Night fishing for Walleyes

[johnboat]

In many books that I have read it always says, "you will catch more and bigger walleyes from dusk to dawn than from dawn to dusk" I go to Canada yearly and always leave with good intention to night fish but have never worked it in. I have the boat and the equipment to give it a go but for one reason or another it just doesn't happen. Catching good numbers and some of size has never really been an issue, but am I missing out? Can anybody out there shed some light on this topic and give me something to think about for the next 4 months untill I head north again?

Keep 'er on the bottom.


John

[another John]

We've been very succesfull night fishing shallow weed covered flats or weedy bays simply by drifting and casting stick baits ahead of the boat.Mostly a slow retreive with a little stop & go works best.Don't be afraid to use your trolling motor if needed to move we've had strikes right beside the running motor.Use your favorite SHALLOW running baits Rouges,Rapelas Thunder stick jrs. etc. It's a matter of finding a feeding school and presenting the bait how they want it so very your retrieve till you figure out the prefered pattern that evening. Satrt at least 1/2 hour before dark , the most productive times can be within the first hour. If this time doesent work start fishing the solar tables you'll be amaized what effect the old man in the moon has on them , especialy in the fall.

[REG]

I suspect you would do well at night - especially if there's a moon. I'll be fishing up there in 4 months too. We like to fish right up until dark and sometimes have our best bite in that last hour. But in June, we fish until 10pm and it's light again by 4am so we don't have the motivation to try it at night. Also some years we're greeted at the dock (and on the water) at 10pm by the skeeters so that really seals the deal for us.

I will say that if you can find where water is coming into the lake and you're there when the shiners start running, I've seen walleyes hit topwaters at dusk and after dark.

I would probably be a little more motivated to try it at night in Sept. as the days are shorter and the bugs are gone.

Rich

[IA Walleye]

For the past decade, we have fished Lac Seul. The section of LS that we fish is very stained and on windy days, parts of it will develop a layer at the top of suspended clay particles. Between the stain and and the clay particles we have found that we can have just as good of fishing at high noon with a bright sky as we can on an overcast day. In the evening we have found that there is a slight tick up in the last two hours of light, but generally it seems that the size is smaller than in the day. I suspect that the little walleyes come out to play a little bit in the shallows. However, as soon as the sun settles past the tree line, the bite seems to decline. Does something good happen after dark, can't really say because we head for the resort and a cold one. After pounding the water from 7:00 am to 9:45 (we are there in mid-June, longest days of the year), that is enough even for me.

Back in Wisconsin, I fish for panfish, bass, and muskies/northerns during the day and turn my attention to walleyes when the sun starts to set, but the lakes I fish in WI are much clearer than LS. So, without knowing anything more than that, I would suspect that the clarity of the water has a lot to do with when the walleyes turn on. I would bet that a clear water lake in Canada has a strong evenng and night bite, just like those lakes in Wisconsin.

Cheers...IA Walleye

[phishfearme]

what night-time? with only 4-5 hours of darkness in late june/early july, we value the sleeping time!

i think the fish at dark applies more to US lakes that are hit hard constantly and the fish come into shallower water to feed more safely. usually not a problem in NW ontario and you usually don't have to fish too deep ever - i would say 90%+ of our fish come from less than 10ft of water.

enjoy the daylite!

phish

[BIGRED]

We talked about it for years and finally stayed sober enough to do it.

Well worth it. Long line shallow running cranks while you are trolling slow. A glow stick on the tip of your rod helps with lure action and letting you know when you have one on.

The moon helps and this works well in Canadian tea stained water.

My friends were always skeptical despite reading this in the Walleye mags. We all believe now.

BIGRED

[Bill Krejca]

john,

I feel it makes a difference on the night bite whether the water is fairly clear, or more on the stained side. My experience has been that if the water is stained, the walleye will bite hard for a short time in the evening and then turn off. Probably just gets too difficult even for them to see.

