4 more days till my first Walleye tourney..

[Steve Rizza]

Got my entrance fee paid up,the gear is all ready and I'm all wound up to fish my first real tourney Saturday.



A buddy at work talked me into being his partner for a walleye tourney down in Md. at Deep Creek Lake.

Went down Sat and pre-fished to see what we could find.Caught enough to figure out what they were up to.They were not where we expected them to be (or where we saw others fishing .All of them came from a certain depth,two feet either way and no fish.

By quickly fishing our spots we did manage to put 10 walleye in the boat.Only 4 were legal size but 2 of them were nice sized fish.

Hopefully if we can hit our spots hard we can put a limit in the livewell.



Wish me luck in my first tourney..



Steve

 

[Greg J.]

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Pop their eyes out!!



TOXIC

 

[Greg Meyer]

Finally... another adult fisherman....

 

[Corey Carrico2]

Having met Greg a time or two I am not sure if that is a compliment or not!



Sorry Greg...you left the door wide open...



-Corey

 

[Texas Transplant]

All the best to you and your partner. Just remember, if it ain't working on Saturday, be prepared to try something else. I know that sometimes I have to whack myself up side the head, for I get too 'dialed in' to doing a particular thing, even when it's not working.



Most of all, have a great time.



Tex

 

[Rich D]

Good luck Steve!



Rich D

 

[Staci Matheis]

What??!!?? Last year's rally wasn't a "real tournament"?

You're just upset 'cuz Trepper won not you! LOL!!



Good Luck, Steve!!

If you can't beat 'em; eat 'em!

 

[TrepMan]

Steve - Go Gettem!! You fishing out of the Tracker??



Greg - Got my Eye trip booked with the family (men on my wife's side,and John A. this year) in Aug!!!

 

[Steve Rizza]

Thanks guys,I need all the luck I can get.



Trep,

no, we are fishing out of my buddies Procraft f/s.

With a 10 fish limit,HOPEFULLY we will need his bigger livewells.Plus with 100 or so other boats all racing to their spots,the bigger the boat,the better.



Dave,

we started out along with everybody else fishing in 4-6 feet of water.Didn't do anything there so we moved to 10-12 feet and got into them pretty good.Hopefully everybody else stays in the 4-6 feet range.



BTW-they are spawning,,,,,and we did catch alot of males,,,,I had to hose out my boat from the mess they left behind,LOL



I'll let you all know how we do Sat.



Steve

 

[Greg Meyer]

Steve...



They can turn off very fast after they spawn... So be prepared with some backup plans... Move out into deeper water but be prepared to throw cranks that will run at the same depth that you found fish before they spawned... If you can get some DTs that will run that depth in a color close to the main forage of the lake you might have a "suprise" waiting. Find my post about tough ete fishing a couple of days ago... or go to the flw site and look at the Bull Shoals results 48/105 boats caught one or more fish in four days... 80+ boats blanked each of the first three days.. So, they can be there one day and gone tomorrow...



Good Luck

 

[Steve Rizza]

Thanks Greg,I'll check into that.

The main forage is Alewifes(sp?)

Also the surface temp was 46 on saturday.The weather has been pretty stable,and will stay the same all week.



We tried to do a 180 degree from what we were doing in case we need a back up plan,but nothing else we tried caught any fish.

Hopefully our pattern holds up....couldn't figure out a back up plan.



Steve

 

[Greg Meyer]

Alewifes are great for growing big fish... Have you guys tried trolling?

 

[Steve Rizza]

No...He's the walleye fisherman,I'm just along for the ride.

Although I did out walleye fish him 8 to 2 on saturday.

But he out bassed me 10 to 2...go figure.Sure made for alot of trash talk while we fished.LOL



He's not set of for trolling,mainly a jig/bait fisherman.

But we could flatline since we were catching them on main lake gravel points in 10-12 feet of water.

They like skinney Rapela type plugs,right?

 

[Steve Rizza]

"Move out into deeper water but be prepared to throw cranks that will run at the same depth that you found fish before they spawned.."



Greg,

by this do you mean they may suspend 10-12 feet down over deeper water?

 

[Greg Meyer]

First, they do like Rapalas... color depends on the water color and forage base... Also, they hit shad raps... I have about 1500 crankbaits (sets of 6 each, for most 8 for some really good producers) Rogues, Rapalas all the way up to 18s... Shad Raps, Walley Divers, you name it I have it to "pull" Clear water stick with black or blue and silver... stained go with gold to start... muddy water Bright colors... clown... parrot... orange/red... Really sunny days I try using pearl instead of silver on clear lakes... Alewifes... You might try stubby fat baits... switch often if you know you are near fish...



And, yes the "move out..." was to suspended fish... Then just fan cast like you would for bass suspended away from points, etc...



Walleye's are some much more difficult and varied in finding a pattern...



Another thing to consider is neutral bouyant rapalas (suspend strips or dots work...) then carolina rig them for spawning fish... Throw them out and let them sit then drag them in over and through bedding areas... hard gravel bottom is best...

 

[Steve Rizza]

Thanks Greg.

Now if only I can keep any of that in my head come Saturday.

I have thought about the c-rig Husky Jerk for bass but have never actually tried it.

Tonight I will rig up a few rods with some of the things you told ne,that way when I see them on sat. I will remember some other things to try.



Steve