It was probably about 4 a.m. in early September. I had just started fishing the night tides, something that I was always told was a better way to fish for striped bass. Until then I had limited myself to early mornings or late afternoons, catching only a few hours of darkness at best. Driving south toward Long Beach, I wondered a few times aloud if I was being silly leaving the safety of my home to head toward the sand.

In no time I was standing on the beach, the surf licking my wader-clad toes. I lazily tossed a metal lip swimmer toward the jetty. I knew the sweep of the outgoing tide would bring the plug back left toward me, and I would have a straight retrieve. But the plug never really got that far, because two cranks in the water exploded and I was hooked into a striper. And while it was no trophy at all-and it was to be the only one I caught that morning-it just proved the theory.

Bass eat in the dark. A lot.

Finding the fish takes a little knowledge. That is gained by doing your daytime recon missions and fishing in the light. In the beginning, I stuck to the places that I knew. If the fish were there at dawn, then they would probably be there under cover of darkness. Of course, that is not always the case, and eventually I found some places that I prefer when the daytime has faded.

Fishing the open beach necessitates the knowledge of what the water looks like. The basic problem of night fishing is obvious: You can’t see as well. So, blindly throwing your bait or lures into the Atlantic Ocean can be, and usually is, a huge waste of time, and you might as well stay in bed. But if you know the area has structure, you are in business.

I prefer the jetties because this is where I began my surf fishing. Jetties, the stone outgrowths of beaches that dot LI’s shores, provide great cover for bait fish, and thus provide a buffet table for predators. At different stages of tide, water will swirl around a jetty or form lazy eddies that help give preying game fish plenty of striking opportunity. Try casting near the jetty and retrieving close to the stones. Be aware of how the water is moving, too. If the water is coming west and hitting the jetty, give it some room to find its way to the stones. Don’t stay too long, either. If nothing is doing, keep moving. Cast around the area. Move to the other side of the jetty or walk down the beach.

Many strikes will come close to the rocks. Act fast, or you could be losing a lure and a fish. As far as safety, I spend plenty of time actually standing on the jetties during the day. But because I am usually alone on the nighttime sojourns, I stick to the sand. Be careful wading, too. Quick underwater dropoffs are widespread and dangerous. No fish is worth it.

I’ll not tell you that I have landed a huge bass, because I have not. Those fish are for the incredibly talented and stupidly lucky. But I have had enough action to warrant my lost hours of sleep and impossible crankiness from time to time. Put in some time, and one night when you are hooked into your quarry, fighting it from a deserted stretch of beach, you will become a believer.