Great Lakes Walleye 101

[Bucky]

Trolling after dark shallow for pig walleyes I agree 100% the bow mount trolling motor is the way 2 go!

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Trolling after dark, especially with an electric, is one of the best techniques there is for Toad Walleye. A lot of guides and Pro's have made names for themselves doing just that. Here in Michigan, Mark Martin guided this way decades ago, and inherited the technique from his father and grandfather- a multi generational method of taking big walleyes in one family.

This reminds me to bring up one of the most unique, intriguing types of walleye fishing I have ever done. You can do it with buddies too, but to take in the ultimate experience I recommend trying it yourself on the Great Lakes. It will be an experience you always remember...

Find a stretch of Great Lakes shoreline that is rocky, perhaps a big point that juts out into the lake... figure out a way to access the shoreline legally, whether from a launch / park / someone you know, or whatever. Show up around midnight and don a pair of waders. Grab your walleye rod with a tied on floating #13 Rapala and wade out waist deep... begin casting as you slowly and carefully work your way down the shoreline.

The lights of the homes and cottages along the shoreline... the sound of the waves in the dark striking the beach... the glow of the nighttime sky over the water... the lights of a Great Lakes freighter on the distant horizon... will leave you with a nearly surreal experience of fishing... a memory that I don't forget.

Just like bucky mentioned, there are very large walleyes to be had in the shallows at night. What most Great Lakes fisherman do not realize is that Beast walleyes, 7 - 10 pounds, cruise into the shallows in the middle of the night to feed. They come in much shallower than even the tiniest boat can acesss, I'm talking knee deep water.

Casting into the darkness in this amazing setting will really become interesting when a 28" walleye grabs your Rapala right in front of your waders! They are fresh water sharks on the feed, searching for minnows, crayfish and other small fish...

Don't live anywhere near one of the Great Lakes? Find and access an inland lake shoreline that is rocky and use the same technique... been there, done that!

I can't recommend enough that you try this at least once in your lifetime- you won't forget it!

My favorite way to fish... trolling you can cover more ground.... casting is more fun... you can actually see their eyes with a head lamp or spot light in the shallows

The best times are typically early spring and late fall for higher numbers of fish in shallow

Sometimes you catch mutiple at once... almost like a pack of wolves feeding

[Singing Bridge]

Excellent pics Bucky! I've got a feeling you may get asked a question or two!

[C&T Archery]

I don't take a ton of pics while fishing, but I will try to take more.

Here are a couple of nicer ones off of Winnebago for a couple of weeks ago.





Hope to get out one day this weekend

[C&T Archery]

Nice Fish Bucky! Dang! I need to get to the Bay of GB more!

[Bucky]

Nice Fish Bucky! Dang! I need to get to the Bay of GB more!

I live in Appleton too.... not that far away and better fishing that bago





















etc etc

[C&T Archery]

Dang Bucky!

usually if I fish the Bay it's out of Oconto, because that is where I grew up. I will have to start learning the lower bay of Green Bay.

[Bucky]

I fish both shorelines..... from GB to Marinette and from GB to Sturgeon Bay

The trend every yr seems to be Fox River is hot 1st, then Octonto/Peshtigo/Menominee, then SB, then lower bay.

Biggest fish typically come from Northern waters = Menominee River and Sturgeon Bay area

[C&T Archery]

I catch them out of Oconto, but nothing huge. Probably wrong time a year. I think my biggest out of Oconto has been 24". Which is a great fish, but I know guys that get 30"+

Although I don't do it that often. I will to try and get out there more. Will help when my kids get a bit older :)

[Singing Bridge]

Excellent pics gentlemen! Care to share some pointers and tactics? Bucky I wouldn't mind learning more from your nighttime forays... C & T I think you have a lot to offer as well- I'm very impressed with your abilities from a minimalist standpoint as there's no need to shell out a fortune to tap into the abundant numbers of walleye across the Midwest. The walleye fishing I enjoyed the most was in my aforementioned 14 foot Sears aluminum with a 10 horse Johnson... I had NO electronics whatsoever when I first got the boat.

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[DEERSLAYER]

Wow, that is one fat pig lying there in the grass and an impressive picture holding those four eye's. Lot's of great pics Bucky. I have caught a couple 28 inchers, but I almost always get skunked when it comes to walleye so I quit going. I could do well if I went in the spring and was willing to put up with the combat fishing, but the tight quarters, people swearing at each other, etc takes the fun out of it for me.

...I tied on Hot-N-Tots and let out enough line to get them 10 - 11 feet down...

Getting out the right amount of the right line with the right lure is a big pain in the rear. I bought Precision Trolling many years ago but never used the info because I would have had to buy all new equipment and lures. I guess I will have to spend a few days on the water dragging lures trying detect when I'm ticking bottom at different speeds with different lures to have some lures to use. Consistent high quality fishing takes an investment of time and/or money that's for sure.

[BGHUNTER]

AWESOME posts.

[C&T Archery]

After work on Friday took my 3 and 4 year old out on Winnebago fishing for a couple hours. Tried trolling Flicker shads in the 10 to 11 foot range just off the reefs. Was picking up sooooooooo much float grass I got sick of pulling in lines and clean off the Flicker Shads, so we anchored just off a reef and we ended up with a ton of drum and a 16, 17, 17, 18 and 21 in walleye. Kids had fun as they got to reel in a bunch of fish. it's nice when they are young enough, that they don't care what kind of fish it is :)

[C&T Archery]

Excellent pics gentlemen! Care to share some pointers and tactics? Bucky I wouldn't mind learning more from your nighttime forays... C & T I think you have a lot to offer as well- I'm very impressed with your abilities from a minimalist standpoint as there's no need to shell out a fortune to tap into the abundant numbers of walleye across the Midwest. The walleye fishing I enjoyed the most was in my aforementioned 14 foot Sears aluminum with a 10 horse Johnson... I had NO electronics whatsoever when I first got the boat.

