spring walleye- what depth?

[fatfinger]

its been an ongoing battle between my bro & me- how deep to fish spring wally's.he likes to go 20+fow & i like 8-12 fow.we've both had some success at both depths, he had more luck than i did but there were other factors besides depth at play.mainly equipment.i had 3 different reels last year go to pot on me.dont go cheap!we'll try all ranges this year depending where they are on the "radar".just curious about other opinions on the matter.we will be on the SLR for opener.

[BobT]

Depending on water temp and how early in the year I often go even shallower, like <6'. We will be on Vermilion this year for the opener and we'll probably start out dropping jigs on shore and working them to deeper water until we find them.

[Fish'n guy]

I guess i really deends on the body of water you plan to fish. In many of the waters i fish there is always a percentage of the fish that remain shallow, 6' and less. Better times to target these would be the early hours of the day and towards dark. However if the water is stained or you have wind or cloudy conditions the fish may remain shallow for longer. I tend to target the shallower walleyes mainly because they tend to be a bit more aggressive and predicable as far as location.

In your situation though if you are fishing in the northern part of the state i would concentrate more on structure than "just" depth alone. Say you are fishing rocks: its relatively calm and sunny with clear water, i would start off shallow around sunrise and try to slide out deeper 15'+ rocks during the day and maybe slide in shallower towards sundown. Now throw in a nice walleye chop with an overcast sky you may want to remain shallow for longer.

All in all: exerimentation is key because as we all know some very "bizzare" patterns arise now and then with walleyes. SO its always best to keep and open mind

Good Luck

[BFJ]

Lake Vermilion experienced it's earlist ice out in 50+ years... Temps in the bays have been anywhere from 52-58 degrees.. However this doesn't effect water temps in the depths anything other than surface! Eye's spawned earlier than usually, but the length of day/daylight hours have a lot of effect on fish location...We've been hanging 20 degrrees at night and 50's at day....I went this morning early had 20 degrees early...fish location not a lot different than normal!! Good luck everyone!!!

[Esox_Magnum]

Our temps here are low-mid 50's, most are getting eyes trolling cranks or leeches on spinners but all between shore and 12-14'. I ran out to the 20' today and quit marking anything after 16'. All my fish so far have come from less than 10' except 1 she came from 11.

[harvey lee]

Are you fishing the Mississippi?

[Esox_Magnum]

Nope Spirit Lake in Iowa.

[matthothand]

The original post was refering to the SLR aka St. Louis River. On a typical opener I often do well in 8-14 fow but this year's game plan will vary. I'm going to start as I usually do with the old spot knowing I'll catch a bunch for some morning fun but before the day is over I might be on LS. Really I don't think you can narrow the SLR down to a specific depth as the best but fishing post spawn walleyes in a tributary river system in falling water level conditions to me means fish are going to be on their way out and using the main channel. Depending on which section of river you're on that will mean different depths. There's gonna be a bunch of fish caught in 5 fow and there'll be a bunch caught in 25 fow. If you leave the river and go to the lake you might get into them 20 down in 60. It's going to be interesting up there this year. I'm gonna try to not get hung up on targeting a specific depth and hopefully find a few big gals by the end of Sunday. Good luck where ever you wind up.

[Ed Carlson]

Keep it simple, where is the most food...that is where the walleye will be.

If the predominant forage is located between 1' - 15'...concentrate in that zone.

Take cold fronts and stable weather into consideration as that may push fish to either extreme in there comfort zone. The beginning and end with all things walleye is food, they always relate to it.

[Northlander]

On the St. Louis I start out openeing morning shallow, like 2'-5' shallow with a jig n minnow or plastic. Then as the sun comes up I move out. By mid day Im usually on the shallow flats, if theres a bit of wind, and trolling spinners on them. If its dead calm I like to troll cranks on channel edges. Also boat traffic will also play a big role on where I wind up.

This year Ill be up river for as long as Im on nice fish but will eventually work my way down to the harbors and maybe the pond too. Walleyes have been out in the lake for a few weeks now.

[fishinfey8]

I agree with the shallow water when theres a little chop. The best days I have had down there were slowly dragging jigs tipped with a BIG chub, and trolling spinners w/ crawler in the same stretch of 5-8fow. However, when the sun is high I like to drag spinners along the channel edge in a little deeper water. 2-5fow early though huh? Might have to try that one...

[fatfinger]

thanks a bunch guys.we're sure to to fish the water column but now ive got a better idea of when, where, & why.thanks and good luck!