evening on the nice?

[texscala]

I am thinkin of hitting strawberry on Friday evening. I usually go in the morning. How does the evening compare to the morning? What time is usually the best?
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[N.E.T.O.]

Well, having personally experienced an evening on the ice recently (Last Friday night) I will say that it was slower than I expected. However, I also happened to go on a night preceding a day that was also slower than expected, so maybe it just wasn't the right time of the month to go fishing.
We started fishing Friday night around 7:00 p.m. As the night went on, the fishing got slower and slower. Finally picked up as soon as the sun started coming up the next morning.
I would be anxious to hear others peoples evening ice fishing experiences, as I am hoping we were just there a bad night.
Randy
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[Kent]

My experience has been that typically the fishing is better early in the day, but not always.
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[fishin4fun]

Anyone that knows me, knows I put in alot of night trips. A few BFT'ers have even jumped in a joined me. Honestly, same rules apply, get away from the pressure areas, find the fish, etc.

We have had some great night fishing trips and some horrible ones. I think the fishing around 10 pm - midnight is similiar to the morning. Sometimes we just slam them in that window and then it goes dead like mid morning. It's just a feeding pattern at night similiar to the morning (I think anyway).

I do use glow in the dark jigs and gear. Headlamps are a must for quickly recharging your jig and a lantern hung from the top helps keep you warm and provides more light.

I've also learned over the years that staying all night isn't worth it. I like to hit the ice right before sun down, try to find them, then settle in with the shelter until around 1-2 a.m. Head back to the truck, take a nice nap and go out in the a.m. or drive home, etc. Staying all night is really overkill IMO and creates a dangerous morning with no sleep, plus your the idiot leaving the ice while everyone else is showing up. []

Holler with any questions- I really enjoy the night trips.

F4F
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[N.E.T.O.]

I have to admit, I did feel rather out of place walking off the ice at 9:30 a.m. while everyone else was still showing up!
I readily admit to being the idiot walking off the ice in the morning!
Randy
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