Night Light

Earlier in the summer I read an article in the newspaper on how we were plagued this year by undersized fish in Lake Pontchartrain. It postulated that a tropical storm would improve fishing in the lake which seems logical. At the bottom there was a sentence about fishing the lakes dock lights that changed my sleeping habits for the past couple months. Fishing at night under the lights is some of the fastest action you can get. Its great for kids and adult fishermen who have short attention spans, or just anglers who are addicted and fish 24/7 like me. Once you find a good light catching the fish cant get any easier.The simple rig is a 3/8 oz jig head and a soft plastic jig. You can smash the barb on the hook to make removal easier because you are going to catch a lot of fish and this saves a ton of time when unhooking. Another option is to tandem rig 1/8th ounce jig heads with my favorite chartreuse Sparkle Beetles will bring them two at a time.  My other favorite in the lights is the smallest Mirrodine, Mirrominnow,or MirrOglass lures worked very slow will draw strikes from the larger fish under the lights. Later in the fall when the shrimp start showing up shrimp shaped plastics shine the new live target shrimp will probably work magic along with the classic DOA. Fishing the lights is also a great time to pull out the fly rod the weightless flies glide through the strike zone perfectly and is my secret weapon when

A beat up sparkle beetle after a
night of fishing the lights.

working lights where the fish are more finicky of other lures. The key to catching fish in the lights is to work the edges of the beam where the light shines on the water and the base of the light near the edge of the dock. This summer my brother and I worked the lights along the banks of Lake Pontchartrain from late June through early August and have seen the fish grow from mostly 10 and 11 inchers to mostly 12 inch fish. By the end of August the trout should be solid keepers making for easy limits at night.  Safety tip Make sure you have a 360 degree white light and a bright handheld flashlight to not get run over by powerboats in the dark.