I Need your help with Walleye.

[Backyard Boy T.V.]

HA!  You can't catch walleye on purpose.  It's a myth.  I've been trying o get someone to teach me for 20 years, but they know, deep down it was an accident last time, so nobody will.

The only sure I know of to catch walleye is to watch me trying to catch one, using recommended methods, at recommended "hot" times and places for about 4 hours, then walk up next to me, put exactly the same bait I've been using on your Snoopy pole, and hang on to your pole!

I once had six Asian guys all wade-fishing the freezing AF River during run off, each show me exactly how to do it, right down to how they hook their worm and mandatory jig sizes.  Every method was  completely different, but from dusk until darkness, one by one, each caught a giant walleye and left with their prizes, while I stood in their very bootprints using their methods until I dragged my hypothermic but home fishless.

My OWN FATHER, if you can imagine, ignored my jig and nightcrawler advice, freshly gleaned from a very successful fisherman, glommed a ball of rainbow Powerbait (!) onto a treble hook and dumped it weightless and unceremoniously off the west dike at Willard Bