# night wades



## OnedayScratch

In the process as mentioned in another thread of building a wade station. Gotta question for the night waders...would you/could you wade with an underwater green light?
Thinking about rigging 'The Rig' with a spot to hold one and have about 20 yards of rope and wire for it to stay away from me while fishing.

Thoughts?


----------



## OnedayScratch

Fair enough....no nite guys.


----------



## speckcaster

I've done some night wading ...... usually in the summer. we generally wade oyster shell reefs or the beachfront during a nite time tide shift. regarding lights I usually only use a peltz headlight when needed other than that we usually have a few area lights around the boat and/or camp.

we've rigged green lights around the anchored or beached boats but I usually don't fish under them while wading the reef edges @ nite.

speckcaster


----------



## JFolm

Night wading - total darkness, no lights.


Throw morning glory soft plastics and black top waters.


----------



## Herb Burnwell

I only use a headlight the times that i have night waded... good luck, post some pics when you finish it.


Sent from that East 5...


----------



## TomCat

Put some of those glow sticks on your hat and hang one off your back so the boats don't run over you.


----------



## zthomas18

All you need is a head lamp and a black super spook....Let the moon be your light.


----------



## OnedayScratch

Thanks for the replies. I too have done the total darkness thing, just looking to bring more to the party. Headlamp may be in my future too.


----------



## jtbailey

The light in the water at night time attracts the bait, so in turn I'm assuming it will probly bring a few UNWANTED predators..... yes? No? Maybe so? Thoughts????


----------



## tspitzer

done it caught fish--did not really like it--prob will do it again--

But i think the green light would work--you could try a small kids boat or boggie board to anchor then back off and fish it--one of those small tractor batt--would last a while--


----------



## bragwell

You don't need lights. Chrome black back she dogs, 1/2oz silver spoons, red shad plastics, and dark fatboys would be in my box.


----------



## tspitzer

thought about this last night--I am thinking the lights would be great for catching small trout--big every time i have wade at night we have caught bigger fish--and not are bothered by the dinks--just 2 cents--


----------



## BlueWaterCrew

We've tossed top water torpedoes, the bigger ones, on an incoming tides around San Luis pass and on the beach when flat.


----------



## OnedayScratch

tspitzer said:


> thought about this last night--I am thinking the lights would be great for catching small trout--big every time i have wade at night we have caught bigger fish--and not are bothered by the dinks--just 2 cents--


Cool. Thanks.


----------



## Spooley

*Potlicking Predators*

:doowapsta


jtbailey said:


> The light in the water at night time attracts the bait, so in turn I'm assuming it will probly bring a few UNWANTED predators..... yes? No? Maybe so? Thoughts????


 Yes you are correct specifically in the bay systems. Often had a large school of 30" wide stingrays pot-licking me and staying just outside the light. Gets kind spooky when you first see all of them.


----------



## CroakerChoker

I love night wading. Me and some buddies got into some bioillumnesence while wading up from SLP. It was the coolest night wading experience ever. We were a bunch of grown men doing the twist just to watch the water light up around us. 
On to the topic. Just headlamps to see what you are doing, caught trouts and reds on every color from morning glory to glow(charged with light and not).


----------



## fishin shallow

Had a night trip with Cpt Ernest Cisneros a couple years ago on a full moon. We all wore head lamps but only used them when someone hooked up. He had a lantern on the boats console and would have it drift behind us. Threw topwaters all night was cool not knowing what was smashing the bait.


----------



## Jeff SATX

Green light to floating ice chest with kayak anchor would be cool but I'd be off and wading away throwing topwaters


----------



## fishingtwo

*Night Wading*

I tried the green light tied off to a float tube one time. It just got in the way.
Maybe one of these, just kidding but they look cool.


----------



## madbayrunner

night wading in Texas? don't you watch Shelby looking for logs at night in LA?
call me want you want


----------



## sharkeater

OnedayScratch said:


> Thinking about rigging 'The Rig' with a spot to hold one and have about 20 yards of rope and wire for it to stay away from me while fishing.
> 
> Thoughts?


Sounds like it could be a productive experiment. My suggestion would be to leave the wiring and the battery in a dry/sealed place on 'The Rig'. Just hang onto the rope. I'm interested to see what you come up with. What light do you plan to use?


----------



## Drifter

Going to give it a try very soon.

Drifter


----------



## Tmackcj5

I've never done any night wading but it sounds fun. I'm going to have to give it a go.


----------



## big3slayer

only night wade when the water is below 70 i dont trust the man in the grey suit that much


----------



## Lone-Star

I like to keep what Im carrying with me at night to the bare essentials. Less stuff to get tangled up with which tends to happen much easier at night. Dragging a light around seems like a recipe for frustration. Maybe if you anchored it and worked around it.


