Nighttime Summertime Walleye

It's the time of the year to do a little prowling around on the lake late in the day as the sun goes down. In summer, as water temperatures rise and water skiers abound on your favourite lake, relax with family and friends during the day and get ready for a little nighttime fishing action after everybody exits stage left. The ideal situation is to have your boat tied to the dock ready to go on a body of water you are familiar with. If you have done a little scouting out during the day or in the previous week, it will give you a starting point in your search for the nighttime bite. If the walleye are hunkered down on the primary or secondary drop-off during the day, as that sun settles in the west, these same fish will move shallow as the light conditions change, looking for an easy meal.

Case in point came last week as darkness started to descend on the lake we were fishing in the Whiteshell. Trolling with the front electric, we had spread out three lines, one straight out the back and one on either side of my boat, rigged with three different presentations. On the middle back rod was a shallow running crankbait, a smaller Husky Jerk that probably dived around one metre, on the port side of the boat we were running a small jig rigged with a white Berkley power grub about 25 metres out and on the starboard side (which was in the deeper water) we had a medium diving crankbait, one that was running around 2.5 metres. This Frenzy crankbait had a wide wobble with rattles that made a lot of noise. The Husky Jerk has a very subtle side to side waddle, when fished at about 1.5 kilometres an hour, about the right speed to get optimum action out of that bait. That speed was also just fast enough to keep the 1/8-ounce jig on the inside line about a half a metre above the bottom.

Sure enough on the first past on a shallow sand/mud flat in front of an outflowing creek, the inside rod bent over. Taking the rod out of the holder, I could feel the weight of a solid fish. Holding down to the bottom, this fish felt like a good walleye, with the telltale head shake and movement from side to side. Sure enough there was still half an hour of sunlight left and the bite had started in earnest. A nice big walleye could be seen in the tea stained water darting from side to side in an effort to try and get back down to the bottom.

Part Two:
The weather during our holiday stay started out hot, then cooled mid-week to once again get back to season norms by the end. Each day during that stretch we spent a few hours of the day fishing When we first arrived, we spent most of the day getting organized and relaxing. Since it was a beautiful warm evening we decided to go for a spin around the lake, enjoying the beautiful Canadian Shield landscape. Naturally, I suggested we might stop and try our luck for smallmouth bass that like to hang out around this rock shoal that I was familiar with. The family was up for that and as we cast the reef narry a nibble. Slowly backing the boat over the ridge of shallow rock with my back electric troll motor, I started to mark fish on my Bottom Line fishfinder suspended just off the bottom in three metres of water.

Telling my family that there was fish marking, they started peering over the side of the boat into the darkening water. Sure enough, they started shouting that there were fish surrounding the boat. Jumping up from me seat I stuck my head over the side of the boat. Dark shadows were swimming by, shapes that certainly didn't match any smallmouth bass I had ever seen. Not a minute later my son, who was fishing with 1/16 ounce Northland Whister jig tipped with a one inch Berkly power nymph hooked into a nice fish. After a pretty intense tug of war, a nice plump gold and black walleye slid into the net. No sooner had I unhooked that fish and dropped him in the livewell my son was yelling that he had another one on. Reaching for the net that was still at my feet, I stood up ready, only to step into the open livewell . Yikes! It turned out to be one of the most memorable evening I can remember in a long time, with my son catching seven walleye in a row with the biggest, a three kilogram beauty caught an hour after dark. While there was more fish to be caught, the mosquitoes got so bad we had to leave.

As I have mentioned many times big walleye love to roam shallow areas at night in the summer time. Make the middle of the day siesta time to get ready for the night bite!

There are some rules of thumb when night fishing

• On clear water lakes the lures have to be further away from the boat to prevent spooking fish
• Weed edges and shallow reefs and shoreline flats can be excellent nightfishing areas but don't forget current areas or narrowed down sections of lakes
• Lures don't have to be on the bottom. Try a variety of depths but most of the time fish will move up to the bait
• Use lures that have light bottoms and dark backs. These allow for a better nighttime profile for the fish to see
• You can use heavier line at night to help get your lures out of snags and fight the bigger fish you will find feeding at this time of day. It will also help prevent breakoffs when you make a mistake fighting a fish in the dark. (Believe me this does happen with even the most experienced angler
• Bring along all the necessary safety equipment and have some form of illumination in order to the make the experience a little more enjoyable

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