Topwater walleye

[Superduty]

Caught a 12" walleye saturday morning on a zara spook(walk the dog) bait while bass fishing. He absolutely smoked it! Anybody else catch walleyes on top before?

[perchking]

I've caught them on sipnnerbaits right below the surface but never on a "top water" bait...

Congrats...

[insurance guy]

The closest to that I've gotten is watching walleyes(just a pair of shiny eyes)follow my stickbaits in to the bank or boat at night with my headlamp and letting the lure float to the top and sit for a second and watch them suck it off the top That's a blast. They will follow it several times to your feet or boatside but they will only hit when you let it float to a rest. Some nights the headlamp spooks them but most times they don't seem bothered by it at all and you can watch the whole thing go down which is really neat especially when you have about a foot of line out and in the net they go without a struggle. I rarely if ever fish for bass(green carp as we call em) so I don't use any lures like that designed specifically for topwater.

[MuskieMojoTackle]

Quote:

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The closest to that I've gotten is watching walleyes(just a pair of shiny eyes)follow my stickbaits in to the bank or boat at night with my headlamp and letting the lure float to the top and sit for a second and watch them suck it off the top

That's a blast. They will follow it several times to your feet or boatside but they will only hit when you let it float to a rest. Some nights the headlamp spooks them but most times they don't seem bothered by it at all and you can watch the whole thing go down which is really neat especially when you have about a foot of line out and in the net they go without a struggle. I rarely if ever fish for bass(green carp as we call em) so I don't use any lures like that designed specifically for topwater.

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A friend of mine regularly catches walleyes up to 30 inches on Weagles on Wabigoon

[Kyle Sandberg]

I know of some people that flyfish for walleyes, including floating lures and they manage their fair share.

[Team Otter]

Never on top for me but inches under the surface is very common, especially this time of year.

[LovenLifeGuy]

When I was in high school I caught a 3 pounder on a Pop-R on lake francis in wright county. It was in the reeds!

[papabear]

this june I had a nice eye hit my spinner rig that was just under the surface in about 4 fow. I actualy saw the fish partialy come out of the water when it hit.

[zepman]

I caught one on top but it was purely accidental. Front hook and line were tangled up on original cast and the jointed Rap came in like a twirlybird. A 19" eye whacked it about half-way in.

[Dave S]

It's funny this was brought up. A couple years ago, we slaughtered the walleyes using the very lure you mentioned, a Zara Spook. It wasn't what you would consider the small one either. We were using the 4" spook that is almost the same diameter as a quarter, at night, so we couldn't see the strike, but we could sure hear it.

We were fishing for bass off the docks on Lake Washington in Le Sueur County. The shiners were thick near shore and the walleyes were literally hitting the underside of the platform on the docks. Size ranged anywhere from 12-16 inches.

[Hillbiehle]

In 2001 at a Canadian outpost, I was throwing a lure similar to a zara spook over some cabbage. First fish jumped and missed, thinking it was a small pike. Casted out again and caught a walleye, then another and another.

Never forget that night. Going back to the same place in one week. May have to try it one more time to see if it was a fluke.

[HAppnhook]

May be worth a try cuz I know for a fact they were not anywhere near 35'-14' last night on tonka.........

[fishuhalik]

I've caught a few on topwaters in northern mn fishing bass, usually late summer when they're in the weeds. Never got a decent one, though. Most have been 14-17"

[mrwalleye_13]

On red lake we caught a bunch on like a hoola popper or something... they fish were so crazy that day we just figured it would be cool to say we caught some walts on topwater... it was by the river

[Fishin Beast]

Jitterbug in the fall where the frogs are hopping in the lake.

[trimbelle22]

I've caught one fly fishing on a small lake with a beadhead pheasant tail. I have also caught them on spinnerbaits in some really fast (almost rapids) water in canada. I have also seen a sauger (on the sippi) come completely out of the water chasing a jig that i lifted up because I thought i had lost my crawler.

[Swimstein]

Many years ago we caught them in the evening in shallow water, sandy bottom using a SPU Flatfish, which ran just underwater. Still have several but have not tried them for years.

[Skitterpop]

Last Saturday I got a walleye on a skitterpop before the sun came up. She went 20 inches! Thought she was a bass until my headlamp caught her eye glowing, had to grab the net then .

[slipperybob]

It's fun catching a walleye who thinks they're a bass.

[Borch]

Hula Poppers during the frog run when we had lots of frogs. Apparently walleyes like frog legs too.

[MidCoast]

Quote:

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In 2001 at a Canadian outpost, I was throwing a lure similar to a zara spook over some cabbage. First fish jumped and missed, thinking it was a small pike. Casted out again and caught a walleye, then another and another.

Never forget that night. Going back to the same place in one week. May have to try it one more time to see if it was a fluke.

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I catch walleyes and saugers on top water lures ALL OF THE TIME or small streams and rivers..... It is very common for walleyes to do this on small rivers and streams.

[EBass]

I caught some eyes on tubes before, but not on topwater looks like I have a new goal for next year

[TroutYammer]

In 1991 we were at a Canadian outpost during 4th of July week and the walleye fishing was so hot that we tried every lure in our tackle boxes. I bet one of the guys $5 that I could catch a Walleye during the noon hour on a yellow Hula-Popper. At precisely 12:01PM I caught a 18" walleye on the Hoola Popper. I was a confirmed catch so I got the $5 (Canadian currency of course). We all thought that was pretty good – Eh?

[CNYFrank]

Here in Upstate NY on Oneida lake we catch them regularly in the Fall on floating stickbaits fished on a slow retrieve with the lure swimming on top . . .the slower the better, but you have to let the fish let you know . . . some times its as fast as you can retrieve it. But generally the colder the water, the slower the retrieve. Black and silver is the primary color. Have fun!

[TMF89]

MuskieMojoTackle, Wabigoon, as in Dryden, Ontario? We've been going up there multiple times a year since I was seven, thought it was more of a dead sea nowadays. Where's he catch em? Just general areas of the lake, it'd be interesting to know where they've all gone!