----------



## u wont know if u dont go

Started fishing salt 5 yrs ago when i moved here....not knowing any better about the toothy predators, i went to surside beachfront about chest deep throwing net for finger mullet and stuffing my pockets with them. After some leg brushings of an "unknown" .kinda shy'd me from doing it again. Then last summer i went to TX City Dike about 15 mins b4 dark and noticed 2 waders at mosquito point and all the sudden out of nowhere for about 5 mins straight came 3-5ft violently crashing waves........then here comes a calvary of emergency vehicles.....unfortunately 1 of those 2 made it back to dry land


----------



## Johnny9

Waded the ditch in front of Green Island in POC at night with a full moon up. Tide changed and bait came to top. Second fish on topwater was a good one till Shark hit and them slack line. nothing but the head left, back to boat and to bed. Those were the days when I fished 24/7.


----------



## minedude

Waded Mosses Bayou the entry where the doors are located about 20 years ago with several guys was good, caught a few trout and few flounder. Some other guys there had a big setup with a generator and lights was really cool setup.


----------



## FISHP

u wont know if u dont go said:


> Started fishing salt 5 yrs ago when i moved here....not knowing any better about the toothy predators, i went to surside beachfront about chest deep throwing net for finger mullet and stuffing my pockets with them. After some leg brushings of an "unknown" .kinda shy'd me from doing it again. Then last summer i went to TX City Dike about 15 mins b4 dark and noticed 2 waders at mosquito point and all the sudden out of nowhere for about 5 mins straight came 3-5ft violently crashing waves........then here comes a calvary of emergency vehicles.....unfortunately 1 of those 2 made it back to dry land[/QUOTET
> 
> TCD gets ship wakes on both sides, that is what the waves were about,, have been on the dike near the end before when a guy was lost, he was in an inner tube at night and disappeared,apparently couldn't swim and alcohol was involve.
> Coast guard was out in force helicopters and all for a god while , never heard if he washed up anywhere.


----------



## Mr. Breeze

This is a good read, Rudy Grigar, Plugger, lots of tips on wading at night.


----------



## pocjetty

This thread is a little old, I know, but I thought I would toss in a thing or two. I flounder year round (except November, now @##$%), and have for about 30 years. There is some great fishing to be had on the flats at night. One drawback is that you don't have all the visual clues you get during the day, so you're pretty much throwing darts - but there are some areas that tend to hold fish a lot more consistently than most. I've run across guys out wading in the pitch black, while out floundering.

My advice would be to skip the green light. I know you're thinking about using the light to attract bait, like a pier or out of a boat. We used to fish near the jetties with a green light under the boat. Somewhere along the line, we noticed that our bigger fish always came from outside the light. We started just fishing dark, and we caught a LOT more big fish than we ever did with a light. When there was no current movement, or just no trout feeding for whatever reason, the green light would often bring some small trout under the boat, and keep things interesting. But we never pulled it out until we absolutely had to.

I still bring a rod a long on flounder trips in the summers. After I get my flounder, I will drift some nights. Topwaters are still king, and a boatload of fun in the dark. I think the fish are even more bold about chasing down a wounded baitfish when it's dark, and sometimes I will get 3-4 big blow-ups on a single cast.

The down side? We run across areas that are just loaded with rays, when we're floundering. Not like one here, and one over there. Loaded like everywhere you look, there are rays. I wish I could say that you can predict the spots, but you can't. It's probably more common out in front of lake drains, but they can be pretty much anywhere. Don't go night wading without ray guards - just don't do it. I used to be cocky and say I would never wear them, but I've seen too much. I can't swear to it, but my gut feeling is that the ray population has swelled to take up some slack in the ecosystem. In other words, I think that there are just more of them than there used to be.

Sharks? Yeah, a few. I'm sure more in some areas, but overall not a big problem. But... I still wouldn't reach down and grab a trout right out of the water. Bring a net, and save yourself the worry. They aren't out hunting vertical human legs, even at night, but a thrashing trout is ringing a dinner bell.

One of the coolest things ever is when there is "phosphorus" in the water. Those tiny little light-up jellies. You can sweep your hand through the water, and watch the sparks swirl in the eddies. But that's not the cool part. When it's a moonless night, and you're fishing with a sub-surface bait, you can actually watch the fish hit. A lot of times, there is this great big ball of light that just kind of explodes around the bait when the fish hits it. If you ever shot an old bottle rocket into the water and watched it pop, it looks a lot like that.

Last piece of advice for night wading - fish shallow. Don't be afraid to fish in water that is 6-8 inches deep.


----------

