Walleye Fishermen Share tips and information

[Schoe]

There has to be some walleye fishermen out there to share their stories and pictures with us. Come on don't be bashful. Schoe

[Catbird]

I paid for a charter to fish for walleye twice last year on Lake Erie. It was a lot of fun. The second trip I requested to help with baiting, putting lines out, etc. It was a lot more fun that just being handed a pole and told to reel in. I just purchased an old boat large enough for Lake Erie and will be hitting the walleye up there next year. I may even get someone from this site to go out on the maiden voyage. Of course Schoe you already know this...lol

[Schoe]

I would be more than happy to accompany you on your maiden voyage or any other. It's been a long time since I was on lake Erie. Schoe

[wayneh77]

Picture of some Walleye!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/wayneh77/7_16_05walleye.jpg
Picture of some Good food!http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/wayneh77/7_21_2005walleye2.jpg

[Schoe]

Wayne, Nice pictures, you forgot 3 things . Where did you catch them and on what? Then the very important part, the paper towel to wipe the drool off my chin.

They are really nice fish, congrats, Schoe

[RamRod]

Nice catch and great pics....pass the tarter sauce!

[RamRod]

I paid for a charter to fish for walleye twice last year on Lake Erie. It was a lot of fun. The second trip I requested to help with baiting, putting lines out, etc. It was a lot more fun that just being handed a pole and told to reel in. I just purchased an old boat large enough for Lake Erie and will be hitting the walleye up there next year. I may even get someone from this site to go out on the maiden voyage. Of course Schoe you already know this...lol


I'd be glad to go out with you anytime if I'm available.

[wayneh77]

Caught at Philpott Reservoir Basset,Va.. Using bottom bouncers with worm rig.

[Schoe]

Great , thanks for the info. I'm sure other readers appreciate it as well. Schoe

[rockinmichigan]

Nice walleyes in that pic, and nice fillets in the other pic!

[Schoe]

Good to hear you got out. I was afraid the ice would be on and too thick to do anything. If I was home in ILL. I would be hitting the wing dams on the Mississippi if I could get to them. Later Schoe

[rockinmichigan]

gofish, we've got a cold front coming up my way. They were saying on the news today that in Cincinnati (I live north of Toledo) that its supposed to go from 57 or whatever degrees to 28 degrees in less then a day. Sucks I tell you. I'd love to have this somewhat nice temps of 40s and 50s in January, even if its raining outside like it is here right now.

[rockinmichigan]

Its snowing right now here, gofish. Supposed to be an inch total, and we're pretty close to that now. Where did you say you were from?

[rockinmichigan]

gofish, your town sounds familiar, I may have heard of it. Never been there, I know that for sure. I'm about a four hour drive from Indianapolis, five hours east of Chicago, an hour south of Detroit, two hours west of Cleveland, and a couple minutes from the Ohio-Michigan border, near Toledo, OH. Also a 20-25 minute drive from the western shoreline of Lake Erie. I forgot to talk about the Ottawa River from the other post you made. I've never fished it, some parts of that river is polluted, from what I gather that would be more towards the North Toledo/Point Place, OH area of the river. Once you get towards the section of river near the University of Toledo I guess the school's got a program that cleans out the river and that stretch. Supposed to be nice fish there, but can't tell you definately. There's other rivers that have some good fishing in it, I can tell you for a fact. For example, the Maumee and Sandusky Rivers in Ohio are dang good for the 'eyes. Gets pretty elbow to elbow when they're running there. Soon after that the white bass are a running, and not as many people go out targetting them, but plenty do. Maumee River is good for catfish and carp too, heard and seen pictures in the local paper of people with some sweet flatheads in the neighborhood of 25-30 lbs caught on live bluegills and cut bait. River fishing in Michigan near me is good too. The Huron River, specifically in Flat Rock, MI is good for walleyes when they're running, and steelhead too, and I believe salmon run it consistently too. Also get some good sized smallies and largemouths in there too, and northern pike as well. Raisin River is good too, I've fished only once but had bites consistently. My buddy there caught a couple gobies, had something else fight pretty good, so good it fought itself off the line. I was able to bring in a channel cat about 14" and a good pound and a half, a good eatin' size channel. Plenty of fish jumping too. My buddy did see a good size ______ fill in the blank. He couldn't get a good look to ID it, but it was a monster from what he told me. Knowing the local waters like I do, could've been either a good sized northern, possibly a muskie, gar, or carp. Definately good fishing around here, ever want to come on out this way give me a hollar. I'll show you some good spots morning, day, evening, and late night.

