07-07-2010, 12:35 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Night fishing for walleyes is usually better than daytime fishing for them. They have a sensitive lateral line...for feeling vibrations...and superior vision during low light conditions. That gives them all the advantages when hunting in low light conditions or in murky water. So, the bigger walleyes often feed mainly at night, even though you can catch lots of smaller ones all through the day. Big wallies find it ridiculously easy to just swim into a school of perch...which are inactive after dark...and munch down as many as they want to fill their gut. Then they find a place to lay up during the day while they digest their meals.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]However, almost all walleyes forage during the nighttime. You can catch them in all sizes...IF YOU FIND THEM. The key is to know where they go during the hours of darkness. They are not always where you might fish for them in daylight. Sometimes they move into very shallow water to forage on smaller fish that use the shallows as shelter. In fact, I have caught walleyes at night in water as shallow as 2 feet deep...and on topwater.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]SFCR is a water with just about every kind of contour and structure. During the day the walleyes forage along rocky structure and out over clean bottom in water less than 20 feet deep but usually over 12 feet deep...depending on clarity and light levels. At night they might be much shallower along the gravel banks or up into shallow coves. The key is whether or not there is food there. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Bait is a slow way to fish for walleyes after dark. They will suck up a nightcrawler...on the bottom or under a bobber. Ditto for a chub minnow or other small fish...like baby perch. But, you will cover more water and catch more fish by throwing large plastics...grubs or shad bodies...with vibrating action tails. Crankbaits with a slow wobble and lots of vibration work well too. Use BIG plastics and cranks for the BIG walleyes. I know guys that never use lures smaller than J-13 Rapalas...and they also use some of the big 6" or larger plastic swim baits.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Again, the key is to find the fish. Trolling can help, using a bottom bouncer rig or trolling a big lure very slowly until you find the area and the depth where the fish are feeding. And that can change during the night and from trip to trip. So it is always a search first proposition.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When the fish are there you can catch a fish per cast while casting into shore from your tube or toon out away from the bank. Once you find the "zone" you can also move closer to the shore and cast parallel at the right distance and depth.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Colors? Can't go wrong with plain white or pearl, especially on bright nights. But, basic black and even purple work well too. They show up well in the dark to fish that have good night vision. Bass like them too. After that almost any color is worth trying...especially hot pink and hot orange.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is a good idea to carry a few glow plastics. Sometimes they do not make a difference but when the fish are finicky the glow might bring them in from a greater distance. Tipping plastics with a piece of crawler doesn't seem to hurt either.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sometimes a crankbait with bright colors or contrasting bars (perch or fire tiger) will be a hot ticket. The better visibility a lure has the greater the chances of a hard strike. Ditto for plastics. Use a hot red jig head on a chartreuse glitter plastic grub for good nighttime wallie whackin'. But dark red heads with a white or yellow plastic also make good contrasting color combos. Ditto for black and white.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The ultimate key is to keep moving and casting, varying your depth and speed of retrieve until you find the pattern. Then keep experimenting to find other things that will work and file them in your mental database for future trips when all of the conditions are similar. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It can take a lifetime to accumulate enough experience to consider yourself a good walleye fisherman...day or night. I have been at it for a whole lot of years and I continue to learn more on every trip. I usually manage to acquit myself favorably on any trip where I at least have half a chance to catch some walleyes...but not always. Any man who claims to catch walleyes on every trip will lie about other things too...like understanding women.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]However, almost all walleyes forage during the nighttime. You can catch them in all sizes...IF YOU FIND THEM. The key is to know where they go during the hours of darkness. They are not always where you might fish for them in daylight. Sometimes they move into very shallow water to forage on smaller fish that use the shallows as shelter. In fact, I have caught walleyes at night in water as shallow as 2 feet deep...and on topwater.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]SFCR is a water with just about every kind of contour and structure. During the day the walleyes forage along rocky structure and out over clean bottom in water less than 20 feet deep but usually over 12 feet deep...depending on clarity and light levels. At night they might be much shallower along the gravel banks or up into shallow coves. The key is whether or not there is food there. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Bait is a slow way to fish for walleyes after dark. They will suck up a nightcrawler...on the bottom or under a bobber. Ditto for a chub minnow or other small fish...like baby perch. But, you will cover more water and catch more fish by throwing large plastics...grubs or shad bodies...with vibrating action tails. Crankbaits with a slow wobble and lots of vibration work well too. Use BIG plastics and cranks for the BIG walleyes. I know guys that never use lures smaller than J-13 Rapalas...and they also use some of the big 6" or larger plastic swim baits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Again, the key is to find the fish. Trolling can help, using a bottom bouncer rig or trolling a big lure very slowly until you find the area and the depth where the fish are feeding. And that can change during the night and from trip to trip. So it is always a search first proposition.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]When the fish are there you can catch a fish per cast while casting into shore from your tube or toon out away from the bank. Once you find the "zone" you can also move closer to the shore and cast parallel at the right distance and depth.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Colors? Can't go wrong with plain white or pearl, especially on bright nights. But, basic black and even purple work well too. They show up well in the dark to fish that have good night vision. Bass like them too. After that almost any color is worth trying...especially hot pink and hot orange.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is a good idea to carry a few glow plastics. Sometimes they do not make a difference but when the fish are finicky the glow might bring them in from a greater distance. Tipping plastics with a piece of crawler doesn't seem to hurt either.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Sometimes a crankbait with bright colors or contrasting bars (perch or fire tiger) will be a hot ticket. The better visibility a lure has the greater the chances of a hard strike. Ditto for plastics. Use a hot red jig head on a chartreuse glitter plastic grub for good nighttime wallie whackin'. But dark red heads with a white or yellow plastic also make good contrasting color combos. Ditto for black and white.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The ultimate key is to keep moving and casting, varying your depth and speed of retrieve until you find the pattern. Then keep experimenting to find other things that will work and file them in your mental database for future trips when all of the conditions are similar. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It can take a lifetime to accumulate enough experience to consider yourself a good walleye fisherman...day or night. I have been at it for a whole lot of years and I continue to learn more on every trip. I usually manage to acquit myself favorably on any trip where I at least have half a chance to catch some walleyes...but not always. Any man who claims to catch walleyes on every trip will lie about other things too...like understanding women.[/#0000ff]
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