Successful Lake Fishing Using Light as the Bait

Posted: Apr 07 2016

Being a Texas native growing up in a land full of lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks makes it really hard not to have fishing as one of your lifelong hobbies. I myself have been fishing since I have had the strength to hold a fishing pole. Fishing has just been one of those things that has been passed down generation after generation in my family. Of course, my generation of fishing has become something more of a fun hobby and not a constant way of keeping groceries on the table.

I’ve fished for trout and salmon in New York. I’ve caught giant reds and flounder in Florida. I’ve caught halibut off the coast of California. I’ve also fished all around the Island of Okinawa, Japan catching more species of fish than I could ever catch alone in the United States. I have fished many great waters around the globe in my 26 years of existence but nothing compares to fishing my home turf of Texas.

Everyone has heard of home court/field advantage. When fishing these foreign places you must do the research or learn the hard way to be successful. Of course you could just run to the local outfitter or bait shop and ask them for advice but I’m not the kind of guy to trust someone’s word on where the honey hole is or what are the best baits to buy. When it comes to fishing the areas you’ve grown up around and have had years and years of trial and error you begin to master when and where the fish are and what they like. For me, it is the catfish I have mastered. Yellows, blues, and channels just have a hard time not running into my lines whether it be a fishing pole, jug line, or trot line. Don’t get me wrong now, no one is perfect but there are certain things you can do to keep the success at a steady median while having days of great success more than often. One of the keys to my success is fishing in the night.

In Brownwood, Texas there ain’t much but we do have a pretty nice lake. The lake is great for cat fishing and for any species really, at the right time of year. When targeting any species of catfish you’ll need to have a few different types of bait just to find out which one is working for that specific time period. I like to use livers, beef or chicken. Shrimp also works well. I primarily use live bait because that’s where 80% of my success lies at. At night if you have any light near you or in the water it will draw in baitfish. I have spent hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars just on bait alone and am just now giving up on all the fancy new products coming out on the shelf. Don’t get me wrong some of those products are great! I have had tons of success using store bought bait, but with all purchases coming out of my wallet these days I’ve had to slow down on the spending. Not only that, but fresh caught bait is the baddest bait you can use here on good ol Lake Brownwood. Like I said, if you have light on the water you will draw in the bait, and then all you’ll need is a throw net. Here, we have shad, which seems to catch everything from drum, to catfish, to hybrid striper. I have never been successful catching shad at any other time except in the night. So I have to be on the water at night if I’m going to catfish. 

Any time there are jug lines or trotlines set I see them being checked as im checking my own and first thing in the morning too. You don’t have to be present to be night fishing, but you do have to get your bait out there during the dark hours.

Lake Brownwood also has tons of white bass and crappie, and night fishing has its advantages for those two species as well. If you have light on the water during the warmer months you’ll have a carpet of insects on the water in no time in which you instantly see the food chain at work. The bugs will be eaten by smaller baitfish, which attract the bigger fish and bringing the bigger fish literally makes your chances of success much greater.

I’m just one person out of millions who love fishing and I love fishing at night. I’ve pretty much made my mind up that with the success I’ve had at night alone, you wont catch me out in the daylight hours fishing, unless its running lines the morning after putting hooks out.

Jordan Longoria
Brownwood, Texas