Trout Fishing At Night With Lights

Most people think about night fishing when they consider fishing for catfish. However, it can be just as satisfying if you are fishing for trout too.

Some of the best hours of the way to catch a trout is an hour before sunrise, and an hour after sunset, the change in the light can really turn the tides on how many bites you get. 

First, we want to know if trout will bite at night, and the answer to this question is yes, they do. If the day is especially sunny, you might even get a much more impressive bite at night than during the day. 

Darkness can actually trigger a natural switch in them that puts the trout into a feeding mode, while this is not every trout, it does apply the most for brown trout, although rainbow and brook trout also have a tendency to feed at night too. 

Trout change their behavior at night. During clear sunny days, trout will typically lie low in deep holes, and they won’t be overly active, so your catches may be poor.

However, as night comes around they will start to come alive, they will move towards the shallows and be more likely to chase bait. You may want to focus more on banks and shallow areas at night. 

When you are fishing at night, you will want to consider the color of your lure, you can use the light from the sky to your advantage here, especially if you have the moon light on your side. If you don’t then you have to be a bit more crafty. 

If you have plenty of moon light you can use this, use a lure with any wide variety of colors, this will make it easier for the trout to spot the lure against the light of the sky. Generally, trout will be looking up at the lure, silhouetted against the bright sky.

If the moon is not on your side however, if it is cloudy or a new moon, then try to use a dark-colored lure, perhaps black, brown, or olive, and this will then still be dark enough that the trout can see it silhouetted against the darkness of the night sky. 

You do not have to use lights when night fishing necessarily, you can use the natural light that comes from the moon and the stars to your advantage. 

Quite a few anglers will say that the best time to go night fishing for trout is during a new moon, noting that the darker the sky, the more predatory the trout will be, safer under the cover of complete darkness, and therefore more confident to prowl about in the shallows.

How true this is depends on the fish, however, artificial light pollution in less rural areas could affect this, so it is more up to you to decide on your own. However, what we do know is that these fish like the dark. 

The only issue is, we can’t see in the dark. 

Are trout attracted to light?

While trout might like the dark, we have the issue that we cannot see in the dark, and so we need a little assistance.

Trout will look for the silhouettes of possible prey against the black sky or shining moon and therefore, they do not necessarily need light to hunt. However, we still need to see what we are fishing for. 

Fish will be attracted to silhouettes against light, rather than the light itself, this doesn’t mean you should be shining light above the lure though, it might be a bit too obvious that this is not natural. 

However, if you do need to see at night, try out a headlamp, but do not go for the brightest thing, go for a dimmer light. A dimmer light will look more natural, instead of coming across like you’ve strapped your car’s headlights to your head and switched on the full-beams.

What is even better is a red light, this is far less scary to the trout and if used properly, you can see well enough, and you won’t startle your catch. 

So, no, trout are not attracted to light, instead they are attracted to the silhouettes of items seen against natural light. So if you do use a light, remember, less is more. 

Do trout like glow in the dark?

Really, trout do not seem to care about glow in the dark stuff. They do not seem to be all that bothered. You might think that it could startle them, however, they seem to be rather indifferent. But a glow in the dark line and lure can do, though, is allow you to see where your line and lure are.

If you are fishing in the darkness hoping for a good catch, you want to know where your line is, knowing where it is, and even having a glow in the dark lure can give you a great indication of when you do make a catch, rather than relying on the soft tug on your line entirely. 

It is beneficial to you, and the fish don’t really seem all that bothered if it is glowing in the dark or not. Glow in the dark does seem to be better than other artificial lights though, possibly because glow in the dark lights are more natural and dimmer, therefore less startling. 

Are rainbow trout attracted to light?

Rainbow trout are not all that different from other trout. You can use a night fishing light that will float above where your bait is to help the bait to stand out, but make sure it is not too bright as it will scare the fish away. Often small fish will be curious about this, which can draw in predatory fish such as rainbow trout. 

We would recommend a special purpose light, however if you cannot get these you can fabricate them from auto parts. If you can’t do this, simply use the moon to your advantage and let the moon light make the bait stand out to the fish.