[rockinmichigan]

I usually wait until the walleyes get into the shoreline areas of the bays before I try to go for them, in the spring and at night. I've seen how the rivers are and it gets insane when the 'eyes are running in the rivers. I don't have much luck though for the walleyes. That's when I go with, instead my usual double jointed lures, I'll go with live crawlers or whatever I have. Nightfishing is fun, especially at this spot on the coast of Lake Erie called Luna Pier, MI, evening hours as the sun is going down from June through the rest of the summer and into fall you'll do a number on perch and white bass. I tend to catch more white bass after 11PM or midnight then anything else. The white bass there run anywhere from 6" fatties to about 10-11" or so. I tell you what, its a blast because those freakin' white bass won't leave you alone. There's been a lot of times when I've been fishing with two poles I can not keep up to save my life. You reel one bad boy in, by the time you land him, take him off the hook, throw him in the cooler, rework your worm, throw it back out you're well underway in hooking into another on your other pole. Also catch a good number of keeper channels there too and your fair, or unfair, number of sheepheads too, depending on how you look at it. Sheepheads tend to go up to 3 or 4 pounds but I've seen bigger then that get caught there. Channel cats tend to run a couple pounds but feel heavier then that. Yellow bullheads are common there too, and half the time they're throw backs but you do get plenty that are around a pound to a pound and a half. Good variety there at Luna Pier, like carp, sheephead, bullhead, flatheads, channels, largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, yellow perch, white bass, crappie, gars, even the occasional northern.

[Schoe]

Gofish, at Clinton lake can walleyes be caught early summer after the main spring run? I have only been there once but I like the looks of the lake. It was late last Fall and the wind was howling and we couldn't go any further than the bridge so I haven't fished the hot water discharge yet but will.

There's a few that have been talking about having a get together sometime early summer before it gets too hot, perhaps you will join us. Schoe

[rockinmichigan]

Sounds like something I will have to try expermenting with, gofish. The place I was telling you about at Luna Pier, MI, people do have luck with lures where there's a joint in the middle. Couldn't tell you specific kinds and colors, supposedly the kicker is if its jointed in the middle. Seems like everything I throw out doesn't produce, at least for walleyes, so I'll have to give your suggestions a try.

[rockinmichigan]

gofish, I have no clue on how to pour baits. One of those things I could go Google, but I couldn't tell you how since I've never done it and never seen it done. I mainly use live bait, but I do use lures from time to time.

[rockinmichigan]

That's cool about saving money. I'll have to find out how and seeing about trying it out sometime. Would you say its something that's fairly easy to do or does it take some getting used to before you can say its a breeze?

[rockinmichigan]

Cool site, gofish. I'm checking it out as we speak. I'm going to have to look into pouring sinkers, because that's something I use A LOT of, and lose quite a few of.

[rockinmichigan]

That's cool, I need to get a hold of some 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 ounce sinkers, this may have to be the way to go. If and when I go pour my own sinkers I'll let you know how it goes :D

[rockinmichigan]

Ahhh, memories of being a snaggy boy. Those were the days. :p

[rockinmichigan]

LOL Funny story, awkward, but funny. I have a lot of fishing related stories of when I was a kid. For one, we used to keep the turtles we hooked into at this one inland lake in Hillsdale County, MI called Turner Lake (which is in SE Michigan about an hour and a half or so west of me). As young as I was, I thought they were box turtles. Evidentally there was some snappers in the mix and they would kill all the other turtles we would bring home and put in the aquarium. So we'd go down the road about twenty minutes where there's a marshy creek and release all them. Sure did stink up the basement!

