Author Topic: What am I doing wrong (Read 4851 times)

Big Al 1 · « **on:** Jan 26, 2009, 01:08 PM »

I have caught trout most of my life and I thought I would try to target walleye. Several lakes in my area hold good numbers of walleye and perch. I have done every thing that I can think of. I have fished shallow in the morning and right before dark and I move to 20 to 50 fow during the day. We are allowed six poles per person on some of these lakes so I try to cover as much water as possible. I have a flasher however my mobility is limited to my two feet. Is there anything that I should be looking for in structure, depth, bait and presentation that I would be key to bettering my odds? Any advice would sure be appreciated in my journey to making myself a better walleye fisherman.
Thanks in advance
Big Al 1

paulhutch · « **Reply #1 on:** Jan 26, 2009, 06:14 PM »

get a map of the lake sunken island and long protruding bars that are near deep water also find where perch feed try on the edges of weed beds

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #2 on:** Jan 26, 2009, 08:25 PM »

Is there any depth I should concentrate most of my activity near?

iluvcrappie · « **Reply #3 on:** Jan 28, 2009, 08:08 AM »

try to find the breaks..........humps that transition from shallow to deep are a good bet for walleyes.........the best thing you can do is try ot cover as much of the lake as possible since you are allowed 6 lines...........here in Minnesota we only get 2 per person in the winter and 1 in the boat...............thi s time of year is hard to catch walleyes unless you can find them........I would concentrate on the 16-24 fow depending on the max depth of the lake(s).........jigging with the head of a minnow with a swedish pimple or just try out a Salmo Chubby Darter...........the Buckshot Rattle Spoon is another key lure when targeting big walleyes.......bounce it off the rocks or even the bottom to attract fish.......just remember wherever there are perch there are walleyes not far away as perch as the main food source for walleye as well as fatheads, and shiners......again this all depends on how much feed is available to the fish............hope any of this information helps you out a little bit..............

FishTank · « **Reply #4 on:** Jan 29, 2009, 06:19 PM »

iluvcrappie, you gave me an idea with mentioning perch as a primary forage of walleye. Have you ever stripped out the belly or flank of a perch and used the strip to jig with???

In the salt we strip squid into narrow slices, as well fillet mackrell and use just thin strips of skin, on bucktail jigs for various species.

I'm wondering if stripping out the white, fatty belly meat of a perch, and slicing it into thin triangular, maybe 1/2" long strips and tipping a sweedish pimple with it wouldn't produce. I remeber reading old school articles saying to do this for other species.

Do you think the smell of fresh cut perch, as well the undulating flash of the white belly strip, could turn on or bring in reluctant eyes???

There's a decent eye population in the pond I'm fish'n and I've been hittin' the perch. I think I'll give it a go and report back.

8)

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #5 on:** Jan 30, 2009, 11:47 AM »

In Wyoming we can't use meat off of a game fish. Another lake I fish doesn't have perch in it to my knowledge. It has trout and walleye and suckers. Any ideas on a lake like this? Thanks for all your information so far all.

jf5 · « **Reply #6 on:** Jan 30, 2009, 04:07 PM »

Are you fishing the baits just off the bottom?? Fishing at dusk and after dark??

I have done well with traps set up shallow (5-10 FOW) in the evening and after dark. Usually not to far from a weedline or drop off. They LOVE offshore shoals and humps.

Walleye can be a finicky fish...sometimes they are simply just tough to get.

duckman111 · « **Reply #7 on:** Jan 31, 2009, 05:54 PM »

hey big al if your trying to figure out winter walleye in boysen welcome to the club. i havent iced an eye in the last three trips. catching trout and perch but no eyes tried from 55 fow to 10 fow main lake ledges points submerged railroad fished mainly in day but stayed till 7 p.m. last trip i fish with a guy who has an under water camera out deep where we were catching perch you couldnt see well enough to tell anything ,that evening we went into a shallow cove and fished till dark never saw an eye up shallow. ive been told if you ever find them this time of year they will be bunched up. wish i had a camera myself.

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #8 on:** Jan 31, 2009, 10:50 PM »

Yes I am trying to find them in boysen and pathfinder and no luck. we went out yesterday to pathfinder we fished from 3 to 9. and we fished very shallow, deepest line was 15 feet. I wish I could catch some walleye and not always trout lol. thanks so far for your help. I am still trying to catch them guys. I would like to learn more about walleye and there are two ways fishing for them and learning from everyone else. Please keep giving your tips I appreciate it. Thanks all

eyeballs · « **Reply #9 on:** Feb 01, 2009, 10:55 AM »

I'll try and help, although I haven't fished your area. 1st thing with the walleyes, try and get a big picture of what stage fish are in, in relation to the spawn. Spawning time is getting closer and closer for you. Next, where were the last areas to produce good fishing during a hot bite - say fall time, where do you find concentrations of fish in the fall time? Now connect those dots, fish around good late fall zones and stay mobile moving towards the deeper water out from spawning areas. Your targets should be forage holding areas - big wide underwater points with humps off them. Bluff tailings can be good - where a channel sweeps up close to shore, or regular wide open basin flats in 25 to 35 FOW out from spawning areas. They could simply be roaming a large basin area mowing down perch. Use a good flasher and big baits like Chubby Darters 3 to 5 feet off the bottom while watching for higher suspended marks. Talk to your local biologist to identify major spawning areas if you don't know. If your lake is jammed with forage then it will be necessary to find a pack of walleyes, find packs and you've found some competition for forage - and a good bite. Hope this helps.

