One of the truly best times to night fish is during the full moon. Think about it: no sun first of all to burn your skin, no bathers or jetskiers to bother the fish and you, and there is silence and stillness around you, broken perhaps by the occasional splash of a jumping fish or the cry of a bird. It is a time to relax, think about profound subjects like where your budget goes, and have an intimate conversation with your fishing buddy, all while waiting for the fish to bite. Depending on where you are fishing there might be an errant mosquito but what is that in the quietude and magic of a moonlit night?

Plus, if you got to the right place and time, there will be the pleasure of hauling in sizeable fish after fish, all bigger that you might expect perhaps. It is true that the larger fishes go hunting for food during the night, and they range farther when the night is moonlighted. Likewise, they explore the shallows in search of prey or to corner small fishes against the shallow shore where they may bushwhacked more easily. So the best places to fish during the nights of the full moon are probably:

Mangrove lines. Small fish seek protection in the standing mangrove roots and preying fish know this. So they seek out the mangrove roots during high tide to thrash any prey that went momentarily careless. Mangrove snappers, catfishes, small sharks and groupers are what you will more probably find prowling the mangrove line.

Shallows and flats near deeper water. Most fishes use the deeper water of troughs, canals and depressions as sanctuary to run to in case of danger and as throughways to travel from place to place. When no danger threatens, the fish go shallow to seek food and prey. Anchoring at the mouth of known deeper water places can give good dividends, even if it is mostly a waiting game. As the fish leave the deeper water or return to it during the slack tide, they would pass near your baits and, hopefully, be enticed by the morsel.

Topside of underwater hills. The sunken ‘hills’ may consist of crushed corals, seaweeds, or just plain sand, but they will magnets for fishes hunting for small crabs, shrimps, small fishes and even any edible debris. Snappers, jacks, barracudas, and sharks often patrol these areas, and they mostly come in marauding groups. So if you hit one you would have a quick and sudden bonanza until the others wisen up. If they do you can return the next night and they will, too.

Sandbars and dock pilings. Fish use sandbars as places to find smaller fishes, crabs, shrimps and squids. Surf fishing sandbars during moonlit nights should produce catches individually larger than usual. Meantime, dock pilings are structures to hide behind to ambush passing prey. Jig the pilings.

Moonlit nights are indeed magical for both the fisherman and the fish. No matter the season, the fish seek food in greater ranges during such times. Thus the chances of hooking large ones are proportionately bigger, too, and should not be overlooked. However, for the same reason, it is mostly the time for waiting and being always ready, for the bite, when it comes, can engender pandemonium for its strength and frequency. Fish the moonlit night and you will see.  

All fishes can be caught by hook and line if one follows fishing’s greatest tenet and best well-known secret: ‘Find what the fish feeds on and use it for bait’. This applies to all forms of bait, from natural to artificial, from exact copies to simulators, from hard to soft baits. It is doubly important when one is exploring a new fishing area because fish feeds on available forage items, and what is available locally may not be what you have been using.

This tenet is thus naturally applicable to fishing for milkfish, Chanos chanos. Depending on where it is found, milkfish may be caught using various baits and different methods. For example, we have been successful using fish roe as bait because that was the most common food in the area we fished before. So therefore we caught not only milkfish but all other fishes as well, including mullet, croakers, snappers and an occasional gar or two. The area was near a fish processing facility, and all natural trash is dumped into the shallows. Fish entrails, gills, fins, skin, and scales abound in the area collecting all kinds of sea creatures that feed on them.

The technique was to impale the fish eggs with a small hook, and use no leaders, sinkers or swivels that will make the bait move unnaturally. Lob the bait among the fish refuse near the milkfish if you see them, and let out a very slack line. Wait until the line runs briskly, and then just pull the fish in. Do not strike as this may spook the others. It is not always, however, that what you catch is milkfish.

The same method works if you see milkfish moving over sand, though here the bait of choice may be tiny live shrimps. It is extremely rare that this happens, though, because most milkfish move into the shallows only during the night and at incoming tide, such as during full moon days. The large milkfish move into the shallow areas to lay their eggs, often in places where a creek or river is nearby.

If, however, the milkfish is in a fishpond, bread is most often the effective bait. Pinch off a small piece of any soft bread, press-mold it around the hook to hide it completely and lob the thing some distance from the levee. The hook should be tied to a short leader, maximum six inches, and a small float. The idea is for the bread to simulate a just-thrown in feed pellet. Strike when the float runs or dives.

Best fishing times are major or minor solunar times especially when coinciding with early morning and late afternoon hours. They bite all throughout the year, but maybe less during rainy season due to stress of pH imbalance caused by new rainwater in the ponds.

Two things though: what is effective in fishing for mullet and bonefish may also be effective in fishing for milkfish, except, very probably, fishing with flies as you do bonefish. Milkfish eat mostly algal bloom when kept in ponds, or, like bonefish, tiny crustaceans and forage items in the sand. But though extra-tiny flies are doable, you will never see milkfish in shallow water, or, most probably, you will not see any milkfish at all in the sea during the day.

Milkfish are strong fighters though not for very long, especially pond-grown fish. They move very similar to bonefish (just compare their tail designs) so hooking them is an experience. That is, if you see and hook them in the wilds.

