quickly.<\/p>\n This area of the lake or river is often where the baitfish and shads are and those two sizes of fish are prime food for larger fish.<\/p>\n In the daytime, many fish hang out in the deeper water where the water temperature is more consistent.<\/p>\n The shallow water can be colder in the winter during the daytime depending on the weather.<\/p>\n At night, those fish with better night vision will leave the depths and forage in the shallow waters for food.<\/p>\n Small fish, aquatic insects, some crustaceans, and other food types are all found in the shallower waters and often within weed patches or among structures, such as rocks.<\/p>\n Using light to attract fish is a tactic that anglers use, and it works even for ice fishing.<\/p>\n Some fish see well at night and others do not.<\/p>\n Bass and Trout are not very good at finding food at night simply because their eyes are not made for seeing in darker waters.<\/p>\nSo, Can You Go Ice Fishing at Night?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Reasons Why to Go Ice Fishing at Night<\/span><\/h3>\n
Best Night Fishing Locations<\/span><\/h2>\n
Species Best Fished At Night<\/span><\/h2>\n
What Depth Do You Ice Fish at Night?<\/span><\/h2>\n
Does Light Attract Fish to Ice Fishing?<\/span><\/h2>\n