Early Eyes

[Surface Tension]

Lets talk about finding early eyes.

Depending on lake size and or composition you'll find more then one presentation that works. As a rule the bigger the lake the more scenarios you have but you also have more water to cover.

Have you ever watched those shows and they go into details on where they fish where and what they hit but you still have a hard time putting that info into your body of water?

There are some things that you can't ignore when searching for eyes but lets just talk about whats happening in the next few weeks.

Terms like PreSpawn/Postspawn its all so confusing. Forget all that.

Lets just look at where to find the fish and from there you can figure out their mood. Gosh sakes why bother putting all that effort in if the fish just aren't there.

It all boils down to water temps. Now don't get scared off by that thinking you have to be a lake biologist to to relate to temperature. Its so simple. All you have to do is keep track of wind directions and temps. If the air temp is warmer then the lake temp then follow the wind. If the air temps are cooler then the water temps then back off those shorelines.

Warm weather and a steady wind will pile up warm water. Thats exactly what your looking for. How do you eliminate miles of windblown shoreline to a specific area that holds eye? As a rule the number of days those warm winds have been piling warm water up will determine on where to look. If its a recent warming trend look at a shoreline that has a good break into deep water. In fact no matter what the circumstances are thats were you should start looking. Why there? Because the last and next cold fount will drive them back into that deeper stable water. As the number of warming days increase so will the movements but the next cold front will put them back into deep water but guess what the minnows are doing the exact same thing. The term the eyes are turned off because of a cold front is not true. You just aren't looking deep enough.

Note the red face and swollen eyes, thats not sunburn its from wind and very cold temps.

When you get conditions like that drop into deeper water.

In this case it was on a break very close to where the prevailing winds blow warm water onto a point.

If it were in favorable conditions that same fish would have been up on top the point in the warm water. In fact the fish in my avatar came from the that shallow point.

In both cases I took into account of water temps.

So lets put all that into your Opener.

The temps are warm and you note the wind direction.

You get there and then what? First thing I would do is look a good break along that shoreline. Save that spot for the evening but by all means work it over during the day light. Get to know it good. Now start working that wind blown shoreline. Jigs will do a complete job but your not covering as much ground. Troll a spinner and minnow to cover that ground and pay close attention to the contours for later on.

If you get on fish ask yourself why are they there? Is it a featureless flat bottom? Was there a small rock pile there? Weeds? What your doing is gathering information for the evening.

That wind blown break you found but didn't get anything to go on quite possible will be hot in the evening. Why would you setup in the evening on a windblown break in the evening? Because early eyes come out of the deep an onto breaks at night.

Whats the best presentation? Jigs are hands down. Your going to cover all that break, shallow to deep with a jig. A slip bob isn't going to do that. You'll find out how those eyes move in a group if your working a jig. A slip bob is going to get a couple eyes that moved through a certain area then that bob will go dead.

If you've followed any of posts you'll now that I'm a big fan of the Go Devils for jigging eyes during the ice season.

This open water season I'm going to be using the Scenic Tackle's Pro Series Jigs. They've got a heck of a paint job. If you jig at you'll know that you don't always get that perfect hook set. Those VMC stikky sharp hooks will give you edge when you need it most. Scenic Tackle has been a long time sponsor here at FM. If your in the market for jigs please give Scenic Tackle a try Clicking Here for Pro Series Jigs.

I been going about this walleye game for some time and everything I know has been from trial and error but found if I kept at it and keep asking the question why are these fish here it starts to fall into place.

Lets hear from some other guys out there how they go about finding fish and once found how you target them.

[BDR]

Great info SurfaceTension! You really made wind/water temp easy to understand. I also like to use jigs to fish those breaks where depth changes are frequent. If I find a pile of fish that are real aggressive, I will fish a little more aggressive. Early in the year around opener I will toss some stick baits like a suspending jerk bait.

[Fisher Dave]

When I drop my boat in on the opener at midnight or just before, I always look to the wind blown, or most recently wind blown shoreline if it was a factor in any recent weather. I always fish lakes I know well, so I will go to the general area of my most productive previous spots to start.

The lake I fish first, the fish are very weed orientated fish. More often than not, the weeds dominate the shallow flats by the time opener arrives in this area of the state. Standard floating rapalas, and small shallow running shad raps can be deadly fishing them on top of the weeds, even if there is only a couple feet of water above the weeds. An irratic, twitch type retrieve has been very productive.

If I dont hit anything within 30 minutes, I will move to the 1st break... which translates to 10'-14' dropping from the existing main weed line, to an average of 17'-20' within a boat length or so. I will surgicaly troll the break keeping as tight to the weeds as possible(10'-14') with shad raps, fat raps, and small wally divers(anything that will stay in strike zone, but not rake up the weeds) to try to locate active fish, and to also keep an eye on the electronics to see where the fish are holding. This is a very good way to comb out the dead water.

Once I locate the fish holding areas, I will adjust my presentation to best suit where they are holding, more often then not, they are holding tight in *corners* of the outside edge of the weedline trapping baitfish. When I find these areas, a jig and minnow/leech can be deadly, or sometimes a lighted bobber with a leech/minnow is the ticket. When the spot goes cold, I will commence to trolling again to find some more active, or schooled fish. As day breaks, i will still stay in areas near the 1st break at least until around 9am(when the fish have all but dissapeared), and then I will start the search deeper with live bait rigs keeping my eye on the electronics...

