new to walleye

[Aznavalanche]

along with trout, since it's getting colder i'm going to try and fish for walleye more...mainly from the river. so basically...what do i need to know? sums it up. i already have a medium action rod (is that the right one? or will i need a lighter or heavier one) and i have all the essentials and some spoons. but my main questions are: Where do I look for walleye? and What color lures would i get?
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[davetclown]

Walleye hit different colors on different days,

I use a single hook harness

I make a dozen harnesses so I have different color combinations that I can switch to if the color I am using isnt producing.

You can use swim baits/soft plastics, or live worm or freshly killed minnow or pickled minnow.

eyes eat all fry species in the water including them selves.. some days they may be feeding on bass so you will want a green or chartruce, other days they may have a taist for a redeye "rock bass" so a red spinner will be the ticket. some times they run in to a school of white fish or sheep head then you will want to go silver/white posibly with metal flake. and then they feed on carp fry as well so it dosnt hurt to have one with orange ready to throw on the line.

Generaly in the river you are going to find eyes at the 20 foot mark, If your are in a wading river you are going to want to look for the deaper holes behind rocks, shelves, fallen trees ect....

Walleyes like moving water, it brings food to them so they dont have as much work to do in order to feed, this dosnt mean they will stay in one place, if and when they are ready to feed and no food is in their face they will move around to find something.

a medium class rod is sufficent for eyes, the biggest eye on record thus far isnt much more than 24 lbs.

finding them on the lake is a little more difficult. they have feeding grounds, bedding grounds, and staging grounds..

for this I suggest you either get a guide or a buddy who has some experience on the lake you are targeting or spend some time exploring the lake... I have found walleyes staging schools at 40 feet+. If you find them you can catch them,

they like long slow jigs. they hit on the drop so be ready to set the hook quick. if you give them slack they will throw the hook.

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this one was caught in a lake at a depth of 40 foot. With a soft plastic minnow looking swim bait. I brought him up so fast his blatter was buldging out of his mouth, so be carefull on the smaller ones or the big ones you dont plan on keeping for dinner.
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[Aznavalanche]

Thanks! Davetclown. That helped a lot. I'll be sure to keep those tips in mind next time I go out.
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[Feydakin]

For the last few years I've been walleye fishing up in Canada.. Up there we pretty much exclusively jig for them.. I've ended up with nearly every color jig head available, but last year I was the only one catching fish.. I found the jig heads with tiny (1/4") spoon/spinners on them..

To go with my full box of heads I have 2 boxes of tails.. Lots of colors and several lengths..

We usually have out best luck right where current moves past still water.. Like the back side of an island.. the walleye hang out right next to the current in the still water and wait for dinner to come swimming by..

Mobile buffet..
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[tailgrabber]

For me, I have been doing better from shore for walleye. I find a steeper shoreline this should put you in deeper water. I fish a river so if you are in a lake this may be useless info. The most productive color I have used has been yellow or chartruse. I will use a grub or a twister worm and cut it down to 3.5" and put it on a 1/8 jighead.
As far as current I am fishing a large eddy pool with a lot of back current. The pools depth is in the 20' range. If you can find a section of water like that give it a shot.Give extra attention where main river flow and back current meet.
The most important thing I found is your retreive. Pay close attention to how you are working your bait. Sometimes it's slow and steady. or slow with slight lifts in your rod tip, or even let it lay for a second or two and pop it off the bottom. Figure out the presentation for the day and you will do good.
I just made up some new jigheads. I'm looking forward to put them to the test.
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[Madman25]

Best bait for Walleye has to be grubs... There is no other bait on the market that out catches walleye than grubs do. Find sand bars or edges of flats with grass on them and the Walleye will be there. Nothern waters provide adequate waters that suit walleye better than southern waters.
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[lunkerhunter2]

What about a man made reservoir that is no more than 20' deep(average 10') and has no structure at all? All just a big sand and mud bottom?[]
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[Madman25]

Walleye relate to sand bottoms that are close to creek channels or river channels... I'm sure your reservoir has creek channels in it... Have you ever fished for Sauger? My favorite to go after...
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[lunkerhunter2]

[quote Madman25]Walleye relate to sand bottoms that are close to creek channels or river channels... I'm sure your reservoir has creek channels in it... Have you ever fished for Sauger? My favorite to go after...[/quote]
There is NOTHING for structure. No creek Channels or anything. We catch them nowhere and everywhere in there. Just thought i would throw a stick in your spokes.[laugh]
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[Madman25]

If this reservoir was man made it had to get the water from some where; creeks, underground spring or something.... Either way, the walleye will have to relate to something or their primary bait fish.... What reservoir are you talking about???


