Missouri anglers employ night fishing as way to beat July heat

Successful July crappie anglers, Ron Daugherty (left), Carl Junction, and Jay Ellis, Webb City with 27 keeper crappie they caught last week. (Photo by Ken White/Special to the Daily Mail)

A lot of anglers are choosing to fish in the heat, which, in my opinion, is still better than not fishing at all.

Last week I found there are many successful late July anglers who are catching crappie to catfish. Ron Daugherty, Carl Junction and Jay Ellis, Webb City, hit Stockton and caught 27 keeper crappie using red thunder or salt and pepper jigs.

Ellis said, "We have been catching crappie in spite of the heat. Last Sunday we had 22 keepers and before that we have caught our limit. Since I retired, I go fishing 100 to 150 days a year. I am mainly a crappie fisherman and it's been good all summer."

It's hot, but there are some anglers that don't let the heat of summer keep them from fishing and enjoying it, really!

On a past trip to Table Rock in late July, I met up with some friends that were night fishing and they really liked it. They started night fishing to keep cool, but with the fishing and catching so good, keeping cool became secondary. Big bass, crappie and catfish were caught making the whole experience memorable. It's possible to catch more fish at night than you would during daylight hours.

Jim Montgomery, Warsaw, started night fishing Truman, Lake of the Ozarks, Stockton, Pomme de Terre and Table Rock some 20 years ago and learned several things about night fishing. He has said one of the most important things he found was to work your lure slower at night than during daylight hours.

Spinners, jigs, plastic worms and topwater lures work best when fished slow. Another thing that helps fishermen to catch fish is to fish during or near a full moon. For some reason the bass seem to be more active at that time. Once you start fishing at night, you will soon learn the best ways to fish for bass, crappie and even white bass.

Montgomery told me, "My dad used to catch crappie all summer by fishing at night. He would light up a lantern and hang it outside the boat. The light would attract bugs and baitfish which would attract crappie and other fish. This chain reaction always brought home fish for dinner."

Some of the largest fish of the year have been caught in July during the night. Bob Butler, Joplin, caught his largest bass ever while fishing with a black single spinner on a hot night in July.

He said, "I will never forget that night. I was throwing a black spinner when that big bass sucked it in. After about 15 minutes, I landed a 10-pound, 4-ounce bass. It was the largest bass by far that I had ever caught.

"Later that night I caught a five pounder. You don't forget fishing trips like that." Night anglers on big and clear impoundments find night fishing the answer to these long hot dog days of summer.

Several years ago a fishing friend called me and said he had been catching crappie at Stockton. With the temperature flirting with the 100 degree mark, I told him I would meet him at the dock the next morning.

It came to no surprise to see him waiting at the dock. What was a surprise, he had several nice crappie already in his livewell and was unhooking another as I got there.

I remember he told me that several days earlier he had been messing around the dock and decided to make a few casts using swimming minnows, and was happy to hook a nice sized crappie. He then got serious, so before heading home, he got his limit of 15 nice crappie.

He had told me "My wife thought I was losing it, but the results proved otherwise."

We worked the shoreline from the boat catching bass and crappie in 20 feet of water all along the lake. The fish were scattered, but would get a hit nearly every cast. That was a good day. To me, It was more like spring fishing instead of late July.

Harold Madison, Clinton, reported that he has been catching crappie all summer while fishing at Truman. He said, "Even during the day I have been hooking a limit of crappie. Usually at this time of the year I take my Coleman light and fish after dark, but this year has been different.

"Normally, I use minnows to catch crappie during July, but I have been successful using a white jig. Although it's been hot, I have been taking advantage of the good fishing anyway."

So even though the thermometer hovers near the 100 degree mark, fishing can still be good, especially if you try night fishing, because as the temperatures cool the fishing can stay hot.