WITHOUT doubt, the canoe is the most silent craft from which an angler can fish in the pursuit of native species. There is no hum of an electric motor or roar of a combustion engine.

In the context of a recent night, however, the Coleman sliced the waters noisily and the paddles crashed through the silvery surface. It was calm and cold. The moon, full and surmounting an eastern hilltop, was evidence enough of the night's youth. Its eerie light reflected the blacks and silvery greys and the silhouette of the towering cliffs, towards which we were paddling.

Paddling kept us warm. Apart from our winter clothing, the only indication of the chill of the night was the vapour forming on our spent breath. We slipped towards the immense cliffs and were soon swallowed by their deep shadows.

Over such a calm, windless surface, noise travels and distant happenings can seem only metres away. We stopped paddling and could hear voices in the night. Skirting a noisy tinnie and its loud owners, Joe and I rounded a rocky point and started fishing.

On most night excursions the shoreline is an easily discernible target, towards which casts are fired. The depth of this shadow's darkness, however, swallowed more light than a human eye required, and the result of a cast was judged by audio rather than visual means. A splash meant you were in business and a terrestrial thud meant yet another rescue mission for the lure.

Being typical bass fanatics, artificial offerings, of course, were the only means of temptation.

The first hit came in less than a dozen casts, my black Bill's Bug blasted by a bass. Beautiful.

It had been a long day. Lack of rain in the northern rivers meant that the river was running low and clear. Two canoes and four anglers could only release six bass and an eel in a ten kilometre stretch that we know is riddled with fish. Clear conditions often conspire in situations like these to turn predators into pussycats. After a blustery southerly change in the afternoon, the night had calmed and provided the present conditions. It didn't have the potential to be a bassy evening, but it was. If you subscribe to textbook dogma, you may not have even ventured from the campsite this evening. A dropping barometer, full moon and single figure temperatures were all palatable excuses, but work commitments being what they are, I plan my trips with the undeniably sound logic of going fishing whenever I can, regardless of the conditions. The fish are a bonus, right?

With this attitude firmly in mind, the first, splashing strike was enough to make the night complete but along that entire, shadowy bank, bass lined up to blast any attractive surface offering. We lifted only a few of the fish for pictures. Most lay co-operatively beside the boat as the barbless trebles were removed with the aid of the Leatherman tool.

They were a good class of river fish, averaging just under a kilo with the occasional fish nearly twice that size. At the end of that first stretch, we moved across the river to compare notes with fishing companions Steve Chenoweth and Adam Woods. While getting fish, neither the quantity nor quality was as consistent as on the shadowed side of the river.

Fishing the next bend (on the southern side of the river), the topography both above and under the water's surface was illuminated by the moonlight. It reminded me of the old western movies where night scenes were shot in the daylight with a dark filter.

Rather than the chuck-and-chance-it method adopted by necessity on the other side of the river, this bank allowed us to direct accurate casts to cover. Even so, the activity was noticeably less than on the previous bank. The odd fish hooked was taken from a shadowy underhang and it was then that the pattern became evident. The night was so bright that the fish were more comfortable surface feeding in the `night shade'.

I'm sure that Steve and Adam had clicked to the same theory as they paddled steadily towards the next northern bend. Being gentlemen (and excessively tired) we declined the challenge of a midnight canoe race and decided to fish the shady bend closer to camp. Although another half dozen fish were released, the cold and exhaustion had taken its toll and we were snug in the sleeping bags soon after.

Several hours later, Steve and Adam's voices gave away the success of their extra effort. They were gibbering about a hit a cast and leaving the fish biting due to fear of September frostbite. I reckon that the six or seven kilometre paddle back to camp was fuelled totally by adrenalin!

Sleeping in the next morning, we woke to the sound of another bass fisho returning from a morning paddle in his little Minnow. A native of the Hawkesbury bass, he was rapt with the condition of a kilo class fish taken on lure. We felt it best if we didn't lower the chap's spirits by detailing the previous night's exploits in the moonlight shadows!

Factbbox1. Headlights

Although there is enough light on most nights to easily cast and paddle without the aid of artificial illumination, rigging lines and releasing fish requires just that. Making these processes as quick and easy as possible requires a hands free light of some sort.

While the old Dolphin torch or similar has served thousands of anglers well over the years, it's hard to beat a head torch for convenience and efficiency.

I've found that the best head torches that I have used don't separate the battery unit and bulb/reflector. Having the battery pack in the belt gives the paddles or bankside vegetation something extra to grab. Lines and flies provide enough problems in this area for me!

There are a couple of exceptional options available for head torch users. One is the Petzl range of lamps and the other involves the Mini Maglite.

Petzls are a purpose built head torch and are powered by either 2 or 3 AA batteries, depending on the model. Both the ZOOM and the MICRO feature a fully self-contained head unit with water resistant construction. As well as holding a spare bulb, the reflector unit allows the user to adjust the angle and focus the light beam. Although not cheap, I've found these torches to be excellent valve for money as a nocturnal angler - they last and last, especially in a freshwater environment.

I've always packed a Mini Maglite when backpacking. They're compact and light, , throw a powerful beam, have an integral spare bulb and are fairly cheap. Making a good product even more versatile is the availability of a head band that converts the Mini Maglite into a head torch. Retailing for around $xxx, they are an essential addition to any night basser's kit.

Factbox 2. Surface Lures

Probably the least important part of the surface bassin' equation is the type of surface lure. The nature of this style of fishing (in my opinion) means that if the lure is approximately the right size and in the right place at the right time, it will get hit.

Classification oriented anglers will be pleased to note that surface offerings fall into several broad genres: paddlers, prop baits and stick baits.

PADDLERS: Classically the Jitterbug and Crazy Crawler but now available in Aussie versions such as the Bill's Bug Flutterbug and Jaysea Gremlin, these are an extremely effective `lazy man's' surface lure.

Much like the way the masses use minnows, these lures display an excellent, fish attracting action when simply cast and retrieved, usually in shallow, open water, as this is where natives often feed in the cover of darkness. They swim across the surface and their action can be heard in the dark of night.

Their action is given by lateral, wing like bibs and inherent buoyancy. If you want to give surface luring a go for the first time, then these are the way to go.

PROP BAITS: As the name suggests, prop baits (onomatopoetically named fizzers by some) have one or more terminally positioned propellers that can create quite a commotion on an erratic retrieve. As well as performing on a straight retrieve, propbaits look entirely edible when worked slowly across the surface in a series of jerks and pauses.

Often anglers remove a propeller if it is situated near the front eyelet - it can become annoyingly entangled in the leader otherwise.

STICKBAITS: These are the quietest of surface baits available and consist of a cigar shaped body and no bibs, propellers or other attachments. They rely almost entirely on the angler to impart action. Used with a rhythmic flick of the rod tip, stickbaits can be mad to zig-zag across the surface. In more experienced hands, an angler can actually steer a stickbait around structure in still waters. Stickbaits are often effective when fish are responsive to a more subtle surface offering. Try them when fizzers or paddlers produce a no-show.