Attention Night Surfcasters

[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.

[Pete_G]

Originally Posted by PaulS

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

I agree. I often fish eels or at least something I can fish very slowly if there's fire in the water. I figure it causes less disturbance, especially the eel since in some cases you barely have to retrieve it all.

Maybe it actually helps, or maybe it just makes me feel more confident I'm not spooking fish, I'm not sure which.

The fish, if they're there, will feed in the bioluminesence. Whether it's larger jellies or tiny plankton, I really doubt it bothers them. The only question is why we sometimes have trouble catching in those conditions.

[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.

[Back Beach]

Fire in the water is a neutral. It does not indicate fish, or lack of fish. It doesn't make the fishing better or worse. Mostly, its a too often used excuse for failure along with the moon,wind,water temp,lack of bait, too much bait, dull hooks, too many people, the internet, spot burning, you name it. Have caught plenty of fish in it and out of it. It’s a factor, just like all the above mentioned excuses, but not a detriment in and of itself if you mitigate it properly. GOT IT? oke:

[In The Surf]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Fire in the water is a neutral. It does not indicate fish, or lack of fish. It doesn't make the fishing better or worse. Mostly, its a too often used excuse for failure along with the moon,wind,water temp,lack of bait, too much bait, dull hooks, too many people, the internet, spot burning, you name it. Have caught plenty of fish in it and out of it. It’s a factor, just like all the above mentioned excuses, but not a detriment in and of itself if you mitigate it properly. GOT IT? oke:

Yup, I'll agree with this

[Redsoxticket]

How far down in the water column are the plankton ?

[Sluggoslinger]

Originally Posted by Redsoxticket

How far down in the water column are the plankton ?

I've been 40' down on a night dive and when we turned out lights off we could disturb the photoplankton... That was also on the other side of the world though

[Tagger]

always thought it meant there were whales around ..

[zacs]

Originally Posted by FishermanTim

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.

no, those are different. those are bioluminescent jellies. the jelly itself is bioluminescent. very cool, i agree.