Another annoying post from the newbie on the board…
My two best nights this fall came on VERY dark nights near the full moon. They were dark because there was very thick cloud cover and, on the other night, a very thick fog (so thick that I had a hard time trolling in a straight line because I couldn’t keep my bearings…couldn’t see shore, couldn’t see the stars, couldn’t see the end of the boat (and I was pretty close to shore). Still, on both nights, in spite of (or because of) the lack of moon, I whacked ’em. 
Last night I got SKUNKED. Yes, full caps, no fish in the net, skunked. Did get three bites, but fished all over the place with all sorts of lures. Had three bites, but all popped off shortly after hook-up (if that’s what you call it). No pattern in terms of bites either, at least that I could tell.
I’m curious about this: It seems that the ambient light on a night with a near-full moon with heavy, heavy fog would be no different than a night with no moon. And last week with varying levels of cloud cover–some heavy enough to not see the moon–I still had a slowish but consistent bite. Last night was my worst of the season–spring, summer, fall combined.
This is my first year trying this trolling, and I’ve been WAAY off the bite for many hours before figuring it out. Last night, having to get to work this morning, we left relatively early (before midnight), but I’m having a hard time seeing a pattern between cloudy nights with the full moon and nights with no or little moon.
Is this normal? Should I have kept on trying new things, or new lures, or new speeds? Or, after three or so hours on a dark night with nothing to show for it, was I wise to head home? This dark-night bite has me a bit confused…one night it’s lights-out, the other not so much.
Carl
