ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: MOONLIGHT FISHING BEATS HEAT, GREETS FISH WHEN FEEDING LAMP IS LIT

What does it tell us when, in the doldrums of summer, the best fishing of the day is during the first light of dawn and the fleeting minutes of dusk?

It should be fairly obvious that bright sunshine is the fisherman's staunch enemy, especially at this scorching time of year. While the solar orb is doing its business overhead, most fish are either doing theirs in the dim depths or just hiding there, waiting for all that illumination to go away before they get frisky.

Diurnal anglers, those who restrict their activities to daylight, can offset one of their greatest handicaps by a flipflop of their schedule: night fishing.

Not only does fishing at night eliminate some of the sweltering discomfort to which anglers submit themselves, it puts them on the water at the time when more fish move shallow and feed more actively during the summer season. They tend to sweat less and catch more, a pretty good package deal.

Bass anglers will find that fish hidden in deep sanctuary by day often will feed in extremely shallow water by night. Steep shorelines and points, places where it's a short route from 25 or 30 feet of water to knee-deep stuff, are ideal locations to work throbbing, single-bladed spinnerbaits, plastic worms or jig/pork combinations for nocturnal feeders.

Topwater lures -- noisy plugs or propellered buzzbaits -- are another good bet for inciting midnight monsters, too. Commotion on the surface is a serious temptation for low-light feeders.

Like Mr. Gump's box of chocolates, however, you never know what you're going to get. One angler recalls a smashing evening strike on a topwater jitterbug, followed by a hard pull...which soon had his line stretching overhead. He eventually landed and carefully released the catch, a great horned owl.

Catfish anglers often take advantage of the shallow movement of big whiskered fish from deep holes in lakes and rivers during the hours of darkness. Blue, channel and flathead cats will take suspended or drifting live bait and smelly prepared baits along shallow feeding shelves at night. Baits hung under bobbers by rod-and-reel anglers, or under recycled containers by jug fishermen, can take hefty poundages of fish that spend daylight hours buried in shady haunts.

White bass and crappie respond nicely to nighttime environments. Both species are minnow-chasers that move more freely toward the surface under the gloom of night. That's especially so of crappie, which disappear along deep channel during mid-summer days.

An old method for evening action on white bass and crappie is to suspend an artificial light just over the surface of the water, an attractant for insects and baitfish, which in turn lures in these minnow-chompers. In early times it was a kerosene or oil lantern, but nowadays a gas-fired camping lantern or even a special-purpose, battery-powered floating light does the same trick.

Docks around deep main lake shores and bridge pilings and other locations where white bass and crappie can make a short trip from deep to near-surface feeding waters can be good for this.

Sauger, notoriously touchy about bright sunshine, could offer much more productive fishing at night than by broad daylight. Lake and river ridges, points and shoals that hold baitfish in relatively shallow water draw these glassy-eyed critters up from channel depths by night. Slowly trolled crankbaits, jigs and live minnow baits all will appeal to the toothy, torpedo-shaped fish under the cover of darkness.

The obvious detraction of night fishing is that we fishermen can't see what we're doing. That's offset a great deal with the use of artificial lights, although using too much light can spook some species of fish.

Fishing from shore, the gas lantern is an obvious aid. From boat, some fishermen like to use battery-powered blacklights, those that produce an eerie purplish glow. Using fluorescent monofilament line in conjunction with blacklight, the line stands out like it is electric, a big help for those fishing with a slack-line method like jigging of worming. It adds line-watching to mere feel of what's happening.

Bugs are an evil with which to be coped at night. One shouldn't set out without adequate repellent to keep one from being consumed by mosquitoes.

Safety is a major consideration at night. A boat unquestionably should have legal running lights, which serve primarily to mark a boat's location for others to avoid colliding with it. Likewise, it pays to have some sort of spotlight to aid in avoiding obstacles when running.

A nocturnal navigator needs to know what the waters are like by daylight before shoving off in the dark. A spotlight, however, will help dodge those little surprises like buoys, jutting points, rockpiles and -- you can never be too sure -- other, unlighted boats. A careful eye on an electronic depth-sounder, too, can help keep the night angler straight in his navigation.

Some night fishermen prefer evenings when it's as dark as the inside of a cow, but for practical purposes, a nicely-lit moonlight evening makes for easier fishing. Moonlight doesn't do much to put fish off their feed, and just a bit of lunar illumination simplifies both fishing and navigation.

For now, there are more fish to be caught for the relative few fishermen who come out with the bats and the bullfrogs just after the water skiers have shut down for the day.

And, hey, no sunburn.

~Steve Vantreese is outdoors editor of the Paducah (Ky.) Sun.