Eyeballs
www.inlandwalleye.com

duckman111 · « **Reply #10 on:** Feb 01, 2009, 04:52 PM »

thanks for the info this is my first full ice season on this lake. ive been studying the map and trying different depths and areas. thats what makes fishing fun and challenging. i will keep at it till i figure this lake out.

iluvcrappie · « **Reply #11 on:** Feb 03, 2009, 07:44 AM »

well as far as I know here in Minnesota you cant even use any type of fish for bait...........I have heard of people using an eye from a small perch with great success............I am not sure how the perch meat would work sounds more like pike bait to me.............I would try shiners or something along those lines for bait as walleyes really like the shiner minnows........figure out what type of baitfish are in the lake for the walleyes to feed on and try to find a lure that closely resembles them.............they slow down a lot this time of year although there are still some aggressive ones in the mix................jig gin raps, swedish pimples, frostee jiggin spoons, hali's, buckshot rattle spoons, and of course the Salmo Chubby Darter are a few different lures that walleye really key in on............if you are thinking about using perch as bait go get the salmo chubby darter in both the perch and hot perch color size 4 seems to work good for me..........I have a couple size 3's but the smaller fish like them too much

iluvcrappie · « **Reply #12 on:** Feb 03, 2009, 07:52 AM »

a lake that has suckers, walleye, and only trout in it I would try and use suckers as bait..........just small ones nothing real huge............around here walleyes will feed on sucker minnows I have seen more than one hog come through the hole while using suckers as bait.............try it out and see what happens what the worst that can happen

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #13 on:** Feb 05, 2009, 06:10 PM »

Thank you all, i will give it a try this weekend and see how it works. Thanks again everyone.

duckman111 · « **Reply #14 on:** Feb 07, 2009, 09:47 AM »

iced my first eye yesterday to bad it was only 12 inches long

did fill up a cooler with some nice perch though. may just stick to the 60 fow where the big schools of perch are and see if there are any bigger eyes around. didnt work for me yesterday but did mark some bigger fish right at dark just didnt want what i was jigging in front of them.

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 09, 2009, 08:37 PM »

Went to pathfinder this weekend and i had a ton of bites but couldn't ice a single fish. Could this be because of too large of a hook? The fish would just steal the minnow. I found fish however just cant seem to catch them.

duckman111 · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 10, 2009, 09:06 PM »

tie a swedish pimple on then thread a minnow on a dropper 6 inches below with a number 14 treble hook you will find out whats stealing your minnows

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 10, 2009, 10:38 PM »

What is threading a minnow?

duckman111 · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 11, 2009, 07:58 PM »

they sell 3 inch needles at littles i believe. check with LT i do taxidermy work as a hobby so i already had some that would work. thread your fishing line through the end of the needle then poke the needle in the minnow right behind his head just under the skin poke it out right behind his dorsal fin pull the line through with the small treble on it. the treble will sit right on top the minnows head.tie the other end on to your pimple or swivel. LT told me about this trick and it really works. i use it on my tipups and i have a 90% hookup rate with them. whats nice to is perch usually push the minnow up the line and after you unhook the perch you can just slide the minnow down and go again.you have to retie each time if they get your minnow but its worth it. i tie some extras before each trip cut your lines all the same legnth and you wont have to reset your depths on your tipups. you can thread some extra minnows and throw them back in the bucket they stay lively hooked up like this.

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #19 on:** Feb 11, 2009, 11:48 PM »

Ok i will try that sounds very time consuming but i will always try a good tip at least once. Thanks Duckman.

duckman111 · « **Reply #20 on:** Feb 12, 2009, 05:33 PM »

once you get the hang of it it doesnt tak long at all. beats the heck out of reeling up bare hooks

Big Al 1 · « **Reply #21 on:** Feb 12, 2009, 05:54 PM »

Is there anyway you can post a picture for a better visual. I think i understand just wanna make sure though.

duckman111 · « **Reply #22 on:** Feb 12, 2009, 06:19 PM »

i will work on it i will post it on the wyoming thread.

Baydog · « **Reply #23 on:** Feb 26, 2009, 12:16 PM »

Big Al- I am interested in how you are doing with the Walleyes. Couple of suggestions, make sure your hook is SHARP. If you can lightly dragging it across your thumb nail without it hooking in, then your hook is not sharp enough. Secondly, Walleyes are known to "suck" on the bait at times, then when you set the hook, nothing is there. Let them have it for a while, then pull away an couple of inches and wait. They can be very aggravating to fish. Keep at it, it is worth learning their tricks. Do not forget them when softer water comes.

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Author Topic: What am I doing wrong (Read 4851 times)