Attention Night Surfcasters

[numbskull]

A lot of other things than bait and fish activate fire in the water, and bait and fish can move through water with a lot of fire in it without activating it. True, on a very dark night actively feeding fish can show up as dull blobs of light, and strikes can be very spectacular, but counting on fire to tell you what's out there is a reach at best.

[spence]

From what I've both read and experienced fire in the water isn't a good thing. If it does indicate action in the water it certainly doesn't seem to always indicate good fishing.

-spence

[keeperreaper]

Fire or phosphoresence is not a good thing at all for fishing. It kills it 99% of the time.

[Rmarsh]

This past summer a couple of friends and I were fishing at night in a strong current. We each had a large plume of these phospherescent creatures creating a glow where we were standing in the water. they seemed to light up as they were being pushed into us by the current. The fishing was good, we all caught many fish. We could see the path the hooked fish were traveling through the water from the glow created as they collided with these creatures. When I looked in the water with a flashlight I could not see them. I'm not sure what they are but it was a fun night to be out there.

Bob Marshall

[JohnR]

RMarsh, welcome to S-B ...

I tend to catch less when there is a lot of fire in the water and this is more pronounced from shore than boat.

One night a couple years ago while travuling in the Clamman's boat, the fire was so thick - thick as I've ever seen - and we were hammering blue fish and the ocassional bass (I was with the bluefish slayer afterall). As we were moving to another spot at speed just barely on plane, there were thousands of bluefish ( I assume) in a large school that took minutes to traverse. As we went you could see all these fish scattering from the bow due to the fire in the water. It was almost like the movies where the dolphins ride the bow wave of a large and fast ship, but this was bluefish in the phospheresence.

I think Clammer was trying to mow down every bluefish he could that night

[baldwin]

That "Fire in the Water" is light produced by bioluminescent dinoflagellates, little plankton that are related to those that cause red tide. These ones aren't harmful, though. They light up when agitated by prop wash, wave action, fish moving through them, anything that disturbs them. If you are interested, a friend of mine (Vincent Pieribone) wrote a book on them and their use in medical research called (A Glow in the Dark). Good book.

[PaulS]

I always do slightly better if I take off my teaser - one less item to cause a disturbance and light them up.

[FishermanTim]

Originally Posted by baldwin

That "Fire in the Water" is light produced by bioluminescent dinoflagellates, little plankton that are related to those that cause red tide. These ones aren't harmful, though. They light up when agitated by prop wash, wave action, fish moving through them, anything that disturbs them. If you are interested, a friend of mine (Vincent Pieribone) wrote a book on them and their use in medical research called (A Glow in the Dark). Good book.

What I see are the plankton that have been engulfed by small jellyfish.
The jellies can be plentiful, and since the game fish aren't eating them, they just get bumped a lot creating the glow.
On some occasions, the jellyfish will rupture, spilling their bounty of plankton. It looks like the special-effect "plasma" from space movies as the glow pours out an drifts in the current.