why will a walleye sit there and nose up to a minnow?

[ZEEK1223]

It seems to me that in order for a walleye to eat in the wild. It would need to be pretty aggressive to catch shiner. So why the slow bites,the nosing up,and the chewing and spitting out. A week full of getting skunked will get a guy thinking....thanks

[slipperybob]

You must have an underwater camera.

Maybe it's fishing pressure.

You get to some isolated spot where almost nobody ever touches and all the fish would seem aggressive.

Walleyes (many fishes) typically inhale their food and fishing line prevents them from inhaling it, especially when it's a slow bite that's a minimul inhaling.

When a fish tries to get away, it triggers the attack!!!!

[Team Otter]

If the fish was a female, we all know how picky they are...

[fishgutz77]

We fished on Whitefish this week and saw the same thing and I have a theory on this, mind you it's only from staring at the vex for many hours that a guy can start thinking like this.

fish might have preferances just like we do. I've seen first hand how a walleye will pass on a shiner or sucker and then pound a redtail chub. When the late season ice is at hand lots of fish are neutral to negetive and are moving to staging areas near the spawning grounds or just milling around and will only take the perfered food source at hand.

It's simply a case of " if you put mustard on my steak I aint eat'in it. The other part of the theory is most of their food does not hang around to be eaten, they have to case it. how many times have we seen fish follow baits or stare at them and then somthing triggers a strike. A person might have to resort to the gut instinct of the fish and overpower the mood they are in. I put way more stock in vibration and action than color, again just theroy but does a fish really care what color the plate is that the steak is on? funny how fish will binge on seasonal food too, like fly hatches on Mille Lacs and spawning ciscos and so on. If you do figure this all out don't tell anyone the fish would'nt last long.

[ZEEK1223]

nice post, I have a large mouth lake that I go to in the summer. It is all catch and release. There is a rock pile about 10ft deep. The only time you can catch them is when you have a repala banging down in the rocks. If your not hitting bottom. Your not catching fish. Its almost as if they are protecting their turf. On the right day you can get one every pass. I always try to jig them because I know they are down there, but they dont want any thing to do with it. One day I caught 40 bass, with 23in being the biggest. I will never forget that day. Every year is different out there. the dnr stocks other lakes with the fish.

[fishgutz77]

little eagle near where I live has the same thing going only they perfer 10" power worms. they don't want spinners, cranks or top water on the rocks they want the worm and only if it sits a bit and then moves once then wham. And I know they nose up to the bait befor they inhale it.

[L_Cappo]

when the walleye bite is slow try changing things from big to small jigs or hooks and color.try rattle jigs to non rattle jigs.minnow head, half minnow or full minnow.keep changing things till ya figure how they r biting.if ya still cant get them to bite.sit back relax for few mins open a cold 1.then get back to fishing.

[honker23]

Sometimes I feel we outthink ourselves. I don't want this to sound too simple, but I like to think of shallow fish as hungry/aggressive fish. Deep fish are killing time before they move shallow to eat. Many times we would be better off if we increased size/speed to trigger strikes or target aggressive fish.

By all means I know finesse fishing has a place and time, especially for guides and tournaments that have specific times to fish.

If I was seeing fish in 25' acting like you mentioned, I would look to the nearest shallow shelf or feeding area and try more aggressive techniques. Last opener I caught an 18 inch walleye on a crankbait in 4' with an 8" buffalo in its mouth. Shallow fish eat!