Walleye Fishing

Walleye Fishing – How to Catch Big Ones

If you are going after Walleye the best places are from the Midwest Northward and into Canada. Walleye prefer sand and gravel bottoms and lakes with perch which they readily eat. I fish a lot of lakes that have a healthy Walleye population but no perch. Walleye are finding themselves in lakes further south. Lakes with Walleye will also have a population of other gamefish such as Northern, Smallmouth, Largemouth, Crappie, Musky and sunfish.

Finding Walleye's has a lot to do with the Oxygen in the lake. Lot's of fertile lakes don't have a good oxygen level at the lower depths especially below the thermocline. This will force Walleye into shallow water 10 ft. or shallower.

Walleye spawn in water along shoreline's where there is good water movement and gravel on the bottom. Spawning begins when water gets to around 48 degrees. From this time until about 10 days after spawning females don't bite. Smaller males will bite during spawning. After spawning Walleye

You usually find Walleye's in 30 ft. of water or less. In the deeper lakes you will find walleye along shorelines and hanging around shallow mid lake humps. I caught a 10LB Walleye right up on a rock cliff in Canada that went down into the water. I bounced a jointed Rapala off the wall. My uncle and cousin caught bigger the same way.

Lot's of Walleye's are caught at night. Cloudy breezy days with a little chop ( The Walleye Chop ) are good because this deflects the sun's rays. On calm sunny days Walleye spend their time in shade by weeds or near the bottom in deeper water.

Fishing in the evening with a slip bobber and leech is a great way to catch Walleye. Anchor at the edge of a drop off and cast up into 4 to 8 feet of water. Trolling with minnow lures and shad raps is good also. there is usually a good bite for 3 or 4 hours after dark.

walleyes will hang at about 12 to 18 feet along the edge of the dropoff's during the day. Slow trolling or back trolling with a 3 way rig with a leech or minnow or casting with a jig and minnow are good methods of catching them. During summer nights, troll in eight to ten feet of water along the tops of the midlake flats, next to the drop-off. Back trolling with a jig and minnow is very effective.

Mid summer is not as good of time to fish for Walleye but they can be caught. You may think that it is because it is so hot out but it is because the perch and bait fish are reaching the proper size (3 inches and bigger) to look really food to walleye and they gorge themselves on these fish. I am a firm believer in the bigger the minnow the bigger the fish caught!

Walleye can be caught through the ice around points and mid lake flats in 10 to 12 ft of water in early ice season. Jan. and later find them in 18 to 30 ft. depths.

This article would not be complete without saying a little something of how good Walleye are to eat! They are great!

Walleye Fishing Gear – What You Need

Walleye fishing gear does not have to cost you an arm and a leg! You can get started for a minimal amount. I like ugly sticks. My Walleye set up is an ultra-lite Ugly Stick and a Penn ultra-lite reel loaded with 6lb. line. I also use a medium action Ugly Stick with 10lb. line sometimes but I usually stick to the lighter gear. My choice of lures is jigs about 1/4 oz. tipped with minnows, or worm harnesses. My ultra-lite Ugly Stick cost about $25.00 and my medium action cost about $30.00 My Penn Ultra-lite reel cost about $50.00 and you can get a decent set up for less than that. For my medium action reel I use Pfluger Tison reels. They are very reasonable priced and sturdy reels. As far as a boat goes you don't need one. I have caught plenty from shore. I do have a boat which makes it better when trying to locate walleye.

With a boat I point the back of the boat into the waves with the motor running and try to keep it this way by putting it in reverse for 10 to 15 seconds and steering a little. this is called back trolling basically you have spotted walleyes on the depthfinder and you are trying to keep the boat in one spot over the fish without dropping an anchor. It is a little hard to explain and kind of hard to do at the same time as fishing. It is not to bad in calm waters but when I learned how to do it I was in Canada and it was very rough. Once you get the hang of it, it is pretty easy. Basically you drop the jig to the bottom and rise the jig up and let it fall when you feel a slight resistance when you rise it up or a light tap set the hook cause that's a walleye hit. Sometimes they hammer it but usually they hit pretty lite.

