06-28-2018, 12:33 PM
"In general it seems like they push closer to the shorelines. They seem to come up off the bottom more too at night. In the day they usually sit close to the bottom unless they are chasing baitfish... but at night, they might cruise 5 feet off the bottom in say 10' of water."
[#0000ff]Spot on. I am attaching a couple of pics from the past on nighttime Willard wallies. I had nights of 30 to 40 walleyes...plus some cats and a few crappies. One pic is of the few fish I kept on one such night. Limit on walleyes was 6 fish...with only 2 over 20 inches...and it was often tough to find any under 20 inches. These days it is often tough to find many over 20 inches.
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[#0000ff][inline "WILLARD NIGHT TUBIN.JPG"]
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[#0000ff] The second pic is of a nighttime trip with my old fishing buddy Rick Johnson...where we both caught grundles and kept limits within the allowable size ranges...releasing quite a few bigger ones.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][inline "WILLARD NIGHT EYES.jpg"]
[/#0000ff] [#0000ff]To support your statements about them moving in close to the rocks after dark...and hitting in shallower water...I had many hits within a second or two of my lure splashing down right next to the rocks. And there were times when you either got hit within the first few seconds of the cast...or not at all. About the only fish we caught away from the rocks were catfish. But in those days there were cats up to 15-20 pounds. 5-10 pounders were common.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, oh yeah, the gates were open 24/7. And the annual permit was only about $20. And the fish cleaning facilities were open almost all year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Whimper...whine.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Spot on. I am attaching a couple of pics from the past on nighttime Willard wallies. I had nights of 30 to 40 walleyes...plus some cats and a few crappies. One pic is of the few fish I kept on one such night. Limit on walleyes was 6 fish...with only 2 over 20 inches...and it was often tough to find any under 20 inches. These days it is often tough to find many over 20 inches.
[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][inline "WILLARD NIGHT TUBIN.JPG"]
[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] The second pic is of a nighttime trip with my old fishing buddy Rick Johnson...where we both caught grundles and kept limits within the allowable size ranges...releasing quite a few bigger ones.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][inline "WILLARD NIGHT EYES.jpg"]
[/#0000ff] [#0000ff]To support your statements about them moving in close to the rocks after dark...and hitting in shallower water...I had many hits within a second or two of my lure splashing down right next to the rocks. And there were times when you either got hit within the first few seconds of the cast...or not at all. About the only fish we caught away from the rocks were catfish. But in those days there were cats up to 15-20 pounds. 5-10 pounders were common.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]And, oh yeah, the gates were open 24/7. And the annual permit was only about $20. And the fish cleaning facilities were open almost all year.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Whimper...whine.[/#0000ff]
[signature]