What should I use to catch these Walleyes?

[BlackwaterStout]

My home lake is a small 1700 acre impoundment that is known for it's bass fishing and yellow perch fishing. In 1999 the DNR stocked several hundred thousand walleye fry and in 2003 they stocked several thousand advanced walleye fingerlings. Appreantly there experiment worked and the walleyes have done quite well in the lake. The DNR says that those walleye are now in the 16-20 inch range and electrofishing has proven them to be correct. There number seem to be good but I have yet to catch any. I have a 15' bass boat and I want to target them but I'm a novice at boat fishing and I'm also a novice at walleye fishing.

What would be the best way for me to fish for these walleyes? Lake depth averages about 15 feet but is nearly 100 feet in some areas. The lake is generally sandy bottom with small rocks but occationally there are grassy or weedy areas. What depth should I target and what methods shoulds I try? I fish a lot for perch and I basically just jig for them with minnow tipped hooks. THis hasn't worked with walleye. Shoulds I try trolling crank baits, night crawlers on a spinning harness, plastic worms, etc?

I always here people say to fish for walleye an hour before dark, but I see them on TV catching them during the day really easy. What gives?

Thanks for your help.

[james_walleye]

I can tell you the first place i always fish walleyes on a new lake is in the weeds. There will be walleyes in those weeds and they should eat. I would assume there should be some kind of a weedline. The weedline will hold fish whether its 6' or 16' of water. I would give a slip bobber rig on the weed egde a try in the evenings. They might go during the day too. What kind of water clarity are you dealing with? Is it stained water? Clear? That will dictate quite often if you can find a solid day bite. I would also say early in year after they spawn if there is a feeder creek or anything that gets a little current going, try casting rapalas or jig/twisters in these current areas toward the evening. In the summer time if you can find a midlake hump, that should hold hold walleyes also. As far as seeing people catching walleyes during the day on TV you definately can. Its much easier on some bodies of water. Like i said a stained water lake in general is easier too find eyes during the day on. A good wind will also get them going during the day. Get a good wind blowing into a weedline or a grassy area and try casting shad raps or something like that in the area. If the lake has stained water they can really be shallow if the wind is blowing.

[BlackwaterStout]

Hey thanks for the tips. The lake generally has pretty clear water but it occasionally get murky for a few days after it rains. As I mentioned in the earlier post there are some weeds beds in the lake. They are generally located on the shallowest parts of the midlake area where there are "humps". I will try working the dropoff of the humps and the edge of the weedline. We've had luck catching perch in this area during teh late summer. The water depth on the crest of these humps is generally around 8-10 feet and the channels that surround the hump are generally 15-25.

I've never used a slip bobber rig. Is that the rig where you tie a little knotted piece of string around your line and adjust it to allow your bobber to reach a certain depth? What kind of hook will I use and what type of bait? Fatheads?

[james_walleye]

Those humps should be darn good as the water warms. I would just get off the edge a bit in that 12' area. Your right on the slip bobbers, thats what they are. You can use minnows, i would lean more toward leeches about a foot off bottom.

I would definately find the inlet that muddies up the lake after a rain. That could be your best bet yet.

[Dave B]

I would troll #5 shad raps around 5-10' of water near weeds. Make sure to be on the water 90 minutes on either side of sun up or sun down. If the water temps are over 50-60 degrees, then start at around 2mph. You mentioned having perch-so perch color should work well when the water is clear. If it clouds up a bit, then move to firetiger and maybe a rattling firetiger.

If you find areas where you get frequent bites, then maybe focus on those pockets by pitching jigs or using slip bobbers.

Dont neglect the deeper water either. If you see large schools of baitfish with bigger fish just below, run cranks through the area. This might be down 15' in 50-100' of water.

