Walleye Fishing

[beer batter]

Newbie on this board.  Love to fish.  Been browsing the forum a bit and it looks like most of the traffic is coming from the southern half of the country.  My guess is there's not much walleye fishing going on down there.

Anybody from the north country?  Myself, I'm in Minnesota.  Arguably the best walleye fishing state in the country.  Nothing better than spending a summer day pulling in a few walleyes then have a beer batter fish fry while watching the sun set around the camp fire.

Anybody having success this summer with the walleyes?  What's working for you?  It's been very slow where I'm at.  Rain and wind has been the typical weather report each day for the past 2 months.  Looks like we're finally getting a break in the weather this week.  Time to switch from minnows to leeches and crawlers to entice the walleyes.

 

[Tom]

I'm not a Northerner and I haven't had an opportunity to fish for walleye. Are they a lake fish? Any special techniques to fish for them?

 

[Woody]

Tom,

You must be a westerner, or from the Deep South. All easterner and midwesterner fishermen are very familiar with the venerable walleye. It is a member of the pike family and only slightly less aggressive than a Northern Pike.
They are found in most northern states such as New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and all parts of Canada.
They only breed aggressively in deep lakes with rocky bottoms. Many midwestern states such as Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa have tried to introduce them into local bodies of water, where they will thrive but not breed very well.
Predominant baits are minnows, night crawlers, leeches, and artificial deep running lures.

Woody

Woody

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the explanation Woody. We live on the west coast, so I've read about walleye but never had an opportunity to fish for them.

 

[Woody]

Hi Tom,

In my opinion they are the best eating fish there is, at least the ones under three pounds. Nest best would be bluegill, followed by lake trout. Northern Pike at too bony. Salmon can be strong flavored, depending where they are caught.

Woody

 

[Ron]

I have fished for Walleye in the past and have enjoyed it.  They are a lot of fun to catch.  I prefer a good pink meat trout over they walleye but walleye are good to eat and I wouldn't turn away from a walleye dinner.

 

[Tom]

Ron

Your lake trout sure have that unique pink meat and it was the first time I'd seen that color meat on a trout. Isn't that due to shrimp in the lake?

 

[Ron]

Ron

Your lake trout sure have that unique pink meat and it was the first time I'd seen that color meat on a trout. Isn't that due to shrimp in the lake?

Freash water shrimp do cause the pink meat.  But I have caught trout in Wyo and Montana streams that have the same pink color meat.  I do enjoy eating those trout from Akley.  They are very good smoked too.

 

[Tom]

They are very good smoked too.

They sure are Ron.

 

[beer batter]

Walleyes are tyically found near the bottom of lakes and rivers during the day due to their nature of being shy of the light.  They'll come feeding in the shallows during the night time.  Their eye's are very sensative to light, thus the name.  If you see a walleye in the dark you'd almost swear they're eyes glow because they reflect the smallest amount of light.  They bite best during the periods of the day when the sun if barely evident (dusk and dawn).  Early spring, fall and winter time it seems they feed more on minnows.  Summer months I find them biting on leeches and night crawlers best.  My theory on the reason for the change to leeches and crawlers is due to bug hatch forage they become accustomed to.

The bug hatches only occur during the summer months.  May flies are very prevalent in my neck of the woods.  The may flies larvae (nymphs) float out of the mud bottoms when water temps reach the high 60 degree range.  These nymphs are shaped more like a night crawler or leech than a minnow.  The walleyes gorge on these nymphs during the summer hatch months.  You have to feed the fish what they're used to eating from the natural forage, you fly fishing guys are well accustomed to that strategy.  That's why I think they change from wanting minnows to the leeches or crawlers during the summer months.

Walleyes are a challenge to catch.  They're not nearly as aggressive as a northern pike or bass.  You have to detect their light bite, then give out slack in the line to allow them to take your bait without them feeling any resistance.  After 5-10 seconds you slowly take in the slack until you feel their resistance, then rear back and set the hook.  Hopefully you've got a fish on the other end.

It's hard to beat the walleye when it comes to table fair.  A sunfish or crappie is pretty close but when it comes to cleaning fish, you'd have to clean 10 times the amount of panfish to equal the amount of meat provided by a 18 inch walleye.  I don't care much for cleaning fish so I prefer catch walleye to the panfish. 

We're finally in for a stretch of stable, warm weather here in Minnesota.  Hopefully if will trigger a good bite on the lakes.

Cheers.

 

[Tom]

Their eye's are very sensative to light, thus the name.

Thanks for that explanation. I learn something new every day.

My theory on the reason for the change to leeches and crawlers is due to bug hatch forage they become accustomed to.

Sounds like a very logical and credible theory to me.

