Walleye Fishing At Night by Mark Tim Fleagle

First off, walleye fishing at night can be one of the most rewarding night fishing trips you will ever do if you follow some simple , but very important set up rules . It has been my experience, to catch much bigger walleyes at night then during the day. Walleye are very active at night and it is their primary feeding time. During the day you need to very selective with your bait and your method to catch fish. At night you do not have to be as precise. The main reason is Walleyes are night feeders! When fish are feeding they will hit on just about anything that is native to their normal food source. Also you do not have to contend with any sunlight factors, walleye have very sensitive eyes, as a result at night this is not a factor. Also  the fish you catch will be much bigger, lets face it older and  bigger fish are much wiser.

Before we get into anymore detail specific to walleye we need to address the cardinal rules of night fishing, proper lighting, proper submerged illumination devices, and tackle organization. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of these three for night fishing.

 I recommend a minimum of two propane lanterns minimum of a single mantle preferably two mantels. One lantern needs to be extended outside the boat and the other inside your boat. I recommend having 4 battery lights with you. These are essential for emergency situations and just in case your lanterns malfunction. You would be surprised how quickly this can happen. My son and I were out on our last night fishing trip for catfish and it was very windy and out lanterns ended up in the lake, good thing we had are battery lanterns for backup. You can pick the lanterns up at any wallmart, or any sporting goods store I always see them in the camping section. Also Cabela’s has a nice selection (that’s where I purchase them from)

           

There are many, many methods to catch walleyes at night, but the one I do best at is using a planer board system. You can make this entire system at home and save quite a few bucks or you can purchase from Cabela’s or any marina that caters to fisherman. I will identify a few places later in the article.

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