[BlackwaterStout]

Thanks for the info. Thats the kind of info I was looking for. I'm really surpised to hear they often will be caught in such shallow water. All fo the TV shows I see give me the impression that Walleye do not suspend and are always found on the lake bottom. Glad to hear that that is not always the case. I can see why a depth finder is so important.

The only time I've ever been trolling was on lake erie and we were trolling for walleyes with dipsy divers. The bites were pretty obvious because of the pole deflection and release. But if I'm just straight lining a crankbait what kind of bite indicator will I have. I assume the rod will naturally be bouncing due to the action of the lure, but what can I expect when a fish strikes?

[Team Otter]

Sounds like mulitple options to me.

I would start shallow in the spring casting cranks or pitching jigs and minnows to wind-swept shorelines or weeds. As the summer progresses, you can pick up the pace by trolling suspended cranks or in-line crawler harnesses with snap weights. If water clarity is an issue, planer boards may need to be used when trolling to avoid any issues with spooking. Also, don't forget about those shallow weeds throughout the open water season.

[Dave B]

You rod will have a constant bend and vibration, then when you get a hit, it will really bend over and start pumping.

Long limp rods and Fireline helps with hooking %. Plus, put out a good 100' of line. BTW-you will also catch a lot of bass doing this as well.

[BlackwaterStout]

I have a 500 yard spool of 15lb Power Pro green. It has 4lb diameter. Would this be a good line to use for trolling?

As far as my gear is concerned I have numerous setups but none specifically for trolling. I have some 6.5' bass rigs I use for bass (both spinning and baitcasting). I have some heavier weight gear I use for catfishing that consists of 7 and 8 foot ulgy stik cat rods. I have a couple that have Okuma spinning reels with baitfeeders and a couple with Abu 6500 baticasters. What do I need to be looking for in terms of walleye gear? I'd like to have a trolling setup with a linecounter but what about jigging and casting? Can I use my 6.5' bass spinning reel setups.

[Chef]

BWS--I've been reading your posts so I think I've got a fairly good idea of your lake's structure.

One post you made mentioned you were going to buy a graph for your boat. Graphs are okay, but they don't give you real-time feedback on what's below you--they draw neat icons of fish and bottom contours--that's how they're programmed in the factory.

If you employ a flasher and a GPS with a plotter for your primary electronics in your boat you'll have better success.

When fishing for non-suspended Walleyes a flasher will show you marks 2-8 ft. off the bottom-these are positive (feeding active) fish generally. When targeting Walleyes this is what I look for as I slowly explore a lake for pods of active fish. I'll also use a camera to identify species I'm searching for--I don't care to work a school of Whitefish when I'm looking for Walleyes.

As I perform my search, my GPS is in plotter mode tracking my path and recording it so I can back-track over active fish when I find them--this reduces guess work on large bodies of water where you can easily lose your desired position.

I don't think anyone has suggested the other best method for fishing Walleyes--live bait rigs (Roach Rig/Lindy Rig). You can use Minnows, Leeches or Crawlers this way and give the fish a choice--Walleyes can be very finicky at times. I've had days on Mille Lacs when only an air-injected crawler on a #4 glo-orange Gamagatsku hook will trigger a bite--other days, it's a big Leech--no telling. If your lake has Shad or Shiners for baitfish--I'd use them if you can.

Trolling cranks can be effective on Walleyes in warmer water periods, but I'd pass on it until water temps are above 55 degrees. Walleyes in cold water don't like chasing baits as much as hanging in current areas and waiting for the meal to drift into their mouths. This means vertical jigging--as stright up and down as possible with a jig heavy enough to keep your presentation where you and the fish prefer it. Boat control for vertical and live bait presentations is critical. I use 75lb. thrust MinnKota on the rear of my 1800ProV almost exclusively. In rough conditions, I'll use a drift sock with the troller or use my big motor trimmed up and kick in/out of gear to control the boat drift speed. You'll need to experiment a little to get the right feel for your rig.

Lastly, when you catch a Walleye on your lake that you're going to eat, open its stomach when you're cleaning it and see what's in there.

