need info please

[i c]

ive never caught a ling or walleye and have always wanted to.wondering where my best chances might be?live about 30 miles east of missoula on i-90.also ive heard, for ling fish on the bottom with a glow jig,and walleye some sort of ligging spoon with crawler or rapala jigger?what size rapala?i have a small one,also does any color pattern work better than another?finally looks like i will have a little time off,due to too much snow,and was wondering if any one from the area that knew what they were doing were going maybe i could tag along and learn a few things.i have a eskimo quick flip 3 with a propane heater,dodge truck with plenty of room,willing to drive,a vexilar fl-8,hand auger ,no tip ups,but plenty of poles.thanks for the info and any help

[chucknduck]

Never caught a walleye but have caught ling.  I have fished for ling at Clark Canyon.  Fished around the island and near the dam.  It seems the deeper the water the better.  Fished with large jigs(glow in the dark) with sucker meat or worms.  mostly got them jigging at night but have also caught them in the day.  used to set up one rod for ling and fish for trout on the others usually catch one durring the day.  Canyon Ferry has ling too.  not sure what other lakes do. They are supposed to be good eatin but i could never figure out how to cook them so they tasted good. 

[rrfish]

  Most of your walleyes are caught while jigging (unless you can use live bait).  I've had the best luck using rattle spoons or jigging rapalas, or maybe a chubby darter.  color patterns vary....  with the jigging spoon I usually put a dead minnow on there...

[mike_skoges]

I would totally agree with jigging shad raps, or rattln flyers, but you can't beat a chubby darter! They swim very very nice... I have sen some big walleyes hit the chubby darters I use them for perch and catch some big perch with them as well. I was fishing east bay the other day and was trying to catch some perch with one on two pound test and had about a 12 pound Mac bust me off in 3 feet of water as well... They think they are fish and hit them hard... Be prepared to have a pair of pliers with you though because they will most likely swallow it!

[chucknduck]

Ill have to try the chubby darter at cooney.  I dont have a fish finder so would you  just concentrate a foor or two off the bottom?

[mike_skoges]

Yes concentrate about a foot off the bottom and you will see that the chubby darter will swim everywhere... I have had a flasher and picked up my jig 6 feet over in another hole. They will swim all over the place so make sure you pop the darter and then slowly let it float down. The Walleye will hit it on the drop a lot of time!

[pioneer MT]

What size chubbys? The four seem kind of big, but ive heard up to three inches when fishing for eyes.

[i c]

went out browns on thursday and got skunked but had two on and then went to canyon ferry for the first time thursday night and fished all night sucker meat at the bottom but didnt catch a thing,had 3 people me included 16 tip ups and i jigged all night with 2 poles, fished off of white earth,depth between 25-40 feet.what am i doing wrong?maybe ive just got some terrible fishing luck .browns is always slow but not sure about canyon ferry? might have to go try clark canyon for ling ,i talked to a guy at browns and he said that the fishing was real good there and that he caught quite a few ling.maybe theres some rituals im not doing right or possibly i forgot to put on my lucky fishing underwear or something.who knows but on the bright side it can only get better.

[AKFISHFOOL]

Hey ther i c, I am from Alaska, we don't have walleye, but we have plenty of Burbot (ling), and they are normally found in the deeper parts of lakes, in rivers they can be found at the confluences of creeks into the rivers, or back eddies in bends or behind structure.  The best thing to use is about a six inch live bait fish that is native to that lake or river if allowed by law.  If not, a large chunk of cut bait that is legal.  You just put about a 1/2 ounce sinker about two feet above your hook in a lake and however much weight will keep it planted to the bottom in a river and about half the distance between hook and weight for a river.  they are great tasting fish that have a texture and if prepared in a sugar water boil, can have the taste of lobster. Dip it in garlic butter.  YUM!  Good luck man!

[AKFISHFOOL]

I also know that as the winter progresses, the oxygen in the lake diminishes and burbot will come shallower to gain more oxygen. Case in point, I was fishing a lake about a week ago 85 miles north of Anchorage, AK and we had 8 tip ups set out in various depths from 15 feet to 60 feet in about a 20 yard strech.  It had a real steep drop off.  the two tip ups set in 15 feet of water got spooled and then broken off by big burbot.  the others did not get touched.  We know the two that broken off were from burbot because someone down the lake caught one of them with our line and the end of our tip up attached!  later in the year you can expect them to be in 25 feet or less, normally around weedlines, it also helps to find an area with a steep drop off and weedlines in the 5-15 foot range.  hope that helps.

[cuznalfy]

I C how thick was the ice at whitearth? and were abouts were you that's were i try for ling at sounds like you doing everything i do with the tipups what you might want to try different next time is try perch meat no edible parts per regulations, and maybe try lifting a couple tipups about 2 feet off bottom  For the walleye at C.F. what works for me for the few i do catch. i look for a good point with a good drop off and drill a bunch off holes before dark  and start at dusk start hole hopping start deep work your way into the shallow water try buckshoots, jigging raps, chubby darter, you will have to see what the want. hope this helps just my 2cents 

[i c]

thank you akfishfool that looks like a nice one in your signature.i would think that the oxygen would be fine as it had just iced up,dont know anything about ling so thank you for the info.cuznalfy the ice was about 2-3 inches thick,i was where the road splits to go to the campground i went right out onto a gravel shoreline.there was a truck and a camper parked there also.i fished about in the middle between the shores 25-28 feet deep and then out towards the main lake by a rock point 40 feet deep,i jigged the bottom with a glow spoon tipped with sucker and also had my perch setup at about 20 feet with shrimp.did get a few fish on the flasher at about 20 feet but nothing would bite or even nibble never did see any on the bottom with the flasher.there were some solid green marks at about 30 feet on the flasher that never moved all night,wish i would have had a camera to see what it was.it was also a full moon and some people have said that is bad for ling but the ice had a lot of snow cover so dont know.any way if you get out let me know how you do,where do you fish mostly and how deep also what for bait? thanks