On clearer waters, they seem to be more active in the shallows during the night, less so maybe, during the day.

You'll have to make the determination on whether to try it based on the clarity where you fish. As in all things fishing, about the time the situation is figured out, conditions will change.

Good luck,

[Capn Hooker]

It's a whole different world trolling for eyes on a moonless night on a lake in Canada. Your concentration turns to trying to make out the treeline so you can follow the shoreline which you cannot see. Then BOOM! your rod doubles over and line starts stripping out. What a heart starter. I've always caught bigger eyes at night. The skeeters won't bother ya unless ya turn a light on.


If you always do what you've always done,You'll always be whom you've always been.

When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power, the World Will Find Peace -Jimi Hendrix-

[Left Wing Fisherman]

BigRed,

I to have fished the Night bite. Unfortunately the fellow I fished with choose to use cheap K-mart swivels and lost a very large fish.

He was also very large and clumsy and fell down in the boat, might of had something to do with his inability to hold his liquor!

Sounds to me like I should have found a partner such as yourself who had a sound plan and didn't over do it before heading out

LWF

[Pooch]

Yea, we fish into the very late evening when in Canada. Sometimes it's not worth it, but in general it's well worth it. We usually hang in until the fishing slows down and the mosquito's speed up.

As others have mentioned, dusk is usually the indicator as to whether it's going to be worth staying on into the night. If the bite is dieing off at dusk then the best is usually over and you might as well be playing cards and having a beer.

If you notice in some of my pictures here on WC, it is just getting dark when we start catching fish that are worth a quick picture.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&page=4&ppuser=104366

Don't be afraid to try fishing Canada at night, just know how to find the camp in the dark without thumping a rock!

Good luck.

Pooch

[Limiterr]

My friend worked for OMNR a few years back electroshocking fish at night. They caught several walleye in shallow water over 10 lbs and lots of smaller ones. We have always had the intention and tried a few times but the bugs were so bad we could not handle it. It's also a different place at night and can be dangerous. I stay back at camp now and have a few cold ones........

[Camp Chef]

Never had to resort to night fishing in Cananda.By 4pm (cocktail hour) I have already fished enough for one day.Even when fishing is less thn stellar it is always great by U.S. standards.I have done and still do a lot of night fishing here in Wisconsin,but to be out after dark on a Canadian shield lake,even the ones that you think you know well is just asking for an oops-a-diddly.Night time in the bush is better spent listening to the sounds of the wilderness and having a few cold blues.

[alanexpup]

the bugs at night were too rough for us too. its bad eough in the cabin with a loose screen or 2.

[RSH8]

In July and August, there are guys in our camp on Minnitaki who fish exclusively at night, especially if the days are clear, sunny and calm. The ones who talk to me do longline trolling with shallow cranks, Rapalas & Husky Jerks, for example. They like to get started while it is still daylight, and having the moon out while fishing is a big advantage. The time we did this, we did indeed do best right up to full darkness, then the fishing shut off, although it got cloudy and we could not see the moon then. They catch fish much shallower than during the day.

Even if you keep the boat as dark as possible, bugs can still be a big problem, we wear long-sleeve shirts, long pants, plastic surgical gloves (cheap ones), but the face is still out there to get bit. There may be somewhat fewer bugs further from shore; there still might be fish right out in the middle of the lake, on top of very deep water, I simply don't know if the fishing is as good out there.

A simple headlamp is very valuable, can illuminate something (like a big fish at the boat ready for the net)and still use both hands.

[Capn Hooker]

Yep, the further out you go the less bugs ... until you turn a light on. Rub your exposed skin with dryer sheets to keep the bugs from biting. I've caught most of my bigger nighttime walleyes between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM trolling with a Shad Rap, deep water as well as shallow.

If you always do what you've always done,You'll always be whom you've always been.

When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power, the World Will Find Peace -Jimi Hendrix-