The Dark Side Of Spring Walleye Fishing

THE NIGHT BITE

The easiest, most practical way to check sizeable spawning areas at night is by longline trolling a minnow-imitating crankbait through the shallows, typically about 3 to 6 feet deep, give or take. On a hundred feet of 10-pound-test monofilament line, a shallow runner should dip 1 to 2 feet below the surface, barely wiggling along under the influence of your electric trolling motor purring at low speed. Run roughly parallel to the shoreline, focusing on a general depth range, yet put a little left-right weave into the trolling path. This makes lures run alternately faster, then slower, without changing motor speed, which might alert the fish to your presence. It also makes your lures run through areas outside the path of the boat, further minimizing spooking. Successive trolling paths at slightly different depths may indicate a preferred level of activity, or tip you off to some form of cover, bottom content, or subtle depth change that draws fish to a limited area.

Be sure to occasionally pump the rod forward, then quickly point it back, further instilling a surge and pause to the lure motion, first imitating a panicked attempt at fleeing, then sudden vulnerability. The pump-and-dump routine pays big dividends on triggering following fish that might otherwise veer off at the moment of truth.

Once you've established a productive area, especially if said area is relatively small, consider a casting approach. Nothing's deadlier than reaching out into the darkness with a neutrally buoyant minnow-imitator, which is heavy enough to cast well on light line--especially superline--yet provides that slow, tempting, vulnerable wiggle, classic to minnow-imitators. Use a combination of slow pumps of the rod to the side, successively reeling up slack while pointing the rod back toward the lure. Repeat often. The lure sidles forward, then pauses, hovering, neither rising nor sinking, right in a fish's face--the ultimate in triggering capacity on calm nights when the fish can be spooked by unnatural sounds and wayward noises.

Neutrally buoyant minnow-imitators work as well from shore as from a boat. Or try waders, stealthily easing your way through the shallows, guided by moonlight and the feel of rocks and sand beneath your feet. In either case, however, your mobility is much reduced from fishing in a boat. So you must put the odds in your favor by fishing in areas that draw the fish to you, rather than having to seek them out. Creek mouths, breakwalls, bridges, narrows, points, riprap--any likely concentration spot for walleyes drawn shallow by the twin urges of spawning and feeding--are potential shorecasting spots. Some are best with the wind pounding in, usually heightening walleye activity, but making it more difficult to cast offshore. Others continue to produce in calmer conditions, providing you're sneaky and don't tip the fish off to your presence. You can catch walleyes virtually between your wader boots as they follow an escaping lure toward shore, but only if you become one with the darkness. A quick click of the flashlight and dip of the landing net, and you're back in business for the next one.

Need another option? A 1/4-ounce jig tipped with a 4-inch soft plastic shad body or curlytail grub provides a different triggering mechanism than a crankbait. Plop it in, let it drop to bottom, then work it back home with an alternating series of rod tip lifts interspersed with dipping the tip and taking up slack. Be sure to vary retrieves, trying lots of long pauses, fairly short pauses with brief swims, right up to steady swimming retrieves that make the lure wiggle and wobble. You never know what will work best until you try.