Walleye around docks at night!

[IKOLA]

A couple of days ago a friend and me went to fish from a dock on a bigger metro lake. This spot to me had always looked like a prime walleye spot, steep rocky bank with scatered weeds and sand further out.

We started out late that night, about 7 so when talking about where we should go I said lets go the the dock and catch some eyes. My buddy laughs as we take off cuz we never catch walleye. After a few hours of casting every lure I own, nothing.

About ten o'clock just as we were getting ready to go, we sat down on the dock which has a huge light on the end of it. Out of the corner of my eye I see something big swim through the lighted area in the water. This got my eyes glued to this area.

For about the next hour we saw atleast 20 EYE'S swim up and eat one of the tiny sunfish that hide around this dock.

Having no live bait we decided to come back the next day with some leeches etc.....4 hours of fishing nothing not even a glance of the most prized fish in my book.

Again the next day my buddy whent out without bait. 3 eye's in the net and a lot more looks at big fish.

Sorry for the long story, now for my question!

I have known for a while that eye's will come to docks like this to feed at night, my question is, why some nights and not others. Are there special conditions that will make these fish come in I.E. weather, wind direction, water temps?

Any ideas will help and I'll get back after I fish it again tonight and tell you guys how I do.(with bait ofcourse)

[Team Otter]

It's a 95% chance it's food-related. Rarely do 'eyes come in shallow at night for anything but food.

[IKOLA]

There are tons of small panfish that hang around this dock once it gets dark. The panfish are there every night, but the walleyes aren't.

Went last night only one fish, but it was a nice and chunky 20 incher.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Fish do everything for one of two reasons, to make baby fish or to eat.

The season for making baby fish is over so their whole life, until next spring, revolves around eating.

I'm guessing it's prolly wind direction. The wind may be moving baitfish to this particular dock. When the baitfish come, the eyes will follow.

[nofishfisherman]

When fishing from shore I try to pay attention to the wind. If I have good luck at one spot on a particular day I take note of the wind direction that brings the fish into that area. Then next time the wind is right I will be there, when the wind is wrong I'll be at another more favorable spot.

[Bassboy1645]

Windy shores hold the baitfish and the eyes. I have caught a few eyes back home by "bass fishing" the docks on the windy side. All the better if they have rocks and weeds there. Cranks are a great way to target these dock eyes.