Good Fishing!

[Mike Walerak]

I approach I would take would be to go to obvious fish holding structure. This may be a point, weedbed, or rockpile,hump or drop off. Wichever structure you choose you will want wind to be blowing on it for at least the time you are fishing. A wind blowing on a shoreline for a few days prior and also be a good place to start.

During coldwater times you may want to stick with a jig and minnow. As the water warms walleyes tend to get more aggressive and spinners and cranksbait will become an option.

If you already have an idea where the perch are hanging out you can just about bet that the walleyes are not too far away. I prefer to fish a few feet deeper than where the perch are at.

Fishing the lowlight periods of the day will greatly improve your chances in most situations.

The most important thing is to never give up. Walleyes are known to throw a few curveballs and can suprise the most accomplished anglers.

Good luck,

mw

[delmuts]

for jigging and casting; a 6'6" med spinning rod will work. line choices ;4-8# mono or flouro carbon, or possibly a 2/8 braid .

[BlackwaterStout]

Thanks again for the replys. I really don't know much about flashers. I've seen them in magazines and really have no idea how they work. They don't have a screen? I figured I'd get a fish finder becuase everyone seems to use them with success and I understand them fairly well.

I'll keep the water temp issues in mind when it comes to choosing lures or baits. Basically in cold weather I should fish with slow or stationary baits like jigs and I should tardet shallower water structure? When it warms up I have a little more freedom in bait selection and can finally troll some cranks?

My lake temp right now is currently 40 degrees at the surface. At what temp should I start fishing for walleye?

[PerchJerker]

Oh oh, here comes some conflicting advice

I'd forget the flasher idea. The old reasoning about graphs not updating fast enough just isn't true, graphs update and show you what they're reading just as fast as a flasher will (look at the far right edge of the graph screen, that is the current real time info). With a graph you will have visual info on the screen longer so you can interpret it, track changes, etc. A graph will do everything a flasher will and more after you learn how to use it. Don't run the graph in the fish picture mode. Spend some time experimenting with it so you can start to learn what it's telling you about hard or soft bottoms, weeds, rocks, etc.

The post about looking for obvious structure, like rocky points, reefs, inside turns, weed edges, etc. is good info. You want to start in the high percentage spots and I'd suggest fishing fast to eliminate unproductive spots and identify structures with walleyes on them. Advice from a local bait shop could really help narrow this down.

When I say fishing fast I'm referring to covering a lot of water, by casting or trolling crankbaits, or maybe pulling crawlers on spinner rigs if the water is warmer. Jigging and live bait rigging are great ways to catch walleyes but they are slow fishing and not the way to explore water -- at least not until you've determined you can't catch walleyes by trolling or casting cranks. Slip bobber fishing is even slower.

Once you find some walleyes, or even get pointed to some good areas by local guys, then you might want to slow down with live bait and really focus your efforts in an area. This is where having good electronics and knowing how to interpret them can really come into play - you'd be looking for fish with your graph.

Cranks work at all times of the year, just remember the general rule of slower in cold water and faster in warm water. Crankbait action comes into play too. In colder water better baits are usually long narrow stick baits like Husky Jerks and Rogues, which can be trolled or retrieved slowly (1 to 1.5 mph) and have slow, wide wobbles. As the water gets warmer, like high 40's to mid 50's, you should start to find more success with faster tighter wobbling baits like shad raps (or shallow shad raps) and wally divers. Trolling/casting at dusk and after dark can be fantastic, generally less than 10 feet of water - even over the tops of the weeds.

One thing to keep in mind at this time of year is that a classic spring pattern is jigs and shiner minnows, either pitched to rocky shorelines or weedlines, or drifted along a breakline. Not the best way to cover water but a great way to catch walleyes if they're where you're fishing.

