Hunting & Fishing Walleye fishing

[Phylodog]

I'm headed up to Ontario in a couple of weeks for my annual fishing trip. Last year we finally portaged over to a lake that holds walleye after years of talking about it. Once we got over there we determined that none of us knows a damned thing about catching walleye. We have been hammering pike & lake trout for years but the walleye experience is new to us.

We were able to limit out most days using stick baits in 7'-15' of water but the weather last year was much warmer than it usually is and the surface temp was 20* higher as a result. It looks like we'll be facing drastically different conditions this year (cooler thankfully) so I'm hoping to get ahead of the game a bit.

The lake we're fishing is basically a flat, sand bottom without much structure once you get away from the rocky shore. Even with the warm weather last year there wasn't much vegetation present, this year it's likely to be barren.

Any tips from the experts would be greatly appreciated. Most of what we were catching last year were perfect for the fryer but I caught one nice one (6lb) trolling with a jointed Rapala and would like to be able to pull in some bigger fish this year. Here's last year's big one:

TIA for any tips or pointers

 

[SuperSeal110]

Re: Walleye fishing

Nice walleye! Fresh walleye and some lemon pepper... Mmm

 

[Shortdraw]

Re: Walleye fishing

Look for really subtle structure or depth changes, even if it's only a foot or two difference. Jig as light of a grub tail leadhead jig as you can get away with. Bring several colors and sizes. Fish the points, and the windward shores where baitfish are getting blown into. Are you allowed any kind of bait, or just synthetics? If you have an outboard, troll as slow as she'll go with raps or spinner rigs. Try drifts and mark spots with a handheld gps when you get a fish so you can duplicate your drift or troll angles and speeds. Is the lake mapped? I'd be happy to look at a lakemap and give you some suggestions. I was an inland lake guide for quite a few years in northern MN, and great lakes river guide before moving to AK. PM me if you want, I like talking fishing! Good luck on your trip.

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Walleye fishing

I honestly don't know if we're allowed live bait. We've always fished spoons and crankbaits for the pike and lakers. Catching leeches would be a piece of cake, they're always hanging around the dock and they comes out in droves when it gets dark.

I don't think the lake is mapped. I tried Google and it shows aerial photos of the lake but that's about it. The windward shore was where we had most of the luck last year. The walleye and smallmouth were stacked in there pretty good. The walleye I posted the picture of was caught on the opposite end of the lake from where we had been catching the good 18" - 24" fish. I was hoping to figure out how to zero in on more of the big ones this year.

 

[Shortdraw]

Re: Walleye fishing

Perch pattern crankbaits maybe countdowns and rattle raps, and big spinner/leech rigs 24" back from a swivel and egg sinker. Is the water dark stained with tannins or pretty clear? How deep do you figure the lake is? If you have sonar try to target bigger fish on the deeper edges of the feeding schools. I like to mark one on the sonar then go after that specific fish. I assume the lake is like a big shallow dish rather than a deep trench?

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Walleye fishing

Right, more like a bowl. I think the deepest area we marked as about 50' or so.

The water was pretty clear but the down wind side where we were catching fish was heavily mucked up with pine pollen.

 

[dubetsky13]

Re: Walleye fishing

Nice fish! Can't wait till it opens on may 7 here in lake champlain

 

[mdesign]

Re: Walleye fishing

Looks like you are doing something right. Don't know much about fishing but it sounds like a fun trip.

 

[kurt]

Re: Walleye fishing

Need to go to walleye central and do some looking on there. If it was me i would catch some leachs or bring some crawlers and try to get some slow death hooks and try that presentation. Also in clear water planner boards can be very effective getting to bait away from the boat. Next would be using long shank jig head with gulp alive it takes some time to get the technique of pitching jigs down but when done right is deadly. Aslo with the gulp alive find a better container to put it in as it leaks some times. For trolling cranks i like flickershads they seem to always be my go to at about 2.7 to 3 miles an hour early in the year. With clear water you will have to use some kind of line that will not spook the fish like a light mono of some sort. When we fish shallow like 10 feet or less it is very important to be quite not bang stuff off side of boat and such. After seeing the fish the ice has just left lake oahe might have to get the boat out today. Good fishing.

