Hey everyone, Well it is on the eve of my most favorite thing to do.............. Night walleye fishing.
I was introduced to it about 7 years ago. It started out fishing off the rocks at Mosquito and has progressed to the "BIG" waters of Lake Erie. The pattern was always fish Mosquito in the spring and follow them untill they moved out into the late spring. Then catch them in the fall when they return to the shallows at night with the cooler temps. Well thanks to this site and meeting people like "dixie chicken" Larry has opened a whole new world of the "night bite" for me. The Lake Erie bite I have been doing for only 1-1/2 seasons. I will never claim to be an expert but I am starting to learn what works and does not.
After fishing with VC111 this summer there one thing that was clear to me is that he really makes his baits to fish specific conditions,weather patterns,times of year and lakes that he fishes. As he was firing cast after cast all I could do was to go through his box and look at all the lures he has made. It was really hard to find and lure that he didn't make. I make alot of musky lures. It seems I never keep any of them. They are pretty and work well but I just don't have that specific target zone of personal colors and sizes yet for my deadly weapons arsenal. It will come as I get more swallowed up by the muskies, but for now I have the cross hairs on the my most favorite thing "Night bite" walleyes.
What I have noticed: Over the last 1-1/2 seasons on Erie I was stunned what was brought to light for me. I had always thought that the night walleyes were the deep shadows that creeped around the depths only to invade the shallows of the lake edges for only minutes to grab their meal and disappear as fast as they came. I was very suprise to hear the night boats talking on the radios " Took one 5 back on chrome and blue" What the heck is 5 back? 5 wraps back? .............No.......... 5 feet back behind an inline board. "We are only going 1.5 mph!" ........."That can't be down more than 2 feet down!.............. "We are in 40 feet depth in "open" water!"
I started to think alot different about baits for walleye. Specifically baits for "Night" walleye.
As the season progresses the are always subtle but important changes that take place that I hope to take advantage of. The with custom making specific colors and actions to help me increase the odds.
There are so many great baits out there already. Rapala, Storm, and Renouski's. Why change you ask. Well there is always the search for the ultimate bait. Maybe the ultimate color or action. Only thing with fishing there is always adjustments to be made.
The most major thing that suprised me was the preference of the walleye to eat smelt instead of the shad. Yes they eat shad but seem to like the longer slender baits are better. The other factor was how to get the baits to stand out from all the other bait fish that are everywhere. Action and Color
Actions: As the season progresses the water gets cooler. With the cooler water the actions of the fish slow down. They will not chase as much from further distances. Thus the speed has to be reduced. As the speed reduces the bait works less. The wobble reduces. I had spent endless hours laying awake in bed thinking about this. I have been only making the baits for a year but I have noticed some factors that come into play. The first is lip angle/shape and lip thickness. I have been playing around with different materials to use in the lips. I have heard of people using cd disks as lips on smaller baits. I went to the hobby shop and got some 1/16" thick aluminum. Here is a pic of the difference in the thickness
With the thinner material the bait seems to widen its wobble. The wobble widens to 4-6" range. With the warmer temps I don't think it will be a factor in them catching it. What I am really hoping for is that when the trolling speed hits the .8 to 1.2 mph that the wobble we be 1" to 2" range to help them single it out. We will see how this plays out. I have been playing around with the lip angles verses bait size. I hope to run the baits and record what I have noticed through this season.
Colors: As you know there are lots of colors of baits out there. The problem that there are only so many to pick from in the specific type of bait that you want. I wanted to try some really bright colors to start off the season. Some really bright colors!!!!!!!!! Here are some very shallow runners with the bright colors. They are in the 7" range.
I like to do the foil on the baits as a base and then layer the paint over it. Here are a couple more. The top one has real copper foil and the bottom has HVAC metal duct tape in silver as its base.
These two I have real high hopes with. They are metal base also. I can't wait to try these.
Well I hope to get out this weekend on the big water and start this journey. It will lead to shore casting after ice out on the inland lakes that I fish and back to the spring big water bite of Lake Erie. I have many ideas to try. So tag along and please feel free to add your pics. It doesn't matter if the bait was made by hand or bought right off the rack. It is all good information! There is a fall Lake Erie tournament I hope to fish. Maybe we can do this together and see what comes from it. I hope to have some pics soon with these baits and teeth marks. LOL Wish me luck!
