Here's Sand In Your 'Eyes

In skinny water, baits need to run near bottom to produce the most strikes. Fish rousting crayfish can't seem to resist a bottom-hugging bait burned across the flats, then killed. Similarly, walleyes chasing minnows seem to like a burned bait to be flared and paused. In all cases, cast the lure out across the flat as far as possible, burn it back toward the boat for 5 or 10 cranks, pause for a second or two, then repeat all the way in. Walleyes follow lures until they can no longer stand the suspense, then pounce on it.

It's common to have 10 or more follows per night. That's right -- follows. Walleyes often track these baits, their noses hot on the bait's tail all the way to the boat. Many times, they're easy to see in the moonlight, since their dark backs stand out against the light-colored bottom. You'll often see them 30 feet out, which is why triggering a strike becomes important. Like muskie fishing, be ready to execute a figure-8 or L-turn at the end of the retrieve, with the lure dangling a foot or so off the rod tip. Catching walleyes that act like muskies after dark is exciting, even a bit nerve-wracking.

Productive stretches of sand often lie along the inside edges of weedflats, where walleyes relate to weeds early in the season and slide onto the adjacent sand at night. The more room the fish have to move between the inside edge of the weeds and the shore, the better -- at least for this pattern. One of my favorite spots has 200 to 300 yards of open sand extending offshore until the weeds begin. Such clean, hard sand helps your baits track well, with no organic matter to muffle vibrations or disguise lures, and walleyes have no trouble honing in on vibrating baits at night.

Large structures tend to draw the most shallow-sand walleyes. While smaller fish can be caught here throughout spring and early summer, larger walleyes seem to relate best to the sand when warm, flat-calm, muggy nights bring insect life to a peak, and wherever minnows are found in abundance.

Mainlake points and humps with hard sand or rock bottoms are also key areas for this approach. Follow the drop-off and cast inward at a slight angle to the breakline, keeping your lure atop the flat for most of the retrieve. Beaches can also be good producers once the crowds conveniently begin to leave at sunset, allowing the fish to slide in shallow. Most of the fish you'll catch will be of a similar age-class and are rarely loners.

Once total darkness engulfs the landscape, use a steady, mid-speed retrieve, still considered by most to be too fast for fishing after dark. Straight retrieves are usually best in inky-black conditions: Random action makes lures harder for walleyes to catch at night.

Windy conditions help push baitfish shallow, and prevailing winds from the same direction for several days can pinpoint productive shallow stretches. Should the wind suddenly slack off and calm, it's a good bet the fish will move shallow at night, even if daytime fishing suffers. Flat-calm nights often key some amazing fishing during spring and early summer.

While spring fishing is often inconsistent, and weather wreaks havoc on anglers struggling to catch fish on traditional structures, the shallow-sand pattern can be a consistent producer of fish after dark. It seems that regardless of the weather, walleyes still slide shallow in search of forage during this time of transition. So, the next time the weather has you scratching your head, consider shifting your efforts shallow at the witching hour for a little lowlight magic, Sandman style.

*Matt Holbrook is an avid angler from Brainerd, Minnesota, currently attending Michigan Tech University.