"Walleye Chop" - Myth, Overrated Legend, or Stone Cold Fact?

[slick814]

Ok... here's something I've questioned for many years. Is the so called "Walleye Chop" a myth, legend, or stone cold fact?

I personally say it's one of those overrated deals. Something that might have been more pertinent when most fishermen fished while anchored, and honestly think that it's overrated.

What do you think?

[gunflint]

I believe it. It has to do with light penetration. The rougher the surface the darker it is below. Walleyes use low light to their advantage. Does "a walleye chop" mean a success? No. But it's just another factor in the plus column. Particularly in a clear lake.

[schr0563]

I catch the majority of my walleyes when the wind is blowing. Flat calm days just don't get it done for me. Trying to quantify how much better a little chop is can be difficult. Let's just say if I can pick up one or two fish on a glass-like lake I am surprised, and if I can't get 3-4 fish when a nice steady wind is blowing then I am disappointed. So in my opinion, fishing when there is a walleye chop is a great rule of thumb to go by.

Aside from fish feeding better when things are turned up a little by the wind (lowers the light penetration, stirs up baitfish, etc.), the depth of water being fished is also important. I generally fish shallow (<20 feet). Whether drifting with a jig, or trolling cranks at night, I am dependent on the fish not getting spooked as the boat moves over them. In broken, choppy water the fish are less likely to notice the boat, putting the odds in my favor. Deeper water provides the same benefit. If you like to anchor and fish, the wind isn't critical since you aren't moving over the tops of the fish, but can still be the trigger to put them into a feeding mood.

Bottom line is, fish whenever you can, not just in ideal conditions and you will start to notice fish tendencies, as well as have a lot of fun.

[musky hunter]

I'd much rather fish the calm waters out of the wind and waves. Tried it many time, and sometimes catch a fish in the lee. But the cold hard facts are, if you want to catch fish with some regularity, find the chop! The best fishing is almost always around current, wind breaks, with chop. That chop keeps bait suspended and disoriented, it will concentrate the bait and the fish, hide your boat from easy vision, cover up accidental sounds, and put the fish into an active mode. If you ever find a newly forming mud line fish it because the walleyes are in there feasting on easy prey. Sure it's a lot harder to work, fighting the wind, etc. but that's where all the good fishermen head to. When my wife is along I might try something different to make her more comfortable, but you know where I'm heading when she is at home.

[eyepatrol]

Walleye chop certainly has and does make a difference in my opinion. Especially on clearer water lakes. Last year I hit a lake with just a 7-10mph wind. Small chop with probably 4"-6" waves, but I caught walleyes, in fact I got the heaviest walleye I've ever caught that day. Next day, calm as can be, not a single walleye bite; just bass.

Nearly all my best walleye fishing has come with some sort of a chop. The fish tend to come or stay in shallower when there's a chop. Only time I had any real success on a calm day was in Canada after 4 straight days of rain. The sun came out on the 5th day, it was calm and the 'eyes had the feed bags on. I think that day the 'eyes were like us humans...they were just glad to have a nice day.

Walleye chop means so many things under the water though. Lower light penetration, pushing plankton in, thus baitfish, thus gamefish. Heavy chop from a south wind generally tends to be prior to a cold front, which also will activate the 'eyes.

About the only time I would think that chop wouldn't matter is if you're along the deep end of a breakline or over a deep basin.

[Tonka Boy]

For the most part calm water only yields me results when (1) it's either dark or (2) I'm long lining cranks or something during the dog days. Otherwise a little chop is a good thing in my opinion...then again too much isn't fun either.

[DuluthGuy]

Light Refraction (bending of the light) is what a chop does.

I will not go into the physics of refraction, however to say that, it breaks up the light rays because the light angle is not a constant. There is a disbursement of the concentration of the light and the result is less penetration of light - and that can make for better walleye fishing.

Of, course the theory of waves moving your bait around is pretty good to.

B2

[Team Otter]

Definitely fact.

[Mike Walerak]

Typically speaking wind = walleyes. There has been many days that I have spent on top of a school of walleyes during calm water and all it took was a little breeze to turn on the feed bag.

I also like to go shallow when the wind is blasting against a shoreline. The wind churns up the bottom exposing macroinvertibrates and shakes them loose from vegitation, this inturn draws bait fish as well as disorientates them making easy targets for hungry walleyes.

mw

[Jim Hudson]

I would have to say, in relatively shallow water and areas devoid of weeds, I would say yes a good "walleye chop" makes fishing these pesky buggers that much better. I am totally with Mike on his shallow water bite associated with windblown shorelines!!

But when talking about deeper haunts and fishing a spot where walleyes are related to some thick cabbage or such, I personally havent seen any difference with wind or not having wind.

[DeBo101]

Like everything in fishing it all depends on the situation. Nothing better than a nice chop blowing into a weedline or a nice steep bank. However I am not afraid to curse the wind when I am fishing flooded timber for walleyes. Back when the eastern SD lakes were good and full of wet trees with depth those blue bird May afternoons were some of the most exciting walleye fishing of the year. Of course an easy chop didn't hurt that timber bite either. I think the big winds can really hurt a shallow bite. There seems to be a fairly fine line between off-colored, stained water, and just plain muddy water. Generally the fish let you know.

[walleyeaddict]

Walleyes use the wind to feed.Known Fact. If u know how to take the beting to get em the reward is sweet!

[slick814]

OK, so it looks like there's a consensus of weedline/timber/shallow folks saying that they can't live without the chop.

