Night Fishing Walleyes

[Mackdaddy21]

Do any of you have a lot of success fishing walleyes at night? I mean pitch dark and not twillight. What areas of lakes do you fish, and with what lures/baits? I have to fish from shore if that will help you talk tactics with me. What times of the night are best, and what times of year?

Tyler

[TJ]

You find them in the same areas as during the day, just a lot shallower. They move in to feed, by using their excellent night sight, they can find  their prey and trap them in shallow. A minnow imitator bait works well, as does jigs and wedding ring or spinner rigs, all worked back to shore very slow. You can even weight your lure and leave it out on the bottom, with the odd tug and reel just for show. Up until midnight is about the latest and the fall is prime time. Good luck and have fun.

[Jigwiggler]

The nights I have caught the most walleye the feed started about an hour before dark and just continued for another hour or so and then dies off. 

I've experienced the same thing many times and what I wonder is if the fish actually stop feeding or if they just move to another location to feed after dark.  I think it is most likely the latter but haven't found areas that produce consistently after dark as of yet.

[Jigwiggler]

I mostly river fish and see the same things you mention.  I had hoped to fish alot more after dark this summer but river conditions have not allowed me to do so.  Rain from the other day has brought the river near bankfull again.  The only good thing I can say about the river this year is that when it was low enough to get out on the colored water allowed me to get on some real good midday bites that are usually uncommon this time of year.  Hopefully things will settle down here soon and I can get back after them before ice up.    If not I'll continue my search for late night eyes on the ice.

[buzz bait]

ditto on the times for me to . but on the susky where i  fish sometimes they hit during the days that a real over cast durin the day last october got a 10 pounder in the afternoon around 1 ish in real shallow water if u ask me in the fall they;ll hit any time of day or night. did a couple long nights on the river they seem to start hittin around 3 to 4 in the morning.

[Jigwiggler]

did a couple long nights on the river they seem to start hittin around 3 to 4 in the morning.

Where did you run into them at that time.  Not a town or specific place but depth, current, eddy, bottom composition and what time of year, if you don't mind. 

[buzz bait]

did a couple long nights on the river they seem to start hittin around 3 to 4 in the morning.

Where did you run into them at that time.  Not a town or specific place but depth, current, eddy, bottom composition and what time of year, if you don't mind. 

  fishing the dam areas ofb the susky in the fall we stat just before dark .they seem to have  a feeding patern hit like crazy for a couple hour than knock off for a few and starts all over again . a few years back i fished the same spot 30 nights strait i noticed a bigger feeding pattern3 days they;ll hit real good than 1 to 3 days get a lot of short hook ups alot of lure spitting at the time than after that for a couple days no hits at all than its back to the feeding frenzy. thats this time of year around dams in shallow 2 to5 fow with some curent. more the better . i use floating size 9 rapalas black/sil and perch seem to work best.

[Trophy Hunter639]

Buzz do you lose alot of lures I'm afraid(too cheap) To throw raps in the river i fish got lots of rocks to steal pricey lures I haven't really tried doing it but I am tempted to try the shallow runners.

[jf5]

My personal experience is much like slipbobs, as the the last hour before dark and an hour or two aftewards. Thats MOST of the time.

I have taken walleyes well into the night sometimes,after taking none during daylight hours. On the flip side, this year I got several walleyes on a bright summer day!! Very odd.

 A few weeks back, I fished a section of the CT river in Vermont and caught 2 walleyes at a particular spot about 1.5 hours before dark. After dark  I fished this spot off and on until midnight without one fish coming to net. Found out later a friend fished the same area on the river and took 3 walleyes from 4:45 am until dawn (about 5:45amor so) Seems the fish turned on a few hours before sunrise.

No doubt, walleyes are a night/low light fish. But many other factors come into play. Season, water temp,spawn, water clarity, and flow (in rivers) Some sections of the CT river I fish are heavily dependent on flow, and walleye can be active mid-day if the dams are releasing and its nottoo bright. I think the lake fish are prone more to the standard evening/night bite than river fish. River walleyes have to take feeding oportunitites when they can.

