I'm fairly new to the offshore fishing. But what I've seen is most everyone to include Charters for the most part, do the morning bite by mid-day packing it up to head home. Does anyone stay for that late evening bite? Is it worth taking that ride home in the dark?
I'm wondering the same thing. I would love to drift through the night, but I'm really interested in getting a crack at first light. Maybe someone with more experience will reply.
I'm one of the newest to saltwater fishing but have asked the same question of my more experienced buddy's. Depends a lot on the time of year. The warmer the weather, the more apt to encounter the severe thunderstorms that plauge the summer afternoons. If you are a smallish boat, safest is to go and come early.
I'm with you on the weather part. One would have to pick and choice those non eventful weather days. Here's my thought and I may be barking up the wrong tree. I have way more hunting experience than offshore fishing but animal feeding time is animal feeding time. I have seen and shot some of my biggest bucks during the evening hours. Maybe someone can shine some light on this topic.
I don't run my boat in the dark so if I want the early/late bite I spend the night. You're absolutely right about the weather. You have to pick the days carefully. Bermuda highs are a great time to do it.
With a little planning, you can troll til dark and end up in a spot that will let you drift to the spot you want to begin in the AM. The morning can be wide open either trolling or chunking. I love it. Plus, with the floodlights on you can see that there is a lot going on in the ocean at night.
I run out of Virginia Beach and there is far too much commercial activity here to run at night. Not that there is a danger of hitting a commercial ship (radar and having your eyes open takes care of that), but there is a ton of trash in the water once you get a few miles offshore and the ships start dumping their dunnage. Not worth the risk for me.
I used to do alot of over nighters out of Indian river on a buddy's boat.We would set out a slick after dark for the toothy one and chunk all night.One morning when the sun just broke if you looked under the boat all you saw was tuna's.Quite a sight.Needless to say we had a limit in about a hour.When the other boats arived they where trying to figure out why we where heading in so early.I guess the early bird does get the worm. Now I fish out of Va and have been known to leave as early as 330 am to have my lines in at sunrise.I hav'nt had to stay late but would if needed.It also depends on how well you know the inlets.OI is a bit tricky as is Hatt.Rudee and where I keep Stick'em are a breeze.
Over the years I have tried different types of "golden hours" with some success. In new jersey some of the party boats have taken to adding these trips to their day targeting stripped bass and weak fish. They have also had a night fishery for bluefish for years.
In the Keys we did late trips for sails and though the fishing was good, the angler response was limited. Twilight tarpon trips though were very popular. In the heart of the summer here in Palm Beach I tried doing lat trips for mahi and such as the day time water was just too hot. Again the angler response was slow.
One trip that I do that is well received is a combo Marlin sword trip. We leave early afternoon and troll to just before sunset, bagging good catches of mahi and even quite a few marlin before switching over to swords for a four hour drift. It seems that this is popular because we get back at a reasonble hour rather than around dawn where the peoples next day is shot. Buyer resistance to the late afternoon trips may have to do with screwing up dinner plans.
There are places though I would never dream of running late trips. In particular would be places with long inshore runs to get to the inlet or places with difficult approaches to bad inlets. Its a safety thing. Yes there is radar and gps to help guide but if that fails on the way in there is a safety factor that needs to be considered. If the electronics fail inside its much easier to turn around and not shoot the inlet.
............I HAVE TROLLED MANY A FULL MOON NIGHT IN THE LAST 2 DECADES.....I HAVE STRUCK OUT AND I HAVE ALSO DONE WELL AT TIMES ON MAHI AND YFT..........................NOW THE GULFSTREAM DEBRIS FACTOR DOES COME INTO PLAY.......AND THAT IS ALSWAYS A RISK...........................
LAST YEAR IN OCTOBER....THE "RUN-OFF' SET BAITS OUT IN A HALF MOON MORN ING...ONE HOUR BEFORE GRAYLIGHT, 40 FATHOMS......WHAT A SIGHT TO BEHOLD!!!! WAHOOS AIRING OUT ON THE SHORT RIGGERS!!! SILVER SIDES WITH JAWS AGAPE! .... 30-40 LBERS...............SOMETIMES THE HOOK-UP WOULD COME ON HIS 4TH OR 5TH AERIAL.................
THERES ALWAYS A RISK TRAVELLING AT NIGHT ....AND EVEN IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
I'm pretty new to the offshore game myself, but here north of the DMZ off Montauk, most people will do an overnighter to get not only the evening bite, but also the late night/early morning chunk. Then you're poised to start trolling an hour or so before dawn. My understanding is that the late night chuck doesn't turn on until mid-August, but there are monsters to be slain during the "nite bite". I'm rigging my boat with both AC and DC spreader lights in order to take advantage of the overnight trips. We have to run 70-100 miles to get to blue water and the season is relatively short, so you have to take it when you can get it.
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Now I fish out of Va and have been known to leave as early as 330 am to have my lines in at sunrise.I hav'nt had to stay late but would if needed.It also depends on how well you know the inlets.OI is a bit tricky as is Hatt.Rudee and where I keep Stick'em are a breeze. 
