walleye fishing at canyon ferry

[fishforfood72]

 

Anybody having any luck this year?

what do you guys use for bait types of jigs looking for some insight of where to go and depths of water time of night etc

been really wanting to give it a try ! 

[NONYA]

Been picking up the occasional dink eye while jigging for perch,rainbow colored vertical minnow jig tipped with maggots.

[perchhogslayer]

I've caught 2 this year.  both small, one REALLY small, didn't know they made em that small!  one was on maggots setup for perch, just deadsticking,  the other was with a tiny pice of perch neck on a pimple, also set up for perch.  Never targeted the eyes in the winter. can't use minnows so it has always seemed like a fruitless effort. 

[wallinuts]

Jiggin frozen minnow heads on a buckshot rattle spoon works really well throught the ice. Just finding them bigger fish during the winter seems to be the tough part.  I used to spend hours upon hours up north of the silos between white earth goose bay and as far north as the ice would allow.  Out of all the hours logged fishing and drilling countless holes I never iced an eye up there  I had one about six pounds up to the hole
around white earth fishing for ling but ended up loosing him.  We have caught a few of them down by the hole and the wall and over by duck creek but all have been 13 inches or less.  We also do very well on berkley gulp in the summer on canton ferry so I don't know why it wouldn't work now.  I rarely chase them on Canyon Ferry now cuz we just head north and they are a little easier to catch at times.  Good luck

[fishinwithbrittanies]

I just got back from a trip fishing for walleye on Nelson up by Malta.  Had a great time and put up quite a few but only one real nice one.  From that this is what I have learned.  Fish twilight periods they are the best.  Not to say they cant be caught during the day, I have caught a few fishing for perch.  What I have learned is that the walleye with their highly light sensitive eyes have an advantage over their prey when light changes and forage fish move from feeding areas to shelter areas.  I caught all of mine on medium size glowing raps tipped with minnow head or tail.  You gotta find some sort of structure and the map I just got shows little to no real structure on CF coupled with the fact you can't use live bait makes targeting them tough but not impossible.  Fishing Nelson we out fished tip ups with live bait every single night that we jigged.  Some sort of a sonar is an advantage but walleye are almost always keyed into the bottom and all the fish I caught were right on the bottom.  The sonar alerts you to fish when they are there and you can tell if your jigging is spooking them or encouraging a strike.  Jig hard pause jig hard pause jiggle pause and don't be afraid to cut holes.....lots of holes.  I've also read that if you can cut all the holes you can before you think walleyes will move.  We gathered that they move in from deep water to shallow water at night.  Look for big deep flats with steep drop offs that are in close to shallow flats for them to feed at night.  I'd start fishing a couple of hours before sunset to a couple hours after sunset.  Wear a head lamp and have some fun.  Good luck out there

[cutbow_07]

Yeah me and my friends did ok up at nelson as well this past weekend.  Fished out from the boat dock and then down by the dam where we got into some nice eyes.  We were using buckshots with minnows or heads.  7FOW-15FOW.  Good Luck 

[fishinforpigs]

I've put 4 little dink eyes on the ice this year up at canyon ferry. Haven't really been fishing for them yet though. Caught all of them on Halli's and maggots with lot's of jigging just about 2 inches off of the bottom. Caught in the middle of the day in real deep water 50 plus feet. I talked to a couple of guys that had 4 or 5 nice eyes last weekend around duck pond number 2 about 1oo yards off shore. Said that they caught them in the early morning right around sunrise. Remembering from the summer I would say that the water is about 15 feet deep around there and I know that there are a few sand bar shelves in the area

[fishinwithbrittanies]

A, by real nice what do you mean.  A pound, 3 pounds 6 pounds +
B, was it in the channel or something , I fished down there on the access south of Silos and It was only like 4 feet deep, I figured it was even more shallow the more south you went.
I have read and heard from some very reliable sources on here wink wink that they come up into the shallows during late ice.  Wouldn't mind strokin some eyes close to the bozone/helena area and not having to drive to Malta or Fort Peck to do so.

[fishforfood72]

 hows ice around white earth and how far north anybody know

[fishinforpigs]

They had one that would have went 4.5 pounds and the others were right around that 2-3 pound class. Maybe, I am incorrect when I said duck pond #2, but I was talking about the East side of the lake just above the graveyards off of duck creek. I believe that they little ponds are called duck pond 1 and 2 on the maps. There seems to be a couple of deep channels over there that go down to about 15-20 feet deep and then come up so high that you can get out of your boat and walk in the summer if you wanted. Let me know what you think, and I will keep you posted if I get out and fish specificly for walleye

[fishinwithbrittanies]

Those sound like good ones and better than Ive heard of anybody catching through the ice.  If you ever want to give it a go let me know.  I know canyon ferry so so but I just picked up a map of the lake at silos store.  I'll give it another look for what your talking about down there.  I have a buddy who lives in Helena I should be able to stay with and fish an evening or two up there.  Walleye are a blast when you get into them and they are excellent on the table.  Let me know. 

[ah gee bobba]

hows ice around white earth and how far north anybody know

Was west of white earth on Saturday (windy cold SOB) ice is a good 15 inches.  Trout bite was steady for only using two poles in the shack because of the cold.

[NONYA]

any ling action agee?

[ah gee bobba]

No, all trout.  Was fishin in about 35 FOW between 8:30 am and 1:00 pm.

[perchhogslayer]

No, all trout.  Was fishin in about 35 FOW between 8:30 am and 1:00 pm.

I used to catch perch up at white earth as a kid,  thats was when there were perch everywhere in canyon ferry though... Was 35 feet the bottom where you were at, if not, how deep was the bottom.  I haven't fished up there since I was a kid,  curious how the perch fishing would be. 

Ice has been a problem in that area in recent years,  How thick is it there now?