Fishing Apalachee Bay at Night

[geofish]

I like the underwater light idea! And not a solo adventure for sure

[tailwaters]

I've done some night fishing over the years both inshore and off and this is what I have learned.

- Tasks take about 3 X longer to accomplish than during the day so plan accordantly. Be it driving, catching bait or tying knots, it takes more time.
- Set the brightness to your electronics to their lowest setting and use a soft green light inside the boat. Anything more than that will screw up your night vision. Yes, bring a spot light but only use it if you have to. It will take a good 15-20 min for your eyes to readjust afterwards.
-If you use underwater lights offshore do not touch some of the creatures that are attracted to it. Especially Bristle Worms as they are poisonous!
- Be prepared for the forecast to be wrong. At least half the times I've made night trips the weather would start out nice then get really bad.
- Be prepared for the worst and have back to critical items like GPS and radio.
- Make sure you have two fully charged batteries but set your battery switch to either one or two. That way you only end up draining one and can use the other to start the engine.
- Around a full moon the tide can be extremely strong thus more lead for fishing and more scope when anchoring is required

Regarding fishing the towers at night. I prefer to tie directly to it vs anchoring. just make sure you have plenty of line so you don't bounce off it when the tide changes. Also the sharks can make it very difficult to get anything to the boat!

At SM I have fished the rock garden at night and did pretty well on reds. Fished it on a high tide. Good luck!

[geofish]

Solid advice - thanx!

[BloodyChamp]

I used to love fishing at night but I don’t know anybody who can do it anymore who hasn’t been drunk since 6pm.

[ropeman]

I've thought about running out before sundown, anchoring by one of the towers, fishing all night and thru the dawn before heading back in. Are the Kraken even nastier offshore?
But seriously, would that be a bad idea? Anybody tried it?

Like K Tower?

I'd want to be in a pretty big boat with some weather protection to do that, or have a really solid weather forecast.

I took a 32' boat from Shields to K Tower one evening, spent the night and came back the next morning on one engine. It was a long ride, but it was fun and the Kraken didn't eat us.

[geofish]

What'd you catch?

[ropeman]

What'd you catch?

A broken valve spring on the starboard engine and a long slow ride back to the dock! Saw a huge sea turtle, caught a few short grouper.