I was introduced to it about 7 years ago. It started out fishing off the rocks at Mosquito and has progressed to the "BIG" waters of Lake Erie. The pattern was always fish Mosquito in the spring and follow them untill they moved out into the late spring. Then catch them in the fall when they return to the shallows at night with the cooler temps. Well thanks to this site and meeting people like "dixie chicken" Larry has opened a whole new world of the "night bite" for me. The Lake Erie bite I have been doing for only 1-1/2 seasons. I will never claim to be an expert but I am starting to learn what works and does not.
After fishing with VC111 this summer there one thing that was clear to me is that he really makes his baits to fish specific conditions,weather patterns,times of year and lakes that he fishes. As he was firing cast after cast all I could do was to go through his box and look at all the lures he has made. It was really hard to find and lure that he didn't make. I make alot of musky lures. It seems I never keep any of them. They are pretty and work well but I just don't have that specific target zone of personal colors and sizes yet for my deadly weapons arsenal. It will come as I get more swallowed up by the muskies, but for now I have the cross hairs on the my most favorite thing "Night bite" walleyes.
What I have noticed: Over the last 1-1/2 seasons on Erie I was stunned what was brought to light for me. I had always thought that the night walleyes were the deep shadows that creeped around the depths only to invade the shallows of the lake edges for only minutes to grab their meal and disappear as fast as they came. I was very suprise to hear the night boats talking on the radios " Took one 5 back on chrome and blue" What the heck is 5 back? 5 wraps back? .............No.......... 5 feet back behind an inline board. "We are only going 1.5 mph!" ........."That can't be down more than 2 feet down!.............. "We are in 40 feet depth in "open" water!"
I started to think alot different about baits for walleye. Specifically baits for "Night" walleye.
As the season progresses the are always subtle but important changes that take place that I hope to take advantage of. The with custom making specific colors and actions to help me increase the odds.
There are so many great baits out there already. Rapala, Storm, and Renouski's. Why change you ask. Well there is always the search for the ultimate bait. Maybe the ultimate color or action. Only thing with fishing there is always adjustments to be made.
The most major thing that suprised me was the preference of the walleye to eat smelt instead of the shad. Yes they eat shad but seem to like the longer slender baits are better. The other factor was how to get the baits to stand out from all the other bait fish that are everywhere. Action and Color
Actions: As the season progresses the water gets cooler. With the cooler water the actions of the fish slow down. They will not chase as much from further distances. Thus the speed has to be reduced. As the speed reduces the bait works less. The wobble reduces. I had spent endless hours laying awake in bed thinking about this. I have been only making the baits for a year but I have noticed some factors that come into play. The first is lip angle/shape and lip thickness. I have been playing around with different materials to use in the lips. I have heard of people using cd disks as lips on smaller baits. I went to the hobby shop and got some 1/16" thick aluminum. Here is a pic of the difference in the thickness
With the thinner material the bait seems to widen its wobble. The wobble widens to 4-6" range. With the warmer temps I don't think it will be a factor in them catching it. What I am really hoping for is that when the trolling speed hits the .8 to 1.2 mph that the wobble we be 1" to 2" range to help them single it out. We will see how this plays out. I have been playing around with the lip angles verses bait size. I hope to run the baits and record what I have noticed through this season.
Colors: As you know there are lots of colors of baits out there. The problem that there are only so many to pick from in the specific type of bait that you want. I wanted to try some really bright colors to start off the season. Some really bright colors!!!!!!!!! Here are some very shallow runners with the bright colors. They are in the 7" range.
I like to do the foil on the baits as a base and then layer the paint over it. Here are a couple more. The top one has real copper foil and the bottom has HVAC metal duct tape in silver as its base.
These two I have real high hopes with. They are metal base also. I can't wait to try these.
Well I hope to get out this weekend on the big water and start this journey. It will lead to shore casting after ice out on the inland lakes that I fish and back to the spring big water bite of Lake Erie. I have many ideas to try. So tag along and please feel free to add your pics. It doesn't matter if the bait was made by hand or bought right off the rack. It is all good information! There is a fall Lake Erie tournament I hope to fish. Maybe we can do this together and see what comes from it. I hope to have some pics soon with these baits and teeth marks. LOL Wish me luck!