I did lots of night fishing in MN lakes when I lived in Fargo and here is what I learned. Sand flats with sparse cattails was the winning bottom type most of the time. I wade fished or fished from shore. Boats seemed to turn off the bite as every time a boat would go by, my catch rate would hit the toilet for about 20 minutes and then pick back up. I mainly used original raps or shallow shad raps with as long a cast as I could muster. Retrieval speed would be just fast enough to get the lure about 2 inches below the surface. I think the wake caused by this shallow retrieve helped the fish zero in on the lure. Rattles were good on some days and the kiss of death on others. Dark colors were far superior to the bright ones as I think the dark colors had more contrast when viewed from below. A longer rod was much prefered as having a 4 lb walleye with a 8 inch rapala sticking out of it's mouth swimming between you legs makes for more excitement than a guy wants. Don't ask how I came to this conclusion. Jigs have their place, but I found that night walleyes don't seem to look down to find a meal so jigging close to the bottom was less productive on the average night. However, there were those nights when the jig was the way to go. Fishing close to a light source is a good idea, but not to close. I would stay about 50 yards from a light source as I believe the shadow you cast when getting closer to the light spooks fish. I think the motion of casting and such keeps those wary fish on edge and tight lipped. I would stay away and cast closer to the light and retrieve it back into the darkness. That seemed to be the best bet. Guys that would set up lanterns on the shore or keep their head lamps on all the time didn't have as much success as those of us that went total stealth mode. I have very little for night fishing from a boat. When I used one, I anchored up and cast. Noise from stepping on the boat floor, fish crashing in the livewell, and other disturbances seemed to push the fish away from me as most of the fish came at the farthest point of my casts. I caught very few fish within 20 yards or so of the boat, but when fishing from shore or wading I would get smashed anywhere up to and including right at my rod tip. Good Luck!!!!