Another method is to be in 10 to 12 feet of water and use a slip bobber. Set it so it is just off the bottom with a minnow. Slow trolling, back trolling or drifting a worm harness with a night crawler is very effective. You can also just drift with a jig or a 3 way set up. Keep an eye on the depth finder and when you pick up a fish go around and drift over the area again. Try to stay in 10 to 15 feet of water.

Trolling a good sized minnow bait ( 5 inches or better ) along drop offs in the evening works well. I fished a cove on Castlerock Lake in central Wisconsin with a 4 inch Rapala that floated, it had a black back and a white belly. The cove was about 4 feet deep and I was casting from shore and I cleaned up on Walleye. It was pitch dark outside and the mosquito's were biting but so were the walleye!

As you can see walleye fishing gear does not have to be expensive and you can use many different methods to catch them and no walleye article would be complete without mentioning how they are to eat. They are great. so go out there and catch a a mess of walleye with your new found knowledge and have a fish fry!

Walleye – How I Caught a 10 Pounder

I caught my 10 pound walleye at Eagle Lake in Northwest Ontario. I was in a boat with my brother and nephew. It was late in the day 3 or 4 in the afternoon and we were trolling trying to pick up a northern or 2 before going in for dinner.

My brother hooked a small northern about 15 inches so he stops the boat gets it in and it is flopping all over with a lure hanging out of it's mouth and getting all tangled in a landing net. Well I got tired of waiting for him to get things right in the boat. He was asking me to help him and me being the good brother I am told him to handle it himself and started casting to the shore of the island we had been trolling around. The shore was a rock cliff that came out of the water about 5 and I cast to it and hit the cliff with the lure. I was using a 5 1/2 inch jointed orange Rapla with a gold belly. I am pretty sure the water went deep right at the cliff face. My second cast hit the cliff and I started cranking when all of a sudden the lure stopped dead after about 2 cranks, I thought at first I got snagged.

Since I thought I was snagged I pulled a little and it pulled back so I set the hook hard and the fight was on. Actually it was not what I would have expected from a 10 pound fish but it was a walleye and went to the bottom. I got it up and it flashed once and went right for the bottom again. Now my hyper brother was really freakin saying that's a walleye! that's a walleye and I am saying I know give me the net. Well he would not let me net it myself he said he had to do it so he netted it and as soon as we got it in the boat the hooks fell out.

I thought I stuck it good but I guess not. So that is pretty much my 10 pound walleye story. My brother was so intent on netting that fish because he had been going up there with my dad, uncle and cousins. Well my uncle caught a 12 pound walleye doing the same thing I was doing and even using the same lure but in blue and his brother my dad netted it for him. Then the next day my cousin caught an 11 1/2 pound walleye in just about the same spot with a blue 5 1/2 inch jointed Rapala and his brother did the net work for him.

I don't know what point I am trying to make here, this is just my story on how I caught a 10 pound walleye but I do have some thoughts since all three of us were fishing the same way with the same lures so to recap!

1. We were casting to a cliff face.

2. We were using big jointed lures. Both of their's were blue mine was orange.

So this is what I think, big walleye are loners. The smaller ones school but I think the truly big ones hang by themselves. I know those areas dropped deep right away but I would bet that baitfish hang tight to the cliff face that is under water. I think maybe the action of those jointed lures is something that the big walleyes can't refuse! I think those big walleye hang around the cliff faces for an easy meal and when that big lure comes by is either makes them mad and they go after it, or they go after it because it is invading their space.

I kind of see a pattern there. 3 people using the same kind of lure fishing the same way. I caught a 6 1/2 pound walleye in the Wisconsin river and it was the same thing thought I was snagged until I pulled and it pulled back. I caught that one with an orange and chartreuse jig tipped with a minnow.

When I fish for walleye I don't go throwing the big lure at them even though I caught a big one that way. I fish with jigs because I catch a lot more that way and it is more fun fishing that way. I have never hooked a 10 pounder on a jig but you never know. My biggest on a jig is 6 1/2lbs. and I have caught many very nice 3, 4, and 5 pounders jigging. I have also caught some nice smallies and northern when jigging for walleye, and once hooked a 37 inch musky. If you click the links below and go to my site you can check out some photo's.