Fishing Forum

[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 4]Night fishing was on the menu for Sunday night. I headed for SFCR Sunday about 5 pm. I got to the backwaters and got my toon ready and headed out in some strong wind but the waves were not too bad. I tried about everything I had but the fish were not cooperating. I caught a hand full of small bass and several perch and only one walleye before it got dark. [/size][/#000000][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 4]In the picture 7-4-10-E.5 I was trying to see if the oar cam was going to work at night. As soon as I got the camera set I got a bite and had to focus on that. I ended up loosing that fish when it decided to spit the hook. I thought that the picture was funny. If you look that fish was not the only bite I had. I had a skeeter trying to bite my hand. He didn’t get it done. [/size][/#000000][/font]
[size 4][font "Times New Roman"][#000000] I trolled after the sun went down and it got real dark. I didn’t get a single bite after dark. I think I should have gone to using bait with a slip bobber. At about 10:30 I got to watch the fireworks in Jackpot Nevada from my Pontoon. That was a load of fun, but in the middle of the fireworks I hear the rocks clattering behind me. Something was coming down the hill and was heading for me.[/#000000][/font][/size]
[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 4]I got my mag light and turned to see what it was. It was a hungry coyote! I think it was tuned in on my fish finder beeping. He saw the light and headed out. I called it a night about midnight and went to bed.[/size][/#000000][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 4]The next morning I got up at 5:00 am and toped off the toon and headed out. I started to catch a bass every now and then, with a perch mixed in. I worked the bank down about three miles and I was a little disappointed. I crossed the lake and fished down the other side. I got to a rock slide and I was in luck. I hooked a HUGE bass on my rod in the rod holder and before I could grab it the bass jumped and spit the hook. Then I started to catch perch, crappie and bass every pass I made. Then I got a couple of walleye that were clones from the same spot. [/size][/#000000][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][#000000][size 4]About noon I called it a day. I headed back to the truck to find some people fishing behind my trailer. I was parked only 10 to 12 feet from the water so I could launch and load up. There was a million miles of bank to fish but they were behind my trailer. AND they were not going to move so I could load up. I had to carry my boat between them and the trailer. They had several perch and a couple of nice walleyes they got from the bank. It was a good trip, not great just good. I wish I had tried bait at night with a slip bobber. I will have to do that next time. Ron[/size][/#000000] [/font]
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Good job Ron. Have you thought about a running lite for those night trips? Good fishin and catchin.
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Nice idea to float tube and watch the fireworks!
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That sounds like a good times fishing. Maybe not catching but defenitly fishing.
About those people behind your truck- some people
have just no respect or are stupid or both[]
Anyways, thank you for sharing and great pictures.

Peter
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[cool][#0000ff]Nice work.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sorry about the slobs. We all have to deal with them...especially tubers and tooners. [/#0000ff]
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TD, have you ever fished for walleye at night? I am thinking that I should have used either worms or cutbait on a jig. Any thoughts? Ron
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[cool][#0000ff]Night fishing for walleyes is usually better than daytime fishing for them. They have a sensitive lateral line...for feeling vibrations...and superior vision during low light conditions. That gives them all the advantages when hunting in low light conditions or in murky water. So, the bigger walleyes often feed mainly at night, even though you can catch lots of smaller ones all through the day. Big wallies find it ridiculously easy to just swim into a school of perch...which are inactive after dark...and munch down as many as they want to fill their gut. Then they find a place to lay up during the day while they digest their meals.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]However, almost all walleyes forage during the nighttime. You can catch them in all sizes...IF YOU FIND THEM. The key is to know where they go during the hours of darkness. They are not always where you might fish for them in daylight. Sometimes they move into very shallow water to forage on smaller fish that use the shallows as shelter. In fact, I have caught walleyes at night in water as shallow as 2 feet deep...and on topwater.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]SFCR is a water with just about every kind of contour and structure. During the day the walleyes forage along rocky structure and out over clean bottom in water less than 20 feet deep but usually over 12 feet deep...depending on clarity and light levels. At night they might be much shallower along the gravel banks or up into shallow coves. The key is whether or not there is food there. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Bait is a slow way to fish for walleyes after dark. They will suck up a nightcrawler...on the bottom or under a bobber. Ditto for a chub minnow or other small fish...like baby perch. But, you will cover more water and catch more fish by throwing large plastics...grubs or shad bodies...with vibrating action tails. Crankbaits with a slow wobble and lots of vibration work well too. Use BIG plastics and cranks for the BIG walleyes. I know guys that never use lures smaller than J-13 Rapalas...and they also use some of the big 6" or larger plastic swim baits.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Again, the key is to find the fish. Trolling can help, using a bottom bouncer rig or trolling a big lure very slowly until you find the area and the depth where the fish are feeding. And that can change during the night and from trip to trip. So it is always a search first proposition.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When the fish are there you can catch a fish per cast while casting into shore from your tube or toon out away from the bank. Once you find the "zone" you can also move closer to the shore and cast parallel at the right distance and depth.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Colors? Can't go wrong with plain white or pearl, especially on bright nights. But, basic black and even purple work well too. They show up well in the dark to fish that have good night vision. Bass like them too. After that almost any color is worth trying...especially hot pink and hot orange.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is a good idea to carry a few glow plastics. Sometimes they do not make a difference but when the fish are finicky the glow might bring them in from a greater distance. Tipping plastics with a piece of crawler doesn't seem to hurt either.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sometimes a crankbait with bright colors or contrasting bars (perch or fire tiger) will be a hot ticket. The better visibility a lure has the greater the chances of a hard strike. Ditto for plastics. Use a hot red jig head on a chartreuse glitter plastic grub for good nighttime wallie whackin'. But dark red heads with a white or yellow plastic also make good contrasting color combos. Ditto for black and white.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The ultimate key is to keep moving and casting, varying your depth and speed of retrieve until you find the pattern. Then keep experimenting to find other things that will work and file them in your mental database for future trips when all of the conditions are similar. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It can take a lifetime to accumulate enough experience to consider yourself a good walleye fisherman...day or night. I have been at it for a whole lot of years and I continue to learn more on every trip. I usually manage to acquit myself favorably on any trip where I at least have half a chance to catch some walleyes...but not always. Any man who claims to catch walleyes on every trip will lie about other things too...like understanding women.[/#0000ff]
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Now there's an answer for ya. Thanks TD. I like the big lure big eye's idea. But last year when I was out and did hook a nice one I struggled with my depth perception when I was trying to net it also just handling a big one on the toon is a little nervous. A big 20+ (30") would be a exciting task.

I have a boat white light attached to my motor shaft and it gives off pretty good lite do you think that would affect the fishin positively or negatively?
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[cool][#0000ff]Unless you have a bright spotlight that shines strongly down into the water your running light is not likely to have much effect one way or another. Chances are that you will be trolling or casting well away from any influence your light might have...except in extremely shallow water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, walleyes ARE light sensitive at night. They prefer to hunt in darkness, where they have the advantage. I have both observed and heard from others that walleyes will not come into an area where there is an overhead light in or above the water. They stay out away from the light and hunt the fringes. This has been especially noted by guys who fish the ice at night, with lanterns on the ice. They will set up rods out at the edge of the light and catch walleyes...but never inside the light.[/#0000ff]
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