Knowing and using the proper terminology is important too. Fish from 14" to 17" should be called 'lunchers' or 'eaters'. Anything from 17" to 24" is 'a nice one' and over 24" is 'a big dog' or a 'netter'. 10 inchers and shorter are 'cigars'.

Good luck, I hope some of this helps you.

[BlackwaterStout]

So if I have to troll slower with things like husky jerks what the best way to get them down to the correct depth? Let more line out or use some type of 3way leader and some weight? I can imagine some situations where the lake doesn't have big enough water to let out an enourmour amount of line.

Also, what are your thoughts on lake temp and when the bite will turn up? My lake is 40 degrees at the surface right now.

[james_walleye]

I would agree with perch about the graph. I would most definately have a graph too do your searching. I have the best of both worlds, i have the graph for searching and i have vexilar mounted up front with my trolling motor.

[Chef]

BWS--Walleyes prefer water temps between 55-62 degrees; however, we catch lots of them in MN (Rainy River for instance) when temps are 38-44 degrees. At this time of year, it's almost exclusively a jig and minnow fished vertically about 1-4" off the river bottom.

Also, here's a brief artical regarding plotting techniques used by one of today's top Walleye Pro's, Gary Parsons:

FISHING PROMINENT STRUCTURE

Parsons defines prominent structure as points and sunken islands, places where many popular fish species can be found during most of the year. “In the days before electronic navigation, we would go across areas like these with a flasher and hopefully pick up a few blips,” Parsons reflects. “If you saw some blips, you would sit and fish them and you would have to fish each piece of structure for quite a long time to get its layout in your mind’s eye.”

According to Parsons, areas on the structure where fish were caught were marked with marker buoys. Buoys were also used to mark the tip of a point or the highest part of a sunken island and cups or inside turns along their edges so you had visual references for fishing the structure. “This was fine if you were the only one out there,” Parsons points out, “otherwise you soon had other people fishing your buoys. It was also time consuming and didn’t lay out the structure for us as well as GPS does today.”

Parsons and Kavajecz use Lowrance LCX 19C and 104C units, “but by the time your readers see this, we will probably be running their newest replacements,” Parsons says. The bottom line is they try to use sonar graphs that have the highest resolution and that feed back the most information possible about the water column.

“If there are schools of baitfish suspended, we want to know where they are,” Parsons explains. “If there’s a thermocline off the deep edge of a piece of structure, we want to see it. The color sonars that we have today mark fish extremely well, including fish that are tight to the bottom.”

MAKING DIGITAL MAP ACCURACY IRRELEVANT

Parsons says he graphs a piece of structure by alternately moving shallow and deep until he gets a good idea of where fish are and exactly what depths they are in. He runs his GPS plotter as he searches for fish, and the plot trail draws an outline of the structure.

He points out that many variables can make the accuracy of mapping software range between dead-on and just close, but his plot trail maps of structure are accurate in real time. “If I mark the majority of fish in 20 to 22 feet, I go back with a bottom bouncer or whatever I’m using and fish the structure at that depth range,” Parsons explains. “As I’m following that contour, I’m mapping the structure and marking and catching fish at the same time.”

Parsons says the beauty of this method is seeing exactly where you are on the structure when you catch fish, then marking each catch with a waypoint or icon of your choice. A pattern quickly forms that shows you which part of the structure is most productive so you can concentrate on it.

Parsons says these hot areas almost always occur at some irregularity on the structure. “Maybe it’s a sharp turn or an area where a drop-off got steeper for 10 feet,” he says, “Anyway, you can pick the spot apart with your sonar, catch fish and reference the spot with your GPS for another day.”

ELECTRONIC TIMESAVERS

The integration of all these facts allows Parsons to make immediate decisions on the water. “I can pick apart a piece of structure quickly, and if there aren’t enough marks on it, I don’t spend time there,” he reveals.

