Prairie Creek Reservoir: The Walleye bite is HOT!

With a cold evening in store on Prairie Creek Reservoir near Muncie, we bundled up, headed

Working the bank

out in the boat and located a long stretch of rip rap along the shoreline. Water temps had just squeaked out of the 40s and the lunar phase cycled into the positive. We sat in silence and waited with rod in hand as the last of the sunlight faded... and we wait.

Soon, we hear the sound of splashing in the silence of the night along the shoreline. Then again, then the whole shoreline erupts. Just feet from the boulders and rocky shore, floating in mere inches of the water we carefully and quietly begin to cast the bank. Carefully keeping the boat out of the stony hazards below; cast after cast then it begins. Fish on!

If you have the patience and the will (mainly to go without sleep) the time is right to catch angry male walleyes as they defend their territory and eat anything in their way. Four or five hours of ripping jerk baits and floating crankbaits, tight to the waters edge as humanly possible, can make for a long night. While the females are in, the males wont strike but as soon as they leave the area, the males will bite.

It seems that for every hour spent in the dark there will be a 5 minute window where you find yourself landing multiple fish. Quiet and darkness are your friend. If you think you're in a bad area and you're not catching anything, use a dim light and shine it on the water as you move down the shore. You'll see the beautiful diamond like eyes staring back at you from just under the surface. Sometimes an 100 fish can be in a 10-foot stretch of shoreline. Just remember that now that you see them, they've already seen you.

With roughly a week or two left, if you have time to get out in the darkness and don't mind fishing till after the midnight hour, I urge you to visit the local walleye dating hot-spots for some nighttime action. Most times a good pair of insulated waders works just as well as a boat.