OK serious walleye ????

[Rob LaMoy]

Getting back to fishing...... walleye is one fish that I have no mastered yet and continue to frustrate me. I see shows where guys jig for them and catch them on nearly every cast like we do smallies. Now, our populations isn't that strong, but I usually do well on opening weekend either trolling plugs, worm harnesses, or throwing jerk baits. I've tried the jig repeatedly with no success. What gives? Now it is in a river with heavy bottom current. HELP please!

 

[Greg Meyer]

Couple of things, jigging for Walleyes involves live bait...try nightcrawlers, minnows, and leeches...minnows early...crawlers and leeches summer and after...heavy enough to maintain contact with the bottom...color is sometimes a factor...sharp hooks, fresh bait...finally in a river try to "slip" downstream using trolling motor to work against the current just enough to move downstream slowly...work the current breaks and holes...scour holes behind pilings...current changes...Enough rambling others will speak up I'm sure

 

[Ken Neeley]

OK Rob, here's a new one...



"Dem 'eyes luv bright jigheads with eyes painted on 'em tipped wit' 2 minners"

 

[Staci Matheis]

Rob -



Use your minnows to tip a jig, attach a stinger treble hook (maybe size 12 or 14) on a short section of mono and then barely stick the treble into the minnow's tail to keep it where it needs to be. Especially in colder water, the walleye tend to nip at just the tail. I used to wonder why everyone else was catching walleye and I wasn't until I learned the stinger hook trick!



No stinger hooks? Send me your address - I've got some extras that I'd be happy to send you!



me!



(Treppie - Got them at the Gander Mountain store!)

 

[Greg Meyer]

Ken...I've been painting "eyes" on my jigs for about 15 years...way before many were sold that way...And, I believe it does make a difference..



Stingers...I usually don't peg them in my minnows...tie them to jig eye so that they "hang" parallel to the minnow, even with the tail or a little beyond...heavy mono or light wire...I prefer the wire in black...

 

[Ken Neeley]

Letting the stingers hang seems to be the method of choice around here too....Detroit River.

Rob, use Fireline if there's a bunch of rocks or zebra mussels in your river.

 

[Staci Matheis]

Now, Greg, all we gotta do is teach Rob how to "lip" them.....



(snicker!)

me!

 

[Greg Meyer]

Hey I hear you can still catch a trophy Chevy in that there Detroit River...I also understand that all the "crap" is great cover/structure...

 

[Staci Matheis]

I tried to let them hang loose, but found I hung up more often..... Of course, I was fishing in the tailwaters of the damn at Clarksville, Missouri on the Mississippi River..... The debris on the bottom could have had a lot to do with that.

 

[Ken Neeley]

I'll tell ya...you can catch some 'eyes that feel like a small Chevy!!!

Last year, Gary Parsons and the GM on the retail side of BPS here filmed a BPS Outdoor World show and caught the biggest walleye ever landed on camera...I believe it was close to 13lbs!!!

They use that shot for the opening trailer of every BPS show this year.

 

[Greg Meyer]

That 13lb walleye was probably a 4lb fish that swallowed a nine pound wheel rim!!!! Nah...just kidding. I have heard that it is a great fishery...



It is "funny"...like the Chicago River and Lake Michigan around Chicago...Smallmouth and a few walleye (walleye improving)...



The 2000 Classic would have had fantastic stringers...unfortunately several days of winds out of the North turned our usually clear lake into muddy soup...But, if anybody wants to have it proven to them...I would happily oblige...I am so easy to tempt...

 

[Greg Meyer]

Scott,



A long time ago...right after I retired...I tried my hand at guiding...had a customer on Lake Geneva, Wi...before the words spilled outta my mouth...he "lipped" a 4-5 lb Northern...cut that trip short while his buddy drove him to the nearest "health engineer" to have his thumb reconstructed....OUCH....So let's not show him how if we are going to teach...lol

 

[JAMES MOORE]

HEY ROB,

THEM WALLIES IS HARD TO CATCH HERE IN THE NORTH COUNTRY. THEY TEND TO ONLY WANT TO FEED AT NIGHT AROUND HERE. WE'VE CAUGHT SOME DECENT ONES ON CHAMPLAIN DURING BASS TOURNAMENTS ALONG THE WEED LINES PITCHIN JIG AND PIG INTO THE WEEDS. WE'VE ALSO CAUGHT SOME NICE ONES ON SPINNER BAITS ALONG THE EDGES. USUALLY IN THE 10 TO 15 FOOT RANGE.

SURE MAKES YOUR HEART BEAT WHEN YOU THINK YOU'VE GOT OLD BETSIE AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE A SNACKLE TOOTH. JIM

 

[John Reppert]

You all have overlooked one of the easiest techniques, it has worked for me in water as deep as 50 feet....



SLIP BOBBER...or float if you are from across the pond.



The key is to use a float and weight it so's you can feel a minnow's fart....



I have caught plenty of eye's in the trenton channel with such a rig set to hang the minner 1' t0 6" off bottom. With your trolling motor going keep the boat stationary or slightly going down stream...and WATCH that float. Many of my compadres have missed the bite, a float will go down, hesitate in the current or even come up and lay on its side (a walleye has taken the bait and come up with it) when it does ....reel in and set the hook with firm pressure...and enjoy the walleye dinner..



Also, I have used the powerbait walleye flavor grubs (Chartruse or white only!) with good success in canadian waters...heck one week they wouldnt hit a crawler but would a powerbaited jig (you guess what color, I aint revealing all the secrets...lol)



have fun, and remember alcohol and water mixes but boats and alcohol don't...but when we get to shore all bets are off..remember kids are watchin us...

 

[Jeffry Patterson]

Rob,

I don't know where you are fishing but I guess a river is a river. First trick to catching walleyes is to find them, I give an area 15 minutes and if there is no action move on. The spots I choose are breaks in the current, rocks, bends and eddies, and deeper holes. If you wanna catch all the cigar sized males then go up to the dams, the bigger fish seem to lay down river for the most part . I have the best luck finding females where the river botttom goes from muck to rubble, find shallow holes on this edge and it is a good bet ther will be fair sized fish there.

 

[Rob LaMoy]

Do eyes on the jig really make that much of a difference? I thought walleyes had bad vision by comparison. Plus this river is really muddy, year round. And Scott, last year I had a client that was from the south that actually started to reach down to lip a bowfin! Don't know what you guys call them, but they're about a 12-14 lb cross between a catfish and an eel and have a mouth full of teeth like a muskie! If I hadn't caught him, would have been a short day!