[rockinmichigan]

Probably my favorite story of when I was a kid is when we were fishing this channel where my grandpa's boat was tied to the dock. This is in Marblehead, OH, which is I'd guess 15 minutes west of Cedar Point (that's in Sandusky,OH, and Sandusky is halfway between Cleveland and Toledo) along Lake Erie. Well, we were all fishing with bobbers and crawlers, next to my grandpa's boat, and soon after putting his line in my grandpa goes inside the house to get his pipe. No sooner then the door shut then his pole goes flying into the water. The pole was in arm's grasp of my left, and I couldn't stop it since it was so fast. My brother and I just looked at each other with amazement, I was about 9 and he was about 7. We were absolutely dumbfounded. A couple minutes later my brother's bobber goes under (he was fishing to my right) and he lifts it up and there's our grandpa's fishing stuff, with a carp at the other end of the line. Carp wasn't real big, but he took the bait and ran with it. I'd guess it was less then a foot, but those things don't need to be big, just hungry. Our grandpa comes out after all this happens and looks at us like "What the hell did you two knuckleheads do?" but didn't say it, and he of course laughed his ass off when we told him the events that transpired.

[FisherBuddy]

Awesome pics! The walleye are slow in TN this time of year. The latest TWRA report said some males were moving upriver, so it might just be a matter of time before it pics up. Can't wait!

[wewamohawk]

I can't get up there were the walleyes are so I guess I will have to stay in the flathead catfish territory at this time but lookout next year.

[Timotha7]

Walleye are a serious favorite of mine
For me the pursuit of double digit 'eyes is much like pursuing big flatheads in the small waters around here
Takes a lot of work and is more like hunting than just sitting and fishing

Favorite time for me is dead winter down below the spillway in open water
Not to many people to contend with when the temps run zero or below zero
:-)
the fish lay in tight on the corner of the walls and right UNDER the rip rap
and nail the shad that come down the chute
I use twister tails in that weather Hot Pink is a deadly color
simple slow lift and swim retrieve and very important tip is to bring that jig head right to your toes on the rip rap, do a little figure 8 just like if you were fishing for musky..those fish will be sitting under your feet and bringing the jig all the way to you whenever fishing along rip rap like that no matter what time of year really makes a big difference in numbers caught

Once Spring sets in I move off the rivers onto lakes, fish strictly with live
bait and fish strictly at nite
(ALL my fishing is done at nite, for my money regardless of species, crappie
cats walleye gills the biggest fish I take come aftger dark)
I use live bait, leechs or "blown" crawlers on lindy rigs and fish rock points near a old creek channel

Summer fish tend to relate to deeper structure, there is a good population of yellow perch in this lake and the eyes tend to follow them into the stump field into deep water
Get out at nite time and the perch come up into the weeds and the walleye
(and big channel cats) tend to follow them right up
I like to fish slip bobbers right along weed edge using leechs at this time of year


Best fishing in State of Iowa for Eyes is on the Mississippi river
Tourneys I fished there years ago with 6 fish limits the per day winning weights were over 60 lbs

(this was up around Dubuque)
The Miss wing dams offer the best chance at double digit eyes anywhere in the area for my money

[Timotha7]

Little spillway I fish in winter you could probably cast across with a heavy enuff weight..mostly runs very slow (800cfs) shallow and real rocky I am not a real savy crank bait fisherman ;) would get real expensive for me

I have used them trolling on wings when I have been fortunate enough to get over to the Miss and get out in boat, and in fall will wade and throw them at
nite

For most part I fish 95% of the time at nite, and just a lot easier to carry pair of light rigs with couple "pocket boxes" with soft plastic an bait rigs and
bobbers when walking in

Waters we fish rigging up like that generally means that I can put my Boys on
fish pretty high percentage of the time

Gotta admit that I have as much fun watching them catch fish as I do catching them myself for the most part

[Timotha7]

Joe
On those winter month crankbaits..do you have success with them during winter?? generally have found bite very slow and on the plastics bite is almost more a matter of watching line and knowing when somthing should be
falling and a real gentle nudge at pick up would they be active enuff to hit a crankbait?

Like I said, I am not a good crankbait fisherman, been my experience that it takes more knowledge than just toss them an reel them in to be successful
( like anything else EXPERIENCE really makes a difference) ..
How do you fish them in cold water?