You have to detect their light bite, then give out slack in the line to allow them to take your bait without them feeling any resistance. After 5-10 seconds you slowly take in the slack until you feel their resistance, then rear back and set the hook.

Sounds almost identical to hooking sturgeon.

Let us know how the warm weather bite goes, and don't forget to upload a photo or two of your catches.

 

[beer batter]

Turns out the warm weather didn't really trigger the walleye bite as I hoped.  Managed a few around dusk with lighted slip bobbers and leeches.  Other than that they didn't bite at all.

The carp were spawning in the shallows over the weekend.  Anyboy ever gone out shooting carp with a bow and arrow?  I had never done it prior to this past weekend.  Boy, is that ever fun.  Some of those pigs weighed over 40 lbs.

Carp are very destructive to the natural eco-system of a lake so it's a very good thing to get rid of them.  They root around the shore lines for spawn of all the other natural fish of the lake eating up what would otherwise be the next generation of fish.  They also stir up all the sentiment from the bottom of the lake inhibiting the natural fertilization of spawn eggs from hatching properly.

 

[Tom]

Anyboy ever gone out shooting carp with a bow and arrow?

Haven't done it myself, but have seen folks do it with a crossbow.

 

[dverstra]

I just joined the forum and noticed the fishing section. I just had to keep the walleye thread going.

I'm from Michigan and fish quite often for walleye, although my avatar isn't exactly a walleye. I have fished in MN also. Lakes Winnie, Vermillion, Lake of the Woods,. It's a great state to fish for the best tasting fish IMHO. I really like jigging for them. It makes me feel like I am catching a fish, not just dragging it around after trolling for it.

 

[Tom]

Welcome dverstra. Glad you noticed the fishing board and decided to jump in. One of these days I'm going to get to do some walleye fishing.

 

[1996terry]

I'm another person that enjoys fishing for walleye. I personally like the taste of them as well, plus as mentioned, they are decently easy to fillet. The northern pike (or jack fish as us Saskatchewians' call them) are alot more slimmy and more difficult to debone (although my dad will stand in the filleting shack for an hour getting all the bones out with minimal fillet loss lol)

I'm headed up to Jan Lake in a couple weeks, so I'll post back here to tell you guys how the walleye fishing was (I go up there to fish for walleye only).
The pikes usually will bite on anything, but a walleye sometimes will take a little more then a "five of diamonds" spoon to catch.

I usually use a "wally diver" or anything that dives basically to catch them. However, since Jan Lake borders with the Candian shield and the Boreal frest, the lake bed is all rock, and I usually expect to lose one of two divers in a few days... It is all worth it in the end!! 

 

[Tom]

Jeff

Don't forget to take the camera along and post some photos of your catch.

 

[1996terry]

No, I can't forget the camera!!

I need to find a nice compact cheaper digital "point and shoot" camera to carry along with me at all times....it seems whenever I want to take a good picture, I have no camera, and when I do have a camera, the oppurtunity never arises to use it. Plus, I'd like something inexpensive just incase it gets dinged up, or worse..

My dad and I are spliting the cost of a Nikon D70s SLR, but that is a little big to carry around on the belt or pocket...

As for now, I'll bring along my old digital from 1996 lol...

Maybe I'll just bring along my film camera, but I find it a hassle to have the film developed, then scan the photos into digital format, but we'll see...

Thanks for reminding me about the camera Tom

- Jeff L.

 

[caltex]

Jeff, the answer to always having a camera is to get one in your cell phone. I don't have one in my current phone, but the next one will.  Then I will always be ready for that big fish or whatever.

 

[waterdog]

Hi all, just read this post about walleye fishing and thought I should jump in..since I live for fishing!  I've fished walleyes (along with just about every other fish that swims) for over 50 years.  Fished all the lakes and rivers of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Lake of the Woods-Mn, Lake Sakawea ND, Columbia River..you name it and I've fished it for walleye..plus northern pike and lakers.  First off, though, I have to correct the part about walleyes being a pike family member..wrong, they are a  member of the perch family.  Never could understand that walleyed 'pike' name?

For RVers interested in a very great summer camping/fishing trip try the Hanson Lake Road running through northern Manitoba and into Saskatchewan.  You will find lots of great Provincial Parks on lakes with ramps and great campgrounds.  Buy a season's pass and get a super discount at all Provincial Parks in Canada.  A great idea is to tow your 5th Wheel with a fishing boat behind.  From any lakeside campground on the Hanson Lake Road you can branch out with your pickup and boat to find dozens of beautiful lakes within an easy short ride from your main camp.

After walleye season is over, we head south to Baja, Mexico for 6 months to fish for marlin, sailfish, dorado, tuna, and yellowtail...a nice change, but nothing compares to the tasty walleye fillets...except maybe another PERCH!