The Hunt For Big Fish with Larry Dahlberg

My brother and I are planning a night fishing excursion in about a month (Alum Creek lake in Ohio). While I'm sure muskies will bite at night, my first thought is to try topwater and stay away from more-visual baits without a lot of vibration. The resevoir, at this point, is more stained than clear (depending on the cove in some cases). Have you had success at night for muskies? Do you have any general tips? Lake maps show it has an abundance of varying structure including a deeper basin (down to 60'), steeper breaks, points, and winding creek channel that gets fairly close to the shoreline in spots.

Any info or advice is appreciated.
Robert

Hi r
In many lakes night fishing is the clear ticket. It's especially true in places that get lots of traffic during the day. I'd suggest whopper ploppers, creeper and large double bladed bucktails. You might be wise to check times for moon rise and set and be there then. Personally, I'd focus on nights where moonset or moonrise has a close coincidence with sunset or sunrise.
best,
L

Thanks Larry.
I appreciate the info. It's nice to have resource like you from whom anglers can get advice. Of course, I always look forward to watching your new shows and keep a few on my DVR. Keeping doing what you do. I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future.
Robert

Glad to help out any way I can. Good luck, let us know how you do!
best
L

Larry put me on my first night musky via an email question just like this ... almost the same answer ... shallow lake, lots of boat traffic, fishing pressure, yada yada yada. Came on a hand poured whopper plopper. I'll post the fuzzy pic on makelure.com's gallery. Best measurement was mid 40"er. Hope you get the same result! Please make sure to tell us how you do.

http://www.makelure.com/Lures.cfm

Mike

Nice catch Mike. Thanks for the well wishes. I see you went with black. Was this a conscious choice/recommendation from Larry? I know black tends to be the only color musky fishermen agree on. Since I will be night fishing for the majority, does the dark color provide an advantage in terms of creating a silhouette? Should I be concerned about matching the forage at all? My night fishing experience is mostly with catfish. I'd be happy to hear all opinions and experiences.

In all honesty, night fishing is not that different than daytime fishing except it's dark out and the fish are usually not as wary (especially in clear water) as they are in the daylight. And, of course you don't have water skiiers and jet skis ripping all over the lake.
I've tried to find a color they won't bite and have been unable to do so..., but you can't go wrong with black.

good luck, hope something goes bump in the night for you.
good luck!
L

Thanks again. All of that sounds great. Been anxiously awaiting this little trip for a while. Have a good night.

Robert

I read and have heard many times about black being easier for fish to differentiate or find easier at night. I assumed because it would give the best contrast toward whatever light is coming from the sky but don't know if it is true or not. So I would give much more weight to Larry's explanation than my unscientific understanding. The other reason ... also unscientific but relative was I had a lot of confidence in black since it was the lure color Larry and Josh had so much success with in the original year of fishing our cast Whopper Ploppers before River2Sea started producing them.

Mike

Hey guys, still anxiously waiting for my trip. I bought a couple whoppers and couldn't stand not using them. So, I went for a little pre-dawn/dawn bank fishing below the dam because I heard rumors that a few muskie wash through. Caught this one on the the 'loon', 36, and had two more follows in a little over 2 hours. I'd call that a booming success.

Thanks

Robert

http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p71 ... 58d16a.jpg

That a you! Good luck on your trip and please make sure to let us know how you do.

Mike

Can't help but share. The whopper ploppers have been outstanding. Also had 2 missed strikes and 5 other follows in my own pseudowhiggley. Learned a lot from the shows and the makelure videos. Thanks again guys. http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p71 ... ssxcwa.png
http://i1347.photobucket.com/albums/p71 ... 86846b.jpg

Robert

nice going! congrats and thanks for sharing!
keep casting..is that a pun?
best
L

Clever!

Hey Larry,I've Caught Bass,Crappie And Catfish From Docks Do Muskys Fit This Category.

FOR SURE!! Especially early AM.
best,
L

No luck on the night muskies guys. Rain had the resevoir up a couple feet and super dark. No worries though. We changed gears and found a couple nice coves near the mouth of the main creek. Catfish is always better than no fish.