Night walleye on the river?

Have read about some of you fishing for eyes at night. I am way south of most of you down on pool 18&19 and would like to give it a try as time is limited with little ones, work, etc. Wondering how much water clarity impacts night activity. Don’t know of anyone that is out chasing them down here after hours. Sometimes down here high noon is when things are going and I have to believe its due to light penetration. This year we missed a 100 year flood finally and it seems like its more of an early morning show. Wouldn’t be expecting much as we don’t have the numbers, but what we do have are usually good ones. What are your thoughts and has anyone tried it down this direction?

Usually the end of oct is when the night bite seems to get going. Then that all depends on water clarity. If the water is high and dirty it might still be a good day bite.

Maybe starting out fishing rocks and wingdams near a dam as fish tend to move that way in the fall.

How far into the winter/spring do you usually run at night?

Last year until the river froze end of November and the in the spring mid March until the end of April,not to sure how much longer it lasted after that.

I prefer night fishing for eyes, but I’m in clearer water than you. Stick with rattling baits. Noise is a good thing

What would you throw in the colder temps? Jointed shad raps are our bread and butter a lot of the time then jigs with meat…

Jigs and large plastics is most common in my boat. In the clearer water those fish seem to like to key in on large profiles. Stick baits work to but need to be worked just right many nights to get any reaction. Those fish move up on the shallow rock at night to feed. Dont think you can fish any of these baits to shallow. Even a couple of feet of water. You will know when they find the lures. They smack them pretty hard.

We got lucky enough to stay out in the boats until new years last year if I remember right. Some years we are out all winter. If you cant get the boat in and shore fishing spots area available that good to.

42 degree water seems to be the threshold (for me) on using my “normal” arsenal of cranks. At 42degrees+ I’ll throw #7 shad rap sized baits all night into 3fow if thats what they want. Some nights they want a wiggle just off the bottom and some nights they want an aggressive bait BANGING into the bottom. I usually have 3 to 4 cranks out that i cast with to see what they want.

Thanks for the feedback! I’m going to have to give it a go. Could just go well before shooting hours and roll into the duck blind at legal time after fishing a few hours…

Do colors of the cranks make a significant difference in the night bite? To be more specific.
March and April time frame with next to none moon. Pools 6,7,and 8.

Profile and color will make a huge difference on the lighter bites. When it’s going good, you can use a dog turd.

You’ll find a lot of good info if you search my old.pool.7 reports from april. Also look for anything posted from mile_mark 714 on walleye cranking

night fishing for eyes on the river in the fall can be deadly, especially for keeper sized and up

I think presentation on the stick baits can be far more important than color. Cant seem to move them slow enough in the really cold water. Crank a couple of times and let it sit. have also had some luck trolling stick baits at night on the river. .5mph up river but here again you might want to pause that bait once and awhile.

I wussed out early after dragging the boat around town thru a few inches of snow and slush.After that it froze into a solid block of ice and by the time I got it thawed out enough and all of the salt cleaned off I was busy catching eyes thru a hole in the ice.Stickbaits were awesome last fall and this spring after dark.Dont recall ever going much faster then 1mph gps speed.I speed them up with a steady pull forward then drop them back just slow enough that I can still feel them wobble in the current.Didnt experiment with many different colors or types.Blue/white,chart/white,purple/white original rapalas #9’s.Usually my only reason for a color change was a lost lure.This spring and summer-thundersticks,salmo bullheads,bombers,original rapalas,and husky jerks in various sizes and colors have all accounted for alot of fish on the river and lakes.So far after a summer of experimemting with lures and colors a bit the #9rap purpledescent and salmo bullhead in various colors have been hands down top producers.The salmo isnt really a stickbait but it covers the shallow water spectrum well.