Night Fishing Walleyes

I have always heard a lot about the wonders of fishing for Walleye after dark but have never gotten into it. I have fished catfish after dark, but mainly from shore, or anchored in a boat. Night fishing presents a whole new set of obstacles for the angler, but it sounds like the rewards can be great. I’m starting this post hoping to learn some tips and techniques about night fishing for Walleye. I figure I’m not the only guy who could benefit from learning more from some of the knowledgable anglers around here.

So, please post any information, tips, or practical suggestions you might have for folks wanting to try their hand at night fishing.

Thanks Much!

I’ll add more later as I’m running out the door but I will definitely share some of what I’ve learned about night fishing. It does have obstacles but once over-come, the quality of fish caught and the numbers we see compared to fishing during the day will keep you on the water after dark. I guess if I had to choose between fishing during the day or at night, I would say I’d prefer the night fishing. No crowds, ear-drum piercing SILENCE, and aggressive fish.

When you head out for a night’s fishing, be on the water in advance of sunset… but do not fish. Use your graph to acclimate yourself to nearby structure. I advise to keep any running around in the dark to a reasonable minimum. Learn the inside turns, the breaks, where the weedline begins and ends and how close to the surface the weeds grow. Plot routes and place icons to remind yourself of key structural elements. A good 45 minutes would give a guy plenty of time to get a working understanding of even a large piece of structure. I almost always fish a new area or piece of structure at night by trolling crankbaits. The last thing I do before it gets dark is take a good number of plugs, the kind and style I think I will be using, and tune them while I can still see them in the water. Tune extra cranks. Of all colors. A 30″ walleye in a net does horrible things to a crankbait’s tune and trying to get it to run straight again at night, sometimes in rough conditions, is a waste of time. Keep a bare minimum of equipment out on the deck of your boat. If you can fish one rod, have one rod for each angler fishing available. Stow the rest. Keep the net handy and in a net holder. Tape a flashlight to the net handle above the hoop for aiding in finding fish coming to the boat and when removing cranks from the net webbing. Purchase one of those cheap AA battery powered headlamps and provide one for every person in the boat. Use them sparingly as your night vision can become quite acute if you avoid turning lights on and off and depth perception is very imporant at night when fishing around rock reefs, shorelines or other boats. Keep tools for removing and sharpening hooks handy. Make a boat rule that anyone can use the needlenose or sharpen at any time of the night but if they don’t put it back IMMEDIATELY after use, where they found it, they’ll swim home. Keep a high-candlepower spotlight onboard and charged in case of emergency but do NOT use it to spot each and every fish you hook up as it comes close to the boat. It spooks fish and kills the night vision of those around you.

As you can see, much of being a successful night fishing starts with being organized and prepared. I’ll pop back in later with some ideas on techniques and what to look for on a typical lake to narrow down the search for hot spots at night.

Hope this helps some. Night fishing is great fun and starting in Sept., I guide 20 – 25 nights a month on Mille Lacs and rarely if ever even consider fishing during the day as the night bite is so much better.

Great information James.I always make sure I have everything ready way before sundown.Little problems during daylight can be big problems at night.Try to keep everything simple and like James says,no where all your equipment will be.Wade I love to slip-bobber fish the shallows at night with lighted bobbers.A very simple technique but it can be deadly if your on fish.Alot of times you will find your walleyes feeding in shallower water at night.Also pulling crankbaits in the shallows can be awesome.Get your cranks away from the boat so your motor won’t spook them.Maybe you and I could sneak up one of these nights and give it a shot!
Ryan Hale

James nailed a lot of the must do stuff. One more item that comes to mind…..

I have more problems with sea-sick passengers at nite than any other time. Bring the Dramamine (sp) or what ever they call it…..Glad I don’t have that problem!!

J.

Great info so far guys! Should help a few folks out there. Ryan, it’s funny you mention doinf a little fishing. I sent you an email last night. I would love to do a little night fishing with ya. Then I know you won’t be draggin’ my behind out of bed at 4a.m. to hit the lakes!

I’m in brother!

“I’ll be right back” means different things to different folks, eh?…lol

Some more on the night fishing deal. At night, when approaching a lake for the first time, I’ll spend some time pouring over a good map. One of the key pieces of structure I look for is a sharp / steep shoreline break off into fairly deep water. And you’ll need a flat at the top of the break to give the fish some territory to roam in search of prey. If you have off-shore structure related to or nearby to the steep break, so much the better. The sand break on the north of Mille Lacs is a perfect example. This area dives from 7′ – 8′ down to mid teens – 20+’ deep in a boat length or two and has a number of very good mud flats nearby. Very often I can tell exactly where to start fishing along that break that runs many miles as I can graph that break at a fairly good clip and look for groups of fish on my electronics. Find those archs, just before sundown, and you can just about be guaranteed a bunch of nice fish in the boat at sunset as they move up the break to feed on the edge of the flat.

The baits I usually use are 4″ – 7″ stickbaits. In dingy water I go with the larger baits w/ rattles. Later in the season or when the water’s very cold, I down-size a litle bit and drop the rattles. I rarley use shad rap style baits. Last season our biggest Mille Lacs walleye at 11.29 Lbs was caught on a 4.5″ firetiger colored stickbait.

One of the biggest factors in my success has been speed control while trolling. Two falls ago, with the dwindling baitfish pops on Mille Lacs and a VERY aggressive bite, I could troll nearly 3 MPH and catch all the fish I wanted. This last fall, during a much tougher bite, we caught most of our fish trolling slower than 1.5 MPH…. sometimes as slow as 0.8 MPH while cutting long and wide turns to slow the baits further. Guys trolling that standard 1.8 MPH caught little to nothing while we enjoyed 40 – 60 fish nights. We could mess with the colors and swap around plugs and still catch fish at the slow trolling speeds but get above 1 MPH and we were star gazing, not fishing. So really keep in mind the need to match your presentation to the mood of the fish.

Keep in mind that the fish will move around quite a bit on a piece of structure during the course of the night and some patterns are quite predictable.

Early in the evening, right at sundown, the fish will usually be right on the major breaks coming up out of deeper water. Later in the evening they’ll move further up onto the flats and away from access to deep water as they roam about in search of food. So when that classic “edge bite” dies, start trolling shallower and up onto the flat further. The fish are more spread out but often thee fish are basically untouched as most anglers will cling to the safety and comfort of the edge of the flat because the have confidence in this location from their sucesses at sundown even though the fish have gone on to a fairly reliable feeding pattern.

Hope this helps a bit and if you have any questions, just holler.