suspended walleyes

[herringbone]

was fishing an area lake , after walleyes and all the fish were suspended in about 8' the lake depth was 12' to14', I was drifting with a lindy rig and minnow but could'nt get to the fish, two other boats in the same area were pulling in fish left and right, what am I doing wrong?

[prov1900]

Were they pulling (trolling) plugs? Or doing the same thing you were doing? I am in your same boat when faced with suspended fish. Not much of a troller am I. I, depending on the wind, would have went with a long, long snell. Youre only talking four to six feet from the bottom, so a floating jig head with a five foot leader, or longer? Am I right?, because again, suspended fish are not my bag. From what I know, walleyes prefer to eat up, so anything above their heads should have been good to go. Good luck and let me know if that works.

[herringbone]

could not say what they were doing, but it was working, I'll try a longer snell and see if that works, thanks for the info

[slick814]

If you weren't trolling a crankbait, you might have been too deep in the water column. If you don't troll cranks, a longer snell might help, but how long of a snell do you want to drag? You're going to need to get the bait at least 6' off the bottom in the situation you described, which is going to need a 6' or 7' snell. Something many of us forget is that most fish actually feed UP, not down, so you need to get the bait up in the middle of the suspended fish, or above them a bit, if possible.

If trolling cranks isn't your thing, give this a try.... longer snell (long enough to get the bait high enough in the water column), with a float of some sort on it. This will get the bait up off the bottom, and if you have enough of a float to get the Lindy high enough, you might have better success. You might also need to drag the Lindy farther back, so it has a chance to rise a bit higher.

SOmething else that I've found that works is to use a floating head jig instead of a plain hook in that situation. Just remember that jig color will be a factor in this case.

Otherwise, give trolling something that dives between 5' and 10', maybe a Shad Rap, Reef Runner, etc. This might be a great chance to learn/improve on a technique that you may not use as much as you would have in these situations.

Good luck....

[Northlander]

Easiest thing would be a slip bobber if your seeing a nice grouping of fish. Another thing is these may not be walleye they could be perch, crappie or gills. If you saw others catching eyes how were they fishing? were they moving fast, slow or anchored or drifting? It should be easy to figure out how they were fishing if you know the previous.

I would troll a 2oz. bottom bouncer and spinner and drop your line down to where your graphing fish. If they are suspended they should be active and take spinners, cranks etc.

[LocalGuide]

A longer snell is a good idea only if you have enough floation on the other end. With a 6' snell and just a plain hook your snell would sink about a foot or more otherwise. With a float on the line and maybe a floating jig head you can get that bait up high and above the fish.

There are a lot of good ideas in this post. Just all the questions you should be asking your self when out fishing.

[herringbone]

thanks for all the good tips, once the wind dies down alittle I'll get back out and try it again.

[efgh]

The bottom bouncer and snell works well for suppended walleyes, I use a 3 oz. bouncer, 6-8 ft. snell. Use this the same as you would use a cannon ball for Lake trout on the deep lakes. Run the bouncer about 3 ft. above the suppended eyes. your snell will be about 1 ft. above the eyes.

[Eastwind]

You could also try a leadhead jig. Put a slip bobber knot on the line prior to tying on the jig. You can try different depths, moving the knot to the top of the water to mark each different depth. Obviously, consistent speed would be important. For fish that are supended somewhere in 12' to 14' of water it should not take long to get at their level. The knot will then assure that you return to the same depth every time. This also works great when you are drifting suspended Crappies, especially when the Crappies will not bite on a bobber rig and are only interested in a moving presentation.

[Northlander]

Eastwind hit it on the head. I was using that same technique yesterday looking for suspended Crappies. I put a stop at 10' and 20'. Works great for drifting or just vertical jigging.

[DinkADunk]

Quote:

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Put a slip bobber knot on the line prior to tying on the jig.

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You can always tie a bobber stop knot on the line after tying on the jig. Just use some constrasting line and tie it on with a uni-knot. I keep a spool of rod winding thread in my tackle box for these occasions.