The Spoonpluggers Forum

ok walleye are more active after a front, but they are also wanders. i'm catching bass but i can't find the walleyes. is summer a bad time to fish them? when do they move onto structure.
help i'm getting discouraged!!!

My best day of catchng walleye was on the hottest muggiest day of the year. It was July 19-21 in Ohio, no......it was NOT Lake Erie boys. I caught, if memory serves me, 19 fish averaging about 5 lbs.
There were 3 or 4 9-10 lb fish and the following weekend a buddy went with me. It was so foggy that morning, the 45 min. drive took forever. I had to literally watch the line in the center of the road. Any how, first couple passes I had a big fish on, got it to the boat, my buddy came unglued when he saw it. He got the fish in the net, but it dove and went right thru the netting! we caught 6 or 7 fish that day too, and he caught a 9 lber.

Sorry about the rambling. To answer your question, just like Bucks book says, fish for the largemouth, the walleye's will get in your way! Control your speed, checking it often!

Summer is a great time for walleye and fishing a lake with good populations of walleye after a front is putting the odds in your favor.

A few of the 1st questions we must ask are, dose this lake have a good population of walleye? Are there recent reports, pictures, stocking, ect. and the most reliable info you can obtain is, "are there other spoonpluggers catching em?" If it's yes then you will get them if you invest the time.

Years ago Terry O'Malley and Vic Saunders would drive north 3 hours to Lake Wisconsin on post front days and clean up, however LW and others were literally loaded with walleye. These two would catch as many as 80 walleye under a bad weather condition in a day, many times free running. In this lake the walleye was by far the most abundant species.

The way I see it is if the walleye is not the #1 fish in terms of numbers they will not move or be found with the pike or muskie. You will see the pike go 1st, followed by the bass, and then finally many times about dusk, the walleye get there turn.

As spoonpluggers we catch what's there and if your not catching em in great numbers yet then either their might not be the population you were hoping for, or you may need to keep working it till dark.

Here is what I do when I go to a new lake, 1st, I go with every intension of returning to it, not to "try" it, we're going until I know it like the back of my hand. If we learn it and determine the lake is void of desirable #'s or size, then it's time to move on.

So we start out trolling it shallow, just like the book says and we work it down in the areas that look the best.

Say we fished a lake 10 times under all types of weather conditions. It dose not matter if we catch fish when we 1st go to a new lake, we are there to learn the lake 1st. The catching will come later but say we catch a few fish off 3-4 different spots, and isn't there is always "one" that you know is "the best?", the fish tell us as well. We might have 5 or 6 other spots that look good and we suspect they could produce, but we "WILL" get to those spots another time.

When learning a new lake I'll troll all day anchoring only if we see something happen. After a few trips I'll anchor on the best one/s just before dusk and wait for the walleye to show up.

This example is on a lake where the pike or muskie is #1 and the walleye is down on the list in terms of #'s. If the walleye is #1 then you will catch them trolling and you should anchor up when you hit one or two off the same spot.

Bucksnort- You will also want to read about the seasonal movements of Walleyein "The Book". I'm in the same boat, the Bass fisherman catch some big walleye's here, but nobody really fishes for them. This lake is deep (140'+) and clear, it is a highlander, but also has lowlander features in some of the larger bays and of course the head waters. Stripers are also fairly plentiful and they are #2 on the fishing hit list. I'm sure I'm not looking deep enough, because the water also gets hot here in the summer, pushing 90 degrees! Figuring where they are in there seasonal movements on a 35 mile long lake will take a LOT of looking!

Gary Schiffner wrote:Bucksnort- You will also want to read about the seasonal movements of Walleyein "The Book". I'm in the same boat, the Bass fisherman catch some big walleye's here, but nobody really fishes for them. This lake is deep (140'+) and clear, it is a highlander, but also has lowlander features in some of the larger bays and of course the head waters. Stripers are also fairly plentiful and they are #2 on the fishing hit list. I'm sure I'm not looking deep enough, because the water also gets hot here in the summer, pushing 90 degrees! Figuring where they are in there seasonal movements on a 35 mile long lake will take a LOT of looking!

Gary,
Another issue you may need to explore is the 90deg water. Do not be lulled by the myth that the walleye is a fish that requires a slow presentation. He is affected by temp as much as any other fish. Granted you may not need to drive at 8 miles an hour like you would for a Bass, Pike, or Musky - but if you drag crawlers, minnows, or leeches as per the Pro Walleye crowd you could go fishless.
It is amazing how fast relative to regular Walleye fisherman presentations you need to go for the Walleyes to hit. I see it all the time. We troll past guides going for walleyes who are drifting slow with minnows. They are catching fish, generally the smaller ones. We tear past them with spoonplugs, catching more and bigger fish.

It is a marvelous point to read the section of the GREEN BOOK concerning the seasonal movements of fish. You could be fishing in an area where there are NO walleyes. As an example there is a section of the Mississippi River that is about 100 miles long, with locks/dams on either side. At the upriver dam area, by mid July there won't be ANY walleyes or Sauger. July 17th by my experience. Then in November the Big Sauger (6+ Pounds) and large male walleyes start showing up again. January/February the BIG GIRLs (13+ pounds) start showing up, with the peak being end of March to late April. The big ones don't stay long but there are fish within 3 miles of the upstream dam again until mid July. After that you have to go downstream and find them, sometimes all the 100 miles.

I have thought about getting an outing for March/April up here because catching a 14+ Walleye or 7 Pound Sauger is a real possibility. But it takes a hardy soul to go out in temps 10deg and colder...

Now this migration is specific to big water/river situations. Most lakes are smaller and the walleyes won't move MILES in a day. Being in a reservoir, you need to put the seasonal migrations into your plan of attack.

Fran, I lived on the other end of this lake before, about 15 or so miles away. I caught fish on that end and did a lot of learning the area. We just move a couple of monthes ago to the opposite end, toward the dam. I haven't ran all over this new area yet. My plan was to learn the area closest to me and map before I move on. There is a ton of good structure. Also there are 5 ramps within a couple miles of my house, I have avoided the temptation to run all over helter skelter. I haven't even tried to hunt down the walleyes, mostly trying to tap the Smallmouth population.