Night time sight fishing

[Fried Lemons]

Gotta give credit to @CG_Fishes for inspiring me to go check out my walleye spot. In seasons past I wouldn’t really get on a consistent bite until November. I figured I would optimize my odds by fishing after dark, which is something I have tried in the past without much success.

I made the hike in the dark on a cloudy moonless night. I fan casted with various baits for about 90 minutes without a sniff. I was not sure at this point if the fish had even made the move into the spot, so I had the idea to shine my headlamp at max brightness into the water. I was met with multiple sets of eyes glowing back at me.

They were absolutely stacked but not easy to catch. I would reel my baits in from the gloom and see these pinpricks of light darting behind.

Interestingly the fish didn’t seem spooked at all by my bright lamp. One fish in particular was sitting right in front of me and would not move on multiple casts. I had a magdraft tied on and made a pitch right on top of the fish. I saw the eyes finally move and felt the telltale thump! Zero fight, the fish hit so close I flipped it straight onto the bank.

Made a slight move to check out this prominent rock that juts out into the river and drops straight down into 20+ feet. Saw a set of eyes sitting right on the drop spook off into the depths. I made a cast where I thought the fish was heading and saw the eyes following from deep, followed by another thump!

Judging from what I was seeing the bigger females haven’t moved in yet, but I was still very pleased with how my trip turned out. I never thought I would be sight fishing at night!

[bassbass]

Nice

[Fishfoo]

Very cool ! 

[CG_Fishes]

Dude that is sweet! Glad I motivated you to get out and catch a few, they love that magdraft at night! Curiously I have never caught a walleye during the day on the bait, only once it gets dark right at dusk, and usually not after that either. There is a certain period of time when they seem to be actively hunting and ready to eat anything that swims in front of them, I can usually get 2 or 3 strikes in that window before the bite dies. Seeing the fish with the headlamp is awesome, and such great photos yiu captured!!

[FishDr]

Love the photos of the glowing eyes!  I've never had luck catching an 'eye that I'd illuminated with my headlamp, but it definitely seems to be working well for you.  There is something exciting about seeing that pair of glowing orbs, especially when there's a lot of space between them - then you know the big girls are on the prowl.

CG_Fishes makes an interesting point about the timing - I too have found that there's a window of higher feeding activity right at dusk (the witching hour). After that it seems pretty sporadic, at least in two of the main lakes I fish for walleyes at night.  In one of the lakes I think the fish move shallow, whack a rainbow trout or two, and are done for the night - the trick is getting your bait in front of them before they find that first stocker rainbow.

[Bassinbasker]

That is sweet! Sight fishing at night is some thing most people will never do.

[aphaneuf16]

This is so sick

[Bassbooger 2]

Awesome i do the same thing. I spot them turn my light off an bring a wake over top of them real slow an they will smash it.