This sometimes draws strange looks from amateurs fishing with Parsons in tournaments. “Maybe we caught a fish 15 minutes before and I say it’s time to move,” he says grinning. “They look at me wondering what’s going on. What they don’t know is that I only marked one fish on the structure, we caught it, and it’s time to get out of there.”

Parsons and Kavajecz serve as the walleye experts on a new television show aimed at helping anglers integrate electronics into their fishing. It’s on the Outdoor Channel and called “The Next Bite” (check thenextbite.com for details).

Parsons taped an episode on a Michigan lake instructing viewers on how to catch walleyes from underwater humps. Kavajecz visited the lake a few weeks before the shoot and marked the position of each hump in one of the best fishing areas. He lowered a camera on each hump and marked the ones that held walleyes with a different icon than he used for the humps that had no fish.

He recorded everything on his Lowrance LCX unit and gave Parsons a multimedia memory card (MMC) containing all of the information. All Parsons had to do was plug in the card and visit the high-percentage humps first to quickly put the show in the can.

FISHING OPEN STRUCTURE

Parsons describes open structure as long drop-offs, reefs, big flats and other places where fish concentrate, especially in midsummer. They tend to be nondescript areas with lots of straight lines rather than fish-attracting squiggles and curves. “Normally, I’ll put down a crankbait or bottom bouncer and start trolling the edges of these areas looking for scattered fish,” Parsons explains. “And, my GPS plot trail is going all the time.”

Parsons marks the location of each catch with an icon or waypoint as he works the whole structure because he expects to find more fish at each of these spots. Once the whole area has been graphed, he simply goes back and connects the dots, following his plot trail from one icon to the next. He credits his ability to find and work pods of fish over long, open stretches of unremarkable structure entirely to his combination of sonar and GPS.

The key point here is locating concentrations of active fish in plotting mode allows you to focus efforts on a specific track defined by your GPS plotted course.

The Lowrance X15 or X19 are top notch graph/GPS combos so you get the best of what each of us (Perch) are suggesting.

I use the LMS350 (an early model of the X15 today)for GPS plotting and I watch my flasher as I do my search.

If you're budget concious, then the X15 or 19 are not cheap at about 900 bucks to start, but they provide you with many years of high quality service--well worth the investment in my .02.

[BlackwaterStout]

Wow. Nice article. Definately a good read.

My fish finder budget is not very high. I really can't afford a color GPS finder right now and I've been doing some research into sub $200 fish finders. I'm fine with grayscale and I already have a handheld GPS I will be using. I looked at the Eagle FIshmark 320/480 yesterday at Dick's Sporting Goods. They had the 320 on sale for only $139. Thats the cheapest I've seen it. It's 320x320 with a 20 degree transducer. They also had a new Hummingbird 323 that is 320x240 but comes with a duel beam transducer (20/60), 2400 watt peak and also has a Digital Flasher View which according to humminbird delivers real time flasher performance. So even though it's not a true flasher it's something I could try in addition to the graph. They sell it for $179.99. I kind of liked it because of the duel freq transducer. I know neither is high end but do you think they will do for my needs? What would you recommend?

http://www.humminbird.com/products.asp?ID=568

[PerchJerker]

If you're trolling shoreline structure, weedlines, the first break, etc. you shouldn't want any extra weight on your crankbait, or maybe just a split shot 3 feet ahead of the bait. Experiment to see how deep they're running, but a #12 HJ with 80-100 feet of line out should get you down 8 feet. You can speed up for a minute or two when you first put the baits out, or pump your rod tip, to get the baits down to their normal running depth. But at 1.5 mph or faster this is not needed.

Walleyes are more active as the water warms but they feed and bite all year long. Summer can be one of the most difficult times to catch walleyes because of the abundance of natural forage at that time of year.

I prefer Eagle/Lowrance electronics over Hummingbird. The 480 is a good unit, for the price it's a great unit.

