I Bay Report

[bosco]

Finally got out for the Walleye night bite for the first time this year last night. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I haven't been out anywhere fishing for anything since May 1st at Honeoye. But such is life. Anyways....with clear skies directly above me and clouds and lightning threatening to the NW and SLOWLY moving my way, I managed to boat two very nice eyes about 22" and 24" in about 3 hours of fishing. Not great but I was happy to get a couple my first night out. I bounced around several spots but both fish came in about 9 FOW on a fire tiger shallow diving shad rap south east of the 104 bridge. Basically, I'm trying to position my boat just outside the weed line and pitch parallel to shore right up to the weed edge (and into the weeds from time to time without getting too gummed up). This has worked in many spots around the bay but just one spot produced any fish last night. Of course, I got cut short with the storm that blew through. Nice to be out though.

[bosco]

Got out for a few hours last night. Same results. 2 nice eyes in about 3 hours of fishing. Now that I've got a few in the box I'm going to need to start experimenting with different presentations to get the numbers up. Great night to be on the water though. It's nice to fish after the jet skis and the drunken pleasure crafts have packed it in.

[scott111]

hi...just discovered this forum while searching to see if anyone else was catching walleye at night on the bay. i have been catching very large, heavy walleye every night since early july when i by chance threw a lure in after dark and caught one...since that night i have caught about 2 per night...at a rate of 1 per 30 minutes to an hour...seems catching one scares the others away for a bit. been catching them in 1 to 5 feet of water just off my neighbors break wall on the west side of the bay, just north of Bay Village

been using the rapala fire tiger shallow diving shad in both small and large sizes as well as rapala x-rap shallow divers in large and medium sizes....seems most colors and patterns work but i prefer to use the orange or perch pattern x-rap

in the 2 months i have been catching them, there was only a short period of about 1 week when i caught zero. i definitely see a rise in activity during full moon periods and when the sky is clear. water temp has not seemed to matter at all.

on my best night, i got 5 in 1 hour

i am curious if the walleye fishing at night in shallow water is good every year and from when to when? this was my first summer living on the bay

overall, i catch very little during the day...but at night, get big walleye and pike. cant complain about that

[scott111]

one of last night's fish...very plump. i gotta get a scale

[BlueEye]

Awesome fish Scott - glad you found us! Make yourself at home - lots of great guys here!

[salmonite]

nice fish scott.... need a buddy? lol

[FREEMAN77]

scott that has been the xrap I have gone to every time I have gone to the bay and had great luck with it slow and shallow seems to be the key for me. I have not been out this year but I would still like to try and make a trip down there.

[scott111]

the past two weeks i have had no luck catching walleye from shore. in fact, i have caught zero fish, despite trying daily...im wondering if they are coming closer in much later than they were....used to be able to get them the second the sun set....the xrap both shallow and deep diving, has turned out to be my favorite rapala of all time, i have actually been trolling with them for salmon by the river lately...maybe im nuts

[scott111]

more than 1 month and zero walleye caught near shore. in fact only 1 small bass caught in more than 1 month off shore, despite trying every day either early morning or evening. i hear fishing jumping off shore 100 yards though, every morning and all night after dark but have no idea what they are..they aint biting

[zach]

growing up on irondequiot i went down to the bay regularly when i lived there. we always used to cast from shore and used mostly bomber long a's but i would say that most of those fish that are splashing on the surface after dark are schools of shad. these shad are what brings the walleyes up to the surface at night and have caught many casting to the splashing bait. may,june, early july used to be good to us. good luck and don't worry about not banging them up this time of year, i think they might just be deeper than you fishing.

[scott111]

they are definitely minnow size fish now and in spring. right now im seeing them along with very large fish jumping clear out of the water. they are much larger than bass so i suspect they are walleye since they dont look like pike...with maybe some large mouth mixed in hunting on the surface. i can see them jumping from bay village all the way north to the marsh area on the west side. in spring the evening surface activity is insane, right up to shore. i see with a flashlight, a ton of gar and pike. the pike are often swimming along the surface gulping air for some reason. i have snagged many shad in the spring at night so i know thats what the small fish are. there are times when the bay seems dead and other times when it just comes alive with swarms of bait fish, bass, walleye and pike. its a tough bay to catch fish in though, except for early summer and during ice fishing season.

wish i had a kayak so i could get just a little further out there

[NitroMusky]

not sure about ibay right now but carp readily jump at dawn and dusk

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[scott111]

the carp are pretty easily distinguished from the large fish i see feeding on surface bait fish

[rdebadts]

Those are almost surely salmon jumping

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[scott111]

what i see jumping is not that big. although i did see one salmon, possibly a stealhead jump clear out of the water, about 50 yards off the end of my dock 2 weeks ago which was pretty cool