Though not as popular as bass fishing or flyfishing for trout, the sport of catfishing is still a serious pursuit, engaged in by many anglers. In fact several catfishing tournaments are held every year, with substantial prizes, attendance and participation of anglers. Catfish in the neighborhood of 100 pounds are caught almost regularly during these tournaments, so the sport is no mewing matter, so to speak.

The following tactics and techniques are gathered from empirical information by catfishing anglers of the most serious kind, regarding the areas on which concentration of effort is required.

Tackle. Catfishes of all varieties are the bulldogs of the freshwater fishes. When they are hooked they simply bull their way off as much as they can. Therefore you must use appropriate tackle, often those used for saltwater bruisers. For catfish of the 100-lb varieties, deep sea conventional trolling reels from 4/0 to 7/0 size spooled with 60- to 80-lb mono or braid, and served by medium heavy glass boat rods are needed, if only to head off the catfish from the deep parts of the river or away. At any rate, consider the heaviest tackle you can find for catfishing.

Baits. Most catfishes prefer live forage fish served naturally – alive or fresh-killed and filleted —and this should be the first priority. Professionals advise hooking the chub, carp, minnow, shad –whatever-- at the base of the tail to allow it to move naturally in the water. Trim the tail to reduce bait friskiness if necessary.
When using stinkbait, cover the hook completely with the bait.

Terminal rig. Most serious catfishermen use the sliding sinker rig or the three-way terminal rig. In the first, a 6-oz. sliding egg sinker is threaded into the main line above an appropriate swivel and then the leader, attached to a 4/0 to 9/0 circle hook or hooks. Size the rig to the expected catch but err on the bigger option.
Three-way rigs combine a 6-oz. bank sinker attached to a 3-way swivel by a thin 10- to 20-lb. mono to facilitate sinker breakaway on snags. The leader may go from 18 to 24 inches of 50-lb. mono or as desired.

Location. Like many other predator fishes, catfish ambush prey and are opportunist feeders. Thus the largest catfishes often lie at the mouth or upstream of the largest depressions in the river or lake bottom, sometimes as deep as 90 feet. The smaller ones have to content themselves at the rear parts of the slough, or at the sides. When channels or depressions are few, look for places where structures slow down the current, such as behind stumps, sandbars or shallow banks, where the fish can lie in ambush position without tiring. 

Best fishing times. Fish feeding activity is influenced much by the tidal movements. Not many predator fishes want to fight a strong current, so active feeding usually occurs during what is called ‘turn of the tide’, when one tidal phase has ended but the other has not yet began. Here, catfishes may chase preyfishes in the shallows, pushing them against the bank for easy ambush. In the same principle, the times of half moons produce slower tides and therefore enable catfishes to prowl farther and less strenuously to feed. Consult your solunar tables for the best times to catfish. Fishingreminder’s tide tables and charts would likewise tell you about tidal flows, very useful in river catfishing.

Of all the sportfishes of America, the freshwater largemouth bass is the most famous. Many millions of dollars are spent each year in pursuit of this fish, from boats to sinkers, lines to lures, motors to magazines and hundreds of hours of television time. Products are being continually invented every year just to cater to this gargantuan demand of this piscatorial pursuit, and still the bassfishermen become more addicted to their sport with the passing of time.

And they better be, as the largemouth fights ferociously, and is a delight to catch particularly on light tackle. But of course you have to find them first before you can fight them. Below are some reminders on how to catch bass around laydowns: fallen trees with trunks and branches in the water.

While no reason has been proven as to why bass locate near laydowns (you don’t converse with bass), the best possible one is that like other predator fishes they use the structure to hide behind or blend with to more easily ambush prey. Or maybe they hide there to avoid even larger fish that is dangerous to themselves. At any rate, bass usually hang around laydowns, particularly those with branches that are near deeper water.

Tactic: Most people will cast a lure several times near the laydown, and if no takes occur, they leave. This is incorrect according to some experts. One says he casts his lure progressively going in, then all around the tree. This is so as not to spook any fish hanging in the deeper water before enticing those nearer the bank. If you cast right into the tree or bank, you may scare away the nearer fish, whether you caught the ones you targeted or not. Also, if you happen to snag your lure, you must go in to retrieve it and thus spook all the fish around the laydown.

Once the tree is thoroughly explored, you can then bump the tree with the lure to tempt doubting bass to an easy meal. If you have an extra rod, try casting a follow up worm or spinner just to present something new. Some fish have been pressured much by lures to be so wary they will accept a different presentation.

Tackle: Lures are often deeper-running crankbaits, square-lipped or round, but jigs and critters may work just as well. Use a heavier fluorocarbon line –into the 12-lb. range—to quickly pull that bass away from snags once hooked. You will of course prefer a rod you are comfortable with that can handle your lure easily, so it is matter of personal choice. In autumn when the shad is running shallow to spawn, you can use shad-imitating lures. When the bass is about to move into the shallows to spawn, you may try worms and soft plastics. Bass will be too voracious to be choosy.

Fishing times: While no specific times are recommended for bassfishing the laydowns, be sure to tailor the tactic to the season and consult fishingreminders best fishing times forecast. Solunar tables are reliable consultants when it comes to bass fishing. Besides that it is always a good idea to ask the locals or veterans about which lures work best during what fishing times.

There are many ways to catch the largemouth bass, from flyfishing delicate streamers to dunking a gob of worms. But the real challenge is finding them then enticing them to strike, even if against their will, so to speak. And to this end, otherwise normal people get crazy. The sport is really how to catch them, and catching them is just the trophy, the proof of success.