I don't generally fish weedlines (not a lot in the area I fish, to be honest), and there isn't a ton of flooded timber either. The lake I fish most often is stained and deep. So I'm going with slightly overrated legend personally...I like the chop if it's a nice breeze with some samller waves, but I really don't like the 3 and 4 foot rollers that we had in a lot of places last weekend!

[ChuckN]

Definitely a fact, well almost definitely... Case in point:

This weekend I fished the wind, I fished the calm and everything in between. I thought the windy side of the lake would produce best. Not a bite!

Went to the dead calm side of the lake, fished some deeper structure and it was by far the best for us. Go figure.

But, if I wanted to find aggressive fish I usually always find wind, waves and shallower water. Trolling crankbaits and covering a lot of water is my favorite technique in the waves and finding fish. Even if you locate the fish trolling there are times where you will park right on top of them knowing those fish are there and they won't hit a finnesse livebait lure...go back to trolling and bam! It's a science I love to experiment with. There are no rules, so keep an open mind at all times.

[CorynTracySellHomes]

Another instance where dead calm can be better is the famous Mille Lacs Lake Mud, some of my best catches out there have been when the lake is dead calm.

This weekend on a East Cenetral Minnesota lake, I did much better on points and fingers that were not in the wind, this was a shallow weed line pattern as well. I tried unsuccesfully some wind driven spots that normally produce under those conditions. I think that as with anything in fishing, the wind driven structure is a GREAT place to start, but, like life there are no guarantees!

Cory Frantzick

[slick814]

Ok.. I gotta throw the "talk Flag" up on that one.. Mille Lacs dead calm!?!?!?! When was that?? LOL Just kidding...

That's what I was trying to say with the original post. You hear so much about the famous walleye chop, but I've caught just as many fish when the water was pretty mellow, little or no wind or waves, as when it's like it was last weekend, which was windy with some decent rollers... and I was curious as to what you guys had found... pretty much the same. The fish will be where the fish will be, regardless of the situation, you just have to find 'em and figure out what they want to bite.

[CorynTracySellHomes]

Slick!

You nailed it right on the head!

Cory Frantzick

[Borch]

Does a walleye chop change walleye's behavior? Well that depends. In lakes will good water clarity if will increase the likelihood of a shallow bite. Shallow is a relative term. For instance, if the wind has been howling hte same general direction and the waves are hitting shallow structure or a shoreline you better beleive I'll be there fishiing it. It's even better if this wave action creates a mudline. That becomes the spot on the spot.

Now do I need a walleye chop to catch fish? Nope. I've even catch eyes in 5 fow with no wind at midday. However, that scenerio generally involves weeds and/or stained water. There are always walleyes biting somewhere. Sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, sometimes windy side, sometimes calm side, sometimes suspended and sometimes right on bottom.

Sure is fun trying to figure out the puzzle.

[kunk]

I almost always fish the wind. However, I never forget the week at a lake north of Winnie when the hotter and calmer the better the bite. I had a Wards 14' boat and a 4 hp motor and if I killed the motor I wouldn't move. I was fishing 12-13 ft of water. I burnt myself to a crispy in the hot sun but I caught enough walleyes that we had to keep eating them to keep fishing. So I never rule any kind of weather conditions out.

[sachem longrifle]

10 years ago, on wild rice lake near duluth, It was very windy. I wanted to go fishing so we trolled along an exposed rocky reef. Excellent walleye fishing. Went back 2 weeks later and caught very few. I like the wind but not too much

[BobT]

I don't think that it has been said that you need wind to catch walleyes. The whole point is percentage. If you are looking for walleyes don't you think your best bet is to start in the high percentage areas first? The windy side of a lake will be such a place and as has been mentioned already, throw in an added structure such as a weedline, point, rock pile, mudline, or combination of these and the odds of finding walleyes in the area increase.

When that fails to produce...well...they don't call them elusive for nothing do they.

Bob

[Northlander]

I do believe it to be fact. I think it has to do with the light penetration and we all know eyes like to eat in low light. All I know is I catch more eyes with a chop. Especially in shallower waters and in clearer lakes.

[Fishin4Life]

Read it in one of Al Linders books, Fact, chop = less light penetration

[BobT]

I honestly have to say that some of my best success has come from some of the roughest water. You know, those days when you feel like you've been beat up after you leave the lake. I remember one time, before I got my splash guards, I think I ran the bilge pump almost contiuously but the fishing was worth it.

Bob

[walleyewacker]

I am going with slick on this. I have seen calm water get hot as much as a chop. Most of my fishing has been done on southern MN lakes and it seems like anythig mid july and beyond I have a much better bite on calm conditions, even shallow. Early in the year when the water is cleaner a good chop is usually the ticket but when the water dirties on its own and the wind blows I have seen it shut them down or require slow speeds and slow wobbles with cranks. Even when the fish are shallow in august around home I guess I have seen more times then not they like it better calm. At the same time I would be willing to bet that I have seen the back side of a wind blown point get going over the windy side, but it is usually only one or the other. The other thing I have against a chop is when fish suspend. When that wind blows it mixes up any thermoclines and food that the bait or walleyes are looking for and it has been much harder for me when fish are on that type of pattern, especially when they are high in the water. I am sure that northern lakes require a good chop most of the time but I guess most of my time has been spent on pothole lakes and there are plenty of those across the state. Overall I guess I have seen it go both ways it all conditions all over the state and I kind of wonder when I hear the same preaching from the articals that seem like they are rewritten every year.