[ Post made via Android ]

Here you go. I will do another one on different styles I use.

Walleye Equipment

Walleye Fishing can get expensive if you let or want it to be. Not that I’m saying the latest and greatest electronics aren’t worth the investment, it’s just how many of us have the exposable income to invest. Me, myself, well I’m trying to save every last dime, to put up a little hunting cabin on our land in the next couple years. We are taking it in stages, so I don’t have $1,500+ dollars for a Minnkota I-pilot, or a Lowrance Chart Plotter, heck I don’t even like purchasing crawler harnesses from Fleet Farm or a local sporting goods store. So how do you go about saving money and still be able to catch fish? Well here is what I do and maybe some if not all of you can come up with additional ways you save and can share with us.

1) Line Counters---Now I must admit I do have these now. For the last 2 years, I have waited for the season end sale at Fleet Farm and you can pick them up fairly cheap like around $47 to $50 for a combo rod and reel. So I bought 3 each of the last 2 years. What I did before? I used open reels. Walleye fishing is all about repeating what works on a certain day. I have a 16’ boat and I took black paint and small brush and measured 10 feet and made a line on each of my rails from the back of the boat. This way when letting line out I would “walk it back to the line” as many times as I need to too stay consistent.
2) Crawler Harnesses – When I first started Salmon Fishing and we bought a “Salmon Fly” For $4.00 back in 1994. I thought to myself, this could get expensive. So I bought like 10 flies. 9 I used and 1 I took apart piece by piece. I found out I could buy material in bulk from a supplier in Milwaukee and I started tying my own. Including the leaders. Well I have the same desire with Harnesses. I buy bulk hooks, clevises and different styles of spinner blades. Fleet Farm, Cabela’s and Gander sell 3 pack of blades for like $4.00. Well heck I buy 25 blades off the internet for like $7.00 and paint them myself. How do I do this? Well go into the drawer of your wife’s finger nail polish and have at it. After they dry I use her clear coat polish to make them last a little longer. They don’t look as nice, but the fish don’t seem to mind. ( I rub the copper, silver and gold blades with a paper towel and Acetone to take any oily finish off before painting them. If you aren’t going to paint, then don’t wipe with acetone. Only do it when you are ready to paint. It evaporates very quickly. I found no need to do this on the painting chartreuse blades.
3) Gps/Chart Plotter – I can’t justify “yet” on spending the money on one of these fine pieces of equipment. I would LOVE to have, but it’s just not in the budget. So what do I do? I utilize a couple of things. I have a $99.00 handheld GPS. (this gives me way points, trolling speed and a couple of Tracking options) I go to the DNR website and print out the topo maps of certain lakes I’m going to fish. The other thing I did was pay for a yearly membership to LakeLink.com ($39.00) and here I had access to their mapping system. So when I looked for reefs on their interactive map and I put my mouse over the reef location I was able to write down the coordinates and I entered those in my GPS and named them accordingly. This gives you starting points for whatever trip you wanted. You might even be able to do contours if you wish.
4) Trolling Motor/Kicker—Minnkota had revolutionized the trolling motor world with their I-pilot system. But again, not something I can invest in at this time. I do have a 24 volt system and it’s a transom mount, so I sit on the beam by the motor and steer. Mine has a lock down feature where it’s like a threaded nut that I can tighten to keep the motor from spinning, so this helps. To steer I stand in the middle of the boat you can turn the boat by shifting your weight from side to side whichever may you want to turn. For those who have transom mounts without the lock down feature. Well I used to use a bungee cord. I would Tape one end of the cord to the handle and have an eye bolt somewhere where it kept tension on the handle. We did this when Salmon fishing with the steering wheel also. There we put the hook on the opposite side of the steering console and when the rod would go off we would grab the bungee and attach it to the wheel. The tricky part is finding the right length bungee that is strong enough to give you a good hold. We used the thick black rubber ones.

I hope this helps out anyone looking to save money and still get out and be successful walleye fishing. If anyone is interested in learning how to tie their own harnesses or Lake Michigan flies please let me know I would be glad to show anyone or if you have general questions for me, then ask away.

[Bucky]

1. The Ipilot is worth the $$$ 2. Good GPS/Sonar 3. Line Counters 4. Ability to know how fast you are going and be able to troll at 0.8-2.5mph accurately 5. Boat control is critical to catching trophy class fish consistently

As mentioned, walleye fishing can be precision... the easier it is to replicate the "right" presentation the more fish you will catch. Is it worth 20-50K to do so... not for me! But my dad/neighbor/friends all seem to have boats with all the gadgets!

I myself have a decent amount invested in tackle/rods n reels/outer wear. The rest I dump into getting to the "right" places at the right time of yr

[C&T Archery]

[glow=red]1. The Ipilot is worth the $$$ [/glow] 2. Good GPS/Sonar 3. Line Counters 4. Ability to know how fast you are going and be able to troll at 0.8-2.5mph accurately 5. Boat control is critical to catching trophy class fish consistently

As mentioned, walleye fishing can be precision... the easier it is to replicate the "right" presentation the more fish you will catch. Is it worth 20-50K to do so... not for me! But my dad/neighbor/friends all seem to have boats with all the gadgets!

I myself have a decent amount invested in tackle/rods n reels/outer wear. The rest I dump into getting to the "right" places at the right time of yr

I know it is :) Just can't pull the trigger :)