[Husker]

Went to Roosevelt Sat. night fished until Sunday morning. Went looking for Crappie launched at School House, fished the N. Side of the lake set up in 38 ft, with the lights. Fished with minnows at 12 ft, the shad rolled in at 2:30 time frame thick, scooping them with a hand net. Caught two Crappie with the shad the rest of them were on minnow, real slow night, off of the lake a 6am. I think were about two too three weeks out from the night fishing really bust loose, we need some and it's starting now. The next new moon should be a good time.

The total fish count was low:

1- Sunfish, sucker didn't produce a Flathead but did bring the best Channel Cat 3 1/4 lbs

1- Yellow bass

3-Crappie 16", 13", 12"

6- Channel Cats

Kevin

[PhishingPhreek]

Looks like the crappie bite wasn't there, but 6 channel cats? That's pretty good. I never catch cats while crappie fishing. Were they of decent size (other than the 3 1/4)?

[Husker]

The rest were in the 1 lb range, only the big one bit on cut bait the rest hit on minnows as did the Sunfish

[mikeAZZ]

What's your night fishing suggestions.... The wife and I are new fisherpersons/retires, but long time Arizonians .... ain't caught nuthin, thinking about going to Safeway for fish....We've been to Schoolhouse, have fished? to the right side by the bouys and accross the lake from the dock.  Recently bought a 20 watt x 12 volt  pool light from Harbor Freight... I'm thinking I can lower this into the water (has about 12' of cable) and MAYBE attract a fish or 2??? So, do you have a Coleman lantern or something lit so you can see what you are doing at night?? (We have the legal night lights on the 14' boat). I've bought just about all the lures offered on E-Bay you could imagine, tried minnows/nightcrawlers/ and am getting desperate... We will eat what we catch IF we ever catch something...  My ego says I need to at least catch something... (I'm very good at catching tree branchs/rocks.. above or below the water line). Any help is welcomed! Mike and Darlene

[PhishingPhreek]

Hi Mike!

Lets see if I can address all your questions here... 

1st off, with night fishing for crappie I would suggest using a green light (or a few). You know can find them at BPS, Cabela's and Sportsman's Warehouse. They come in numerous sizes and therefore come in numerous prices. The bigger the light, the higher the price. I built my own and use it so I can't say what brand is better than the other. I just know the more light the better because it attracts all the right species. I'm not familiar with the light you purchased so I don't know if it would work or not. I do know of some old school fisherman who only use a floating halogen light and still catch fish.

For seeing at night while I'm fishing, I purchased a headlamp that I wear all the time that way I can use both hands and the light is always pointed at whatever I'm looking at. The cheap ones can be uncomfortable but I feel their benefit outweighs that slight discomfort. You can pretty much find those anywhere.

For lures/bait, you can keep it simple: split shot weights and Aberdeen hooks tipped with minnows. I'll almost always start with this set up and change if the fishing is slow and we can't find a bite at all. You can also throw a slip bobber on there too if you start catching and want to stay at the same exact depth.

Piscoli actually posted a pretty good AZGF report this week that has some beginners details to night fishing if you want to check it out. It's on his Blog Post here in the forum if you don't wanna search around the AZGFD website. (Link is below)
http://www.azcrappie.com/forum/index.php/topic,667.0.html

[AZfisherdude]

Hey Mike, make sure you guys have two pole stamps. Get some stink bait, or nightcrawlers, chicken livers, etc. and throw that stuff out on one pole for cats while you mess with the other trying to catch crappie/yellows under the lights. Typically, fishing on the edge of the light circle is where most try to put the bait.  I can tell you that in  my experience, it is better to put the lights out while there is still a smidgeon of daylight left. Putting them out after it is already dark doesn't seem to work as well. Good luck!

[Piscolli]

Mike, I would worry about that light uses too much power. Check it out just getting stuck at night would relly suck.

[Husker]

I agree with Bill getting stuck on one of the desert lakes at night in the summer would be bad.

Go with low voltage Led lights, I run high intensity green lights, these are lights that I have made myself cost around $80 plus your time to build. I have friend the swears by the white Leds, to each his own Later this summer were going to go out in both boat and test the green vs white. Buy what you can afford but the more light you get in the water the better. I run all three of my lights when I'm on the lake, each light has three Leds in it. Set up in 30-40 ft of water, use your graph to find the bait fish and or active fish, or just go to your honey hole that has produced in the past around the same time of year. Good luck be safe out there, I'll be back on the water 7/9/11-7/10/11 not sure what lake yet but it will be one of the following three: Pleasant for Stripers, Bartlett or Rosey for Crappie depends on the weather and my gut feeling.

Kevin

[Piscolli]

Green light is better for attracting zooplanton/ shad but fish can see better in white light.

[wadefisherman]

I just picked up another 4 foot green light, that gives me 3 just for my rig. I can run 2 all night on one battery and have juice left over. They are da bomb!