Tim

[Timotha7]

Great post and info..I will have to go out and work some cranks in some of the water round here and see bout getting a better feel for them
I know a lot of people swear by them in certian situations and down there on spillway in winter it is generally really hit and miss, if tossing a few cranks will liven up some of those slower nites I for sure will give it a shot

we have 4 boys, pair of grands we adopted that are 8 and 11 and the two older boys are 15 and 17
Older boys are so darn busy during the school year between school activities and work seems like we hardly see them
The little ones love to go out and get on the water
I generally try to put them in areas where I know we can find pan fish or places that have lots of mud or rocks they can turn over looking for things..
If can keep them busy then they are happy campers..

When I take them out I spend more time coming to the "grandpa what is this?" tune than actually wetting a line :D But as I recall my time with my grandfather that is the way it should be..always seems like there is fish to catch, but learning to look around you an see what is there, that is kinda special

[Timotha7]

On those current edges, I can see where the cranks would work a lot better
on drops and ledges
Love fishing with lazy ikes along drops like that in strip pits

I like a bobber with some live bait in current and have even used 16 ounce jig under bobber and drifted it an popped it along those edges vary depth with casts
Really like poppin a jig under a bobber for crappie in current edges

[rcd]

hey shoe how u doin I'm trying to figure this computer thing out. I'm new at this.

[rcd]

has anybody caught 28" walleye on night crawlers all day? On a lake in Canada (NW Ontario) with my dad Claude Davis we caught the biggest walleye i've ever caught on nightcrawlers just off the bottom in a current .When i figure out how to post pictures on this site i'll do so.

[Schoe]

Ryan, you can either put 3 on a post or put a bunch in the gallery. If you want to send them to me in an E-mail and I put them up for you. Schoe

[rcd]

Im at work right now , but i'll go to my sisters house and try to scan and email , im not to sure how to do that but i'll figure it out other than that hows the fishin in Iowa , my dad is in Iowa now and he has his boat u shoud call him and get together im sure hes board and would love to go fishing w/ you later

[Timotha7]

Ryan
Crawlers are definitly a great bait, I like them on spinner rigs or "blown" and bounced slow on bottom

[Timotha7]

LOL I love the sound of that!
Truth be told if it comes to a trophy 'eye say upwards of my PB of 13 or so, or a big old 40+ flathead I would likely harness one of the boys an toss them if I thought it would work :D

(I don't know if the boys are 100% sure if I am fooling or not either!)

[Timotha7]

:rolleyes: LOL
Just read that post agin, should have said 16th oz (1/16th)
though I have heard of people that throw lb weights
If I was to try an throw 16oz on the poles I got I would be standing
there holding the handle an looking silly

[rcd]

Thanks for the welcome If i ever get over to Brookville I'll give it a shot. I love to fish different holes. I'll post a couple of those Canadian Walleye when I remember to bring the pictures to work.

[three_rivers]

I just wished we could use 1 to 8 ounce weights were we fish. Most the time its 10 to 16 ounce weights. And at 5 dollars per 3 you start looking for ways to make your own!!!!

[SirFishALot]

I love walleyes. Specially breaded, but broiled in butter is fine, too. :D

We have some around here, but I have not caught any big ones yet, but I'll be sure when I do to show them off! Here there are a few lakes with them, but I fish them in the rivers mostly. The Susquehananna River has quite a population of them. My favorite spot here for them is Tioga, PA, at the spillway of the Tioga Dam. It's shallow and full of snags! So the best approach I have found for them is Fireline (to prevent losing $50 in lures) and fishing SHALLOW lures, such as jointed Rapalas, Rebel minnows, Smithwick Rogues, etc., at night. My largest there was 31" and weighed an even 10#, but I've seen bigger ones caught by other guys. I am thinking about giving them a shot again tonight. A few days ago I was using this approach and caught 3 nice smallmouth and 5 good sized (18-22 inch) walleye. DEEEeeelicious!

[Timotha7]

Those 3 lbers make for some GREAT sandwiches with some cole slaw on the side !
and that 10lber is a great eye, by my book any walleye in double digits is a trophy fish..

10lb fish of any type is a big fish matter of fact, seems like when I was first leanring to fish with my grandpa at bout 8 years old every fish I caught I was sure was 10lbs or so :D first time I actually took somthing that was over 10 lbs (northern) I was sure that I had set a new worlds record!
:cool:

[wewamohawk]

yes wayhe77 the walleyes are realy nice and are very good eating fish