By Jerry Miller

Outdoor Columnist

The best time to go bass fishing in the summer, especially in July, is when the sun begins to go down. There are several advantages to night fishing. As soon as the sun starts to set, you can feel the heat diminishing. A few hours after sundown the lake begins to cool off and so do you.

I have always preferred to fish during the full moon. Some of my best fishing memories have been at night under a full moon.

One July day after a particularly hot, sultry, calm day my wife Betty and I arrived on Lake Fork to night fish. As soon as I pulled up into my favorite place on Lake Fork, I immediately knew that this was going to be a magical night.

The sun was setting, and I could see droves of shad rippling on the surface near the bank where I intended to fish. The moon was just coming up and everything was perfect. The bass followed the shad into the mossy area, and the feeding began.

The area I chose was in the mouth of Little Caney Creek where a deep ditch ran through a shallow flat. Thirty-foot water was close by. The area was full of stumps and lay downs along with lily pads.

We caught bass up till midnight. Most of the bass averaged between three and seven pounds. Big worms and jigs were our best two lures. I’ve almost always favored seven-inch sickle tail worms. For years I used Jawtec Bogus Wiggler worms that had an extra thick and big sickle tail. I always use black with blue fleck. Jawtec worms are no longer available, but there are other similar baits.

Where do you find bass at night time? The majority are in the same areas that they feed in during daylight hours. The best nighttime condition I have found is under a major moon phase. When the daylight hours are clear, calm, hot and stable weather prevails, you can almost be sure the bass will bite good at night.

Fishing pressure does play a major part on how well the bass bite at night. On big reservoirs like Lake Fork there are plenty of areas that don’t get a lot of nighttime pressure. I’m always looking for an isolated spot that seldom gets fished. Main lake points and humps get fished a lot. But gullies and ditches often get overlooked.

The biggest mistake I see bass anglers make at nighttime is fishing too fast. At nighttime you really need to slow down and target smaller specific areas.

On Lake Jacksonville you will catch more bass at night if you mostly target brush piles in about 12 to 19 feet. Stop your boat on a good spot and fish it slow and thoroughly. I try to find four or five spots close by and fish each one thoroughly. It’s a good idea to keep going back through your best areas.

When fishing heavy brush I do really good fishing a Texas rig with 1?4 oz. bullet weight and a sickle tail worm. In sparse cover a Nichols’ Impact jig in a 3/8 oz. or 1?2 oz. is good. Black and blue is a hot color at night on Lake Jacksonville. Attach a Nichols black and blue Texas Craw to the hook and hang one. There are times when the big bass will nearly jerk the rod out of your hand.

On lakes like Lake Nacogdoches where you find hydrilla growing out to about 12 feet, I like to slow roll a Nichols’ 1?2 oz. black and blue Rattlin’ Night Train spinner bait. I try to keep the bait ticking the grass. I’ve caught some monster bass at night on this bait. It works best when you have grass or stumps you can bump through.

Big bass do feed a lot at night especially in the hot summer. From sundown to about midnight have been my most successful hours.

The largest bass I’ve ever landed (11 lb.11 oz.) came on a hot July night in 2004 on Lake Fork. That’s a night trip with Randy Oldfield I will never forget.

Jerry Miller can be contacted at: gonefishing@suddenlink.net