night fishing for walleye ?

[fishnpro40]

i'm fairly new at walleye fishing but i have been catching a few. i've read some posts about fishing for them at night. is it better at night like catfish? and what do you use? i have caught most of mine trolling a worm harness or crankbait during the morning.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Those inscrutable walleyes again. Because of their superior night vision, they have an advantage over their prey by feeding after dark or in murky water. They also have sensitive lateral lines and pick up on vibrations in the water. This means that they can and do hit well after dark...sometimes. But, during low light conditions, and when the water is muddied by a bit of wind or runoff, they will hit just as well.

There are no hard and fast rules about night fishing. But, anybody who makes a religion out of chasing old marble eye has some pet theories on the subject. A general consensus is that daytime angling for walleyes is usually better during periods of cold and/or murky water...and night fishing is better when the water warms up and cleers up.

These are only generalities, though, and can be very different on different waters. In Willard Bay, you can sometimes catch walleyes all day long and not be able to buy a bite at night. On other occasions, the wallies come out to play only after the sun sets. There are probably a lot of factors that come into play, besides the daylight...such as bait movements, moon phases, water clarity, boat traffic, etc. I have done very well on Willard, after dark, both trudging the rocks and floating a tube, casting parallel with the rocks (when there is enough water to cover them) and reeling plastics so that they just tick the rocks about 5 feet down.

In Utah Lake, there is not enough depth for the walleye to hide out during the day, but they often find the deepest cracks and crevices in the rocks...or depressions in the silt bottom...and just "dog it" during the summer days. At night, it is not uncommon for them to come into a foot or less of water searching out sunfish, carp minnows, crawdads and anything else they can munch. They also eat a lot of small mud cats...and black plastics are good offerings...fished slow on light heads. Those who dangle whole nightcrawlers below bobbers for channel cats around Lincoln Beach are often surprised by the occasional after dark walleye on crawlers.

Another good tactic is to fish floating/diving minnow lures, like jointed Rapalas. Fish them slow and let them float to the top occasionally. You will get both largemouth and walleyes after dark with this technique. Just don't crank them aggressively and drag them into the rocks. That can get expensive.

Hope that provides some food for thought.
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[fishnpro40]

thanks td. that should be very helpful
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