[angelic]
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[davetclown]

I have found walleyes on no structure at all. I do mean absolutley no structure. What I mean by no structure is I find the suspended over deap holes half way from the top to the bottom.

This leads me to beleive that walleye are migratory when feeding and they tend to move to a location and baisicly hover untill the need to feed comes again.

I cam across this therie by accident while trolling acros a lake over top an 80 food zone. I marked a school of fish at the 40 foot depth mark and decided it must be walleye... "For no reason at all I decided it was" I turned the boat around and grabbed my best rig and did my best presentation at that depth and sure enuff on my frist cast I come up with a walleye.

is there something to that therie? maybe maybe not, how ever there is something to be learnt. Using a fish finder to find suspended fish just may lead you to a school of eyes. even scanning over areas you would not dream of targeting because of lack of structure of any kind.
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[davetclown]

I forgot to mentioin, we have hundreds of different types of ponds lakes gravel pits flooded swamp land that are home to some of the biggest walleye you can find.

the walleye seem to do well and thrive in every posible senario they have been applied to.

all they need is oxigen and food and they are content.
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[Madman25]

CLOWN: Where are you from??? We have walleye in are lakes but they do not spawn due to the Alewives population.... They are brought in and stocked from various parts of America. Some are supposedly the Northern strain and some are brought in from Arkansas... You will find down here though it is very common to catch 10lb walleye in the spring and summer.... In Northern waters it seems like the population is higher probably much better habitat than what are local waters have today.... Years ago Walleye was a species that thrived in many rivers and streams in the local area but due to dams, polluttion and foreign fish arriving has effected them in negative way....
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[lunkerhunter2]

It had a canal built to supply it. It comes down 20' vertical baffles and into the lake. The main lake is a giant tub. It is Willard Bay.
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[Madman25]

BACK IN THE 1800's: President of the United States had Erie Canal built it ran from Lake Erie all the way to the Ohio River....Part of the canal still exist in West Portsmouth... Simply amazing how much man power and out dated tools were used to build that thing.... I'm a history nut as you can tell, my history class once took walk along the canal ( it was very well designed to carry settlers and wildstock through it).... Genera Lee designed different route for the Mississippi river to flow. I will talk about that some other day LOL.....

[cool]
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[davetclown]

if there is still runing water there in the winter time, you want to be on the side of the current where there is about a foot of ice. dont get any closer, no need.

we have a place in the saginaw bay off the saginaw river were you will see guys lined up along side the river flow on the ice targeting walleye.

If the water has stoped flowing or is slow enuff where you have good ice all the way across the flow, you can target anywhere in the flow chanel, the eyes will still frequent there if not make a holding pattern there.

any water movement at all is a walleye magnent. Just dont put yourself in harms way.

the other thing you want to look for is a shelf. or right along the side of the tub, the eyes will move up and down the side of a tub. 20 foot is the mean but they will come up to five foot and like I said earlier they can be found at 40 foot.
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[davetclown]

at the present time, I am in the detroit area, but if I have my way, I will be your nextdoor neighbor near gatlin.
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[Madman25]

BIG TIME TENNESSEE FISHERMAN:
We look forward to having you in big Smallmouth waters.... I think your talking about Gallitin, which is 30 minutes south of me... You will find the area down here has prime time fishing lakes that has abundance of different species... Clown, you need to look me up when you get down here, and I will you on some quality fish...
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[CROSSINEYES]

what about the island in willard? structure... but i bet we could take al linder to willard and hen would have the same results we do. lol
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[lunkerhunter2]

Yeah but that's about all there is. And ya know, i have thought about the Lindner posse being invited out here to show us how it's done.[laugh]
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