I saw in one of your other posts a question about line counters. The clip-on line counters from rapala and shakespreare work just fine and are a lot cheaper than a line counter reel. Line counter reels are great, I have several, but for starting out you can easily get by with the clip-on versions. Also, if you have casting reels where the line guide moves across the face of the spool as line is going out, you can measure how much line goes out on each pass and count the passes to determine line out. For example, I have an Abu Garcia 5500 (or something like that) and 1 pass across the spool with the line guide is approx 10 feet. Makes it easy to repeat it if find a pattern that works.

[BlackwaterStout]

Thanks Perch. Good to hear that those clip on line counters work ok. I bought a Rapala one today for $12. Figured I'd just return it if it wouldn't work.

I also picked up the Fishmark 320 for $139.99. I figure I'd sit it on the shelf unopened until I plan on installing it. That way if I decide I wanted the Humminbird I could return the Eagle. I'm still undecided what I want to do still. Would the dual frequency transponder of the humminbird outweigh the added resolution of the Eagle (320x320 vs 320x240). Taking into account the added $40 price of the humminbird?

By the way, the Rapala line counter I picked up comes with a trolling guide that is quite nice. Unforunately I think it only has Rapala lures listed, but considering thats what I usually buy it looks pretty informative and useful.

[BIG_EYE]

I would keep the Eagle. They are basickly the same as A Lowrance, seeing how Eagle bought Lowrance. I have always liked the proformance you get from Lowrance. After all they started the whole thing with the green box.

[BlackwaterStout]

When it comes to trolling for Walleye how should the drag be set up? I would assume that if you are freelining a crankbait that you wouldn't want the drag set too tight. Especially if you are using powerpro or some other type of super line. Do you generally set the drag at a medium setting?

What about Muskie trolling?

[Chef]

BWS--One bit of advice I'll toss your way that I had to learn the hard way when rigging my first boat is to not go cheap with your electronics. Eagle and Hummingbird are disposable products with the worst customer service on the planet. I found this out the hard way--if I could go back and re-invest the 600+ dollars I wasted on these two manufacturers products I wouldn't hesitate.

You'll always get differing opinions on this forum and that's a good thing. But if you set cost factors aside, I think the concensus on this forum would be to buy the better quality products every time. This forum is one of the ideal spots to get slightly used high qaulity items at a fraction of retail. I'd rather buy a 6 year old Lowrance LMS350 with GPS for 300-400 bucks than anything made by Eagle or Hummingbird.

I know pro guides who are still using Lowrance Silent Super Sixty's (flashers) that were made 15 years ago because they don't bust and they WORK.

Perchjerker offered a differing opinion on graphs and the higher-end units are much faster today than before; however, the higher-end units are costly--you get what you pay for. Anything under 500 bucks today is lower-end throughout.

Remember--a boat is a hole in the water you throw your money into, so invest wisely.

If you're using low-stretch line trolling, set your drag med-to-light. The thing to always do is keep your hooks really sharp for solid hook penetration.

Lastly, there is NO such thing as trolling for Musky-LOL!!

[big musk411]

Here is my 2 cents on electronics. Contrary to the previous post I think you can get a pretty good locater for 200-300 from lawrance or eagle. Lowarance and Eagle are now the same company and thier products are virtually the same. I have a lawrance that I baught three years agro for about 300 and it works great, I think you can get one with the same fetures for 225 now. Be sure whatever you get has an instant read out. This will show fish as an arch instad of a fish symbol.

Musky trolling, Again I disagree with the previous post. I usually troll when muskie fishing for several reasons.

1. you can cover alot of water quickly[i troll relativly fast]

2. Technically you bait will be in the water longer

3. It is alot less work

So when will we get the walleye report?

[BlackwaterStout]

I'm a little surprised to hear you say that Eagle is junk but that Lowrance is the best. I know the Eagle gear might be more of an entry level product, but I'd assume they are very close in terms of features and quality.

Also, what do you mean by "There is no such thing as trolling for musky"