This is how I go about locating fish on *Electric Motor Only* lakes that are realatively small in size (500 acres and less). For larger lakes, or any lake in general that gas engines are permittied, I would make an effort to find the spot on the spot before even dropping a line to save wasted time. Getting a good knowledge of the area you want to fish is often key.

[Captain B.R.K]

How would you relate this all to fishing RIVERS?

[james_walleye]

FisherDave i've had great success fishing weedlines similiar too you. My favorite way too fish a very distinct weedline is too quietly go over the weedline and drop a black marker buoy (not as visible too other boats if its during the day) right on the edge. I then circle around and anchor within casting distance and cast slip bobbers and minnows/leeches up too the edge. Its been deadly for me both at night and sometimes during the day. A lake full of walleyes will always have a good number of fish that patrol a good weedline. I've worked this scenario on a number of lakes.

[Surface Tension]

Captain, I think your referring to the St Louis River. You have to take into account their movement there.

Once those fish are done spawning they move back towards the lake. You'll notice how those fish move in large groups too.

100 fish a day there isn't uncommon for that reason. With the number of boats on the St Louis finding that school isn't to hard anymore. You can find them in the current or off to the sides in slow water. For the most part you don't play the wind. Eyes in the current stay on the bottom. In fact they'll use their profile and the current to hold themselves on the bottom when resting. For that reason I use a jig and keep it close to the bottom. Once they hit the bay I work the edges of the channel. After all thats where the deep water is. Thats not to say you can't get into them on the shallow flats or the few humps out there either but for Opener you'll be in the river looking for that main group of eyes. I think you going to meeting up with Northlander and he'll get you on fish.

[Captain B.R.K]

Thanks Frank! Great read and hoping for another successful walleye opener.

[styx]

great info Surface tension. I have a few other questions. I have tried fishing Mille lacs and have had limited success. the problem is trying to decide on what part of the shoreline to try. There is so much room to cover it seems. I never know how much time to spend in a certain area before moving on. Also during the day do you suggest trolling the drop off area or the top or bottom of the first drop.

[Surface Tension]

styx, I'm going to use the forecast for this weekend which btw looks super with highs in the 70's. The winds will be light and out of the south for Thursday, Friday and Sat. You can eliminate a whole lot of shoreline because you'll be on the North shore. You could troll the sand or pitch jigs on the rocks. I'm sure you won't be alone out there either. For the trolling I'd use a spinner and minnow at a slow speed. If the wind gets up there where boat control requires more speed you might want to try trolling stick baits like the Shad Rap. Rocks get my attention year round. What better presentation then a jig for working the contours.

Last weekend (Opener) I was using Scenic Tackles Pro Series Jigs while working a rocky point. The eye bite was super light and you know how you can have an awkward hook set when jigging in high winds. You sorta position your rod to compensate for the best feel, often times your rod isn't in the best position to set the hook when you do that and you lose fish because of it. With the Pro Series jigs I was getting very good penetration when I know my hook sets weren't the best. Another thing I noticed is I wasn't loosing as many jigs because the hooks would give enough to pop off the rocks. Other jigs will do that too but the points didn't curl over like I've had done so many other times. Its little things like that that keep you fishing instead of tyeing. End result more fish in the boat.

[poorbiker]

If I was to buy some of the Scenic Tackle which size would a person want to get first. 1/16 or 1/8 oz???

[BDR]

For Eyes I like to use 1/8,1/4,and 3/8. Rivers with high current sometimes 1/2,5/8. Those new Scenic jigs are lookin pretty good.

[nofishfisherman]

TTT

Found this post while searching for tips and it as some good thoughts about the upcoming season.

[Team Otter]

Good information.

[Fish Head]

Excellent post by surface tension. Thanks for bringing it up again. I'm leaving for Cass Lake in 72 hours!

[TimC]

What about those days with little to no wind? I will be coming up north from Chicago in a couple of weeks and we spend all day on the water. Where should we focus our time when the day breaks and the wind dies down? Deeper breaks? Saddles? One of the lakes we fish does have an inflow with a near by weed bed. I thought this area would produce some nice fish but I have had little success in this spot. Thoughts?

[Team Otter]

Look to any type of cover (i.e. weeds) that is adjacent to deep water or shallow flats.

[crappieslapper]

This is great information, but I have another question. If, like this opener, we're looking at a north wind would you guys then be concentrating mainly on the south end of the lakes, working those shallower shoreline flats and point areas with the deeper water nearby? Thanks for the expert advise guys!

[eyepatrol]

I've posed similar questions to some fishermen I know and the general consensus has been to look at the shallow weed shoreline flats and if you don't find anything, work your way deeper. Also, to look at both the north and south ends of the lake to see if there is any temperature variation. Might not be with the recent weather, but still worth checking out. Start out aggressive and work your way slower if aggressive isn't producing. It's certainly possible the fish would move deeper with this weather and if there is significant angling pressure.

My plan is to start out with cranks; if nothing move to jigs and still if nothing move to lindy rigs or possibly slip bobbers. If nothing after that, I'm headed home for a nice hot shower!

Good luck!

[schr0563]

Crappieslapper - that is exactly what I plan to do starting at 12:00 tonight. The fact that the north wind has been pretty steady for the last day and a half will only make it that much better.

[crappieslapper]

I'm thinking the same, work the south end first. There are a couple of flats with some good breaks. Thanks again guys. Have a good one!