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Walleye fishing

OK, stupid question time. I typically bring relatively heavy duty stuff up there with me. Braided line in the 30-50lb test range, steel leaders and medium heavy spinning and bait casting setups. Trolling spoons and deep diving crank baits has been our method for catching the lakers and trout for years.

Are leaders recommended or required for walleye? I know they're toothy critters like the lakers and trout but seem to prefer more finesse, something not associated with steel leaders.

Should I bring along some lighter spinning rigs? What lb mono should I go with?

Thanks for the help so far.

 

[kurt]

Re: Walleye fishing

No leaders are not needed. Yes bring some spining rigs with medium fast rods about 6'6" to 7' are my favorite. For pitching jigs and such i like the 8lb crystal fire line it is equal to 2 or 4 lb diameter mono and sensitive and tough as hell. For mono i like the old standby 8lb trilene but there are some other flouro carbons that are suposed to more or less disappear in water but can be touchy though and have to watch for nicks on the line. Also there are some different ways to tie the knots as that line has a tendancy to slip. Found that out the hard way cost me about 2000 during a tourney. I have always found it best to be able to use the lightest tackle posible when live baiting and it takes a little finnese to get it down. Some times they like to be fed after they bite some times not. While cranking we use line counters to get to the same depth every time but another option is they have ones that hook on the rod you run the line through which are alot cheaper. Depth controll is very improtant as they might be stacked up on a point and if you are a foot off either way wont get a bite. Dont over look using a good old slip bobber rig i have only fished a boarder water lake once and we used slip bobers with leaches. Found a point and set the depth on the bober and let the wind drift it over the point so not to get to close and spook the fish off of it. Also used lindys with a light walking weight and about a 4 foot lindy. Mustad makes the slow death hooks i would ties up some different length lindys with the slow death hooks and just experment till you get the pattern down. Use the wind to your favor set the boat up side ways drift all the lines out of one side and use the electric trolling motor to just keep the boat where you want it. It always seems if it gets tough we have to really slow things down and down size presentations. Hope some of this helps sorry for being so long with the response.

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Walleye fishing

No apology needed, I appreciate the advice.

 

[Shortdraw]

Re: Walleye fishing

Good suggestions from Kurt. The walleyes are toothy, but hardly ever bite the line. 8lb mono is the heaviest I've ever run. Maxima ultragreen is one of my favorites, and Ande pink works great too. In clear water they can get really line shy so go as light as you can get away with. I like a 6 1/2' medium action spinning rod. Something sensitive with a good backbone.

 

[kraigWY]

Re: Walleye fishing

I'm stealing your tips. The ice is out and as soon as my 2011 boat license is back I'm taking a week to hit the lakes.

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Walleye fishing

Looks like the lakes where I'm headed are still iced in. Should be a very good year thankfully. Last year was way too warm.

 

[Shortdraw]

Re: Walleye fishing

Just after ice out can be killer...

 

[Bryan27]

Re: Walleye fishing

Try fishing for them at night, walleye will move up shallow to feed at night. I've caught them while wading and throwning stick baits at night when I used to fish erie and its tributaries.

 

[kurt]

Re: Walleye fishing

We used to do that on the glacial lakes in eastern sd and caught some pigs. I always liked the black and tan floting rap.

 

[Phylodog]

Re: Walleye fishing

I bought some of the Gulp Alive minnows at Gander Mountain along with some various colored jig heads. Holy shit that Gulp Alive is expensive. I hope they're at least durable enough to hold up to a few fish.

 

[kurt]

Re: Walleye fishing

Oh ya they last along time so while others are puting on bait you are still nailing em every pitch. Just watch the lid really really close it will leak unless they have redesinged some thing. And once you get that smell all over it is a bitch to get off. What size an color did you get? It is usally 19.99 around here what they get you for there?

All this talk of fishing and it is 35 with 40 mile an hour winds right now on oahe. Went smelting last night and got some but was more like deadliest catch with 4 foot waves coming over the waders while pulling the net in.