Tournament walleye fishermen say that you can catch lake walleyes during bright mid-day sunshine, but you have ot fish real slow and deeper than you would in the evening.

Sometimes they just break the rules al together.

[Mackdaddy21]

Most of my walleyes come in the two twighlight periods. I have found the only time to consistenly have much of any action during the day is in May and October, at least in Colorado. They seem to roam flats during these months and love crankbaits casted and retrieved quickly.
At night my action is probably about as sporadic as during the day. I have gone all night without a fish before, and then catch 10 in the half hour surrounding sunrise. Usually I use bait under a lighted slipfloat, glow jigs, and rattlin crankbaits. I usually fish the same areas I do in twighlight periods. Most nights I scratch a couple fish is all, fishing all night.

Tyler

[buzz bait]

Buzz do you lose alot of lures I'm afraid(too cheap) To throw raps in the river i fish got lots of rocks to steal pricey lures I haven't really tried doing it but I am tempted to try the shallow runners.

        i used to lose them now and than the secret if you ask me is a real sencetive rod anda mono that has very little streach i use a fenwick hmx 7 footer with 8 lb test cortland como line this way  i start grabin bottom raise the rod tip  a little . i got a rapala that i use a lot  is so banged up from eye hits its misssing an eye plus knowing the spot helps a lot to ive fished that spot for 20 years .alot of time i hang up and brake off the lure and sometimes they do float up to the sufacealot of times the lip gets wedged just rihgt. any more feel free to ask

[fISH2WIN]

During the summer after the spawn the walleye at Norris where I live are very nocturnal. The best bite all sunmmer is after 3:00 AM. Often they will pull up on the banks and heard minmnows. When they do a crankbait or Jerk bait does the job. Other nights they may stay 30 feet deep right on top of the thermacline. Those nights we troll spinner/worm riggs for them. Many people set lanterns to draw bait and then fish outside the light at night for eyes. This is the normal summer patterns in Tennessee. fish2win

[TroutFishingBear]

During the summer after the spawn the walleye at Norris where I live are very nocturnal. The best bite all sunmmer is after 3:00 AM. Often they will pull up on the banks and heard minmnows. When they do a crankbait or Jerk bait does the job. Other nights they may stay 30 feet deep right on top of the thermacline. Those nights we troll spinner/worm riggs for them. Many people set lanterns to draw bait and then fish outside the light at night for eyes. This is the normal summer patterns in Tennessee. fish2win

I think it all depends on forage. If you have baitfish that are fairly active after dark, like shad seem to be, you can usually catch some of them during the night. But if your baitfish are inactive at night like perch, the walleyes won't be as active. I have found that super early in the morning is the best overall, like 4:30 to 7:00 . The twilight is really good to, though and sometimes better.

[fISH2WIN]

I think it all depends on forage. If you have baitfish that are fairly active after dark, like shad seem to be, you can usually catch some of them during the night. But if your baitfish are inactive at night like perch, the walleyes won't be as active. I have found that super early in the morning is the best overall, like 4:30 to 7:00 . The twilight is really good to, though and  sometimes better".


 
You could be correct on that theory. We have both Gizzard and threadfin shad as well as alewife. The alewife generally stay deep during the summer but will come up at night when the moon is full. Walleye seem to be much more food driven than bass. I think they follow the bait more and for a greater distance.Often when we are catching them on crankbaits or jerkbaits at night there will be a few Smallmouth mixed in. I know a few guys that swear they have caught them on Zara Spooks at night but I have never done that. Fish2win   

[Mackdaddy21]

Western Colorado has basically no baitfish. Shad, alevwives, even shiners are absent. The primary forage in the walleye lake I fish is crawfish and small panfish. The crayfish crawl around on the shallow rocks at night, so I would think the walleyes would be feeding then. The smaller bluegills and bass seem to settle down in the rocks and wait out the evening. In colorado, gamefish prey on other gamefish. We have no forage base.

Tyler