Good walleye fishing can happen anytime of day. Most anglers agree that nighttime is the best time to fish for walleye. When it comes to walleye, nighttime is often walleye time.
Walleye are a predatory fish. The huge eyes that they are known for make them deadly in low level light. On the other hand, these eyes also make them more sensitive to light. That is why some of the best walleye fishing happens from dusk until midnight during the summer. Good walleye action can also be found in the hours surrounding sun rise.
As night falls, bait fish move into shallower waters in search of food. The walleye aren’t far behind. Finding walleye at night is often easier than locating them during the day. An angler can shine a light near the shallow shore. If the water is shallow enough, the light will usually be reflected by the enormous eye. This shouldn’t be done to often though because it will scare the fish.
One of the best ways to catch walleye at night is either by wading or casting from the shore. A crankbait cast over the shallow spot works wonders for landing a walleye. Walleyes are aggressive strikers when on the prowl. Still, the retrieval needs to be fast enough to make the crankbait work but slow enough to be caught by the walleye.
Walleye may also haunt heavy vegetation areas during the night. Long-lining works great in this situation. The line should be let out between 120 and 150 feet. A minnow shaped diver plug is a great lure to use. A crawler harness with a worm or a leech also works well.
As the angler trolls the weeds, they need to monitor speed carefully. Going too fast may spook the fish and too slow will hinder the performance of the bait. The bait should be trolled just above the weed line and allowed to occasionally touch the tops of the weeds.
Nighttime anglers can also anchor and use jigging to catch walleye. This technique works best if the walleye are hunting around structures. Sometimes even nighttime walleyes are soft biters. A bobber can be a great asset if an angler needs help detecting a strike.
There are several lines of glow-in-the-dark bobbers that can help. This will make it very easy for the angler to keep an eye on the bobber. It also adds a little amount of light that the more curious walleye may find attractive.
Nighttime walleye presents a few challenges for the angler. Since visibility is low, the danger of hitting structures or bottoming out is very high. During nighttime fishing, walleye can often be found in water that is less than fifteen feet deep.
A sonar unit will be very helpful but nothing beats daytime reconnaissance. An angler that wants to fish walleye at night should spend some daylight hours on the water. This will make it much easier to identify potential hot spots as well as possible problems.
Nighttime fishing for walleye can be a great adventure. The fish are more active and the competition with other anglers is less. Hunting walleyes at night isn’t hard but the successful angler needs to be more aware and flexible on their approach.
