is it a waste of time to fish a pin rig at night?

[ryan511]

^^that. Will kings and cobes still hit a pin rig at night? I really have the itch to go fishing tonight but it's getting dark in a few hours. I've never caught anything besides sharks on a pin rig at night. The common problem is that I'm never really sure if the bait is even in the water as I can't see.:(

suggestions as to this issue and original question would be much appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Drumdum]

Yes,I've seen kings bite at night off Jennette's pier in OBX.. The best I could suggest is that you place your bait as close to the lights as possible.. The fish will hit at night,but a king has eyes better suited for daylight and are sight feeders.. I've caught plenty of cobes on bottom bait at night,so don't see why it wouldn't work for them as well.. Best thing I've seen on a pinrig at night is a tarpon.. We used to get plenty of strikes from tarpon on Frisco Pier back in the day.. Full moon in July was key.. jmo

[ryan511]

Yes,I've seen kings bite at night off Jennette's pier in OBX.. The best I could suggest is that you place your bait as close to the lights as possible.. The fish will hit at night,but a king has eyes better suited for daylight and are sight feeders.. I've caught plenty of cobes on bottom bait at night,so don't see why it wouldn't work for them as well.. Best thing I've seen on a pinrig at night is a tarpon.. We used to get plenty of strikes from tarpon on Frisco Pier back in the day.. Full moon in July was key.. jmo

Thanks man. Unfortunately I fish vabeach pier(season pass, have to) and they have no lights to speak of short a few near the surf that are hot spots for small blues and lil speckles. So now that you've confirmed a real chance at a hit, the only problem is visually seeing if my darn bait is in the water.


Damn.

[ribs54]

no gonna say where but it is a local spot there was a cobia caught at 1230 at night

[drawinout]

I'm fairly new to pin rigging, and last Monday at the LIP I met a few of the guys on this site that helped me out tremendously. That being said, I fish VB pier all the time and I know the lighting situation on the end is crap. Personally, it wouldn't be worth my time to put a pin rig out there unless I was able to drop my own light. I've done some swordfishing, and a I was thinking a light that you drop in the water(similar to the ones we've used swordfishing) might work on the end of the pier at night. The problem with that is lugging that heavy battery out there on your cart with all the other gear, and it still wouldn't put enough light out to get to your pin rig. I think if you're targeting kings you really have alot better chance going during the day, being, as drumdum said, they primarily feed by sight. Also, if you're going to go out there this time of year and want to set up your pin rig, I'd get there well before dawn to secure your spot!! I have only fished the pier once this year, but last summer I was there every day. This year, with the spanish bite being halfway decent, it seems like there were a thousand people fishing the T. As soon as the tourists see one or two spanish come up, next thing you know you have 20 bottom fisherman out there doing the same thing they could be doing further in. My couple cents worth.

[ryan511]

no gonna say where but it is a local spot there was a cobia caught at 1230 at nightlol. OK?

I'm fairly new to pin rigging, and last Monday at the LIP I met a few of the guys on this site that helped me out tremendously. That being said, I fish VB pier all the time and I know the lighting situation on the end is crap. Personally, it wouldn't be worth my time to put a pin rig out there unless I was able to drop my own light. I've done some swordfishing, and a I was thinking a light that you drop in the water(similar to the ones we've used swordfishing) might work on the end of the pier at night. The problem with that is lugging that heavy battery out there on your cart with all the other gear, and it still wouldn't put enough light out to get to your pin rig. I think if you're targeting kings you really have alot better chance going during the day, being, as drumdum said, they primarily feed by sight. Also, if you're going to go out there this time of year and want to set up your pin rig, I'd get there well before dawn to secure your spot!! I have only fished the pier once this year, but last summer I was there every day. This year, with the spanish bite being halfway decent, it seems like there were a thousand people fishing the T. As soon as the tourists see one or two spanish come up, next thing you know you have 20 bottom fisherman out there doing the same thing they could be doing further in. My couple cents worth.

^^qft. God that's irritating. Happens every time I go. I land a mediocre spanish on a gotcha and the next thing you know ten tourons are crossing me up with their squid rigs. I usually make up some crap about the wind direction and tell them to hit the other side of the pier. I'm going to hell.

[original hooker]

Kings need "no pier light" to eat, all they do is swim & eat, we've caught 1000's of pounds at night commercially...
use a 5" glow stick clipped to your close pin, light weight enough & it's bright enough to give flash off your bait. Used to catch kings regular off Oceanic during twilight.....use beefed up gear as the sharks & tarpon will be eatin your baits regular.

[NTKG]

i know cobia will eat at night.... finally got to see that.

[drawinout]

Kings need "no pier light" to eat, all they do is swim & eat, we've caught 1000's of pounds at night commercially...
use a 5" glow stick clipped to your close pin, light weight enough & it's bright enough to give flash off your bait. Used to catch kings regular off Oceanic during twilight.....use beefed up gear as the sharks & tarpon will be eatin your baits regular.

This is a great tip, I never would have thought of that. So you just put the glow stick on the snap swivel on your pin?? Thanks a million, that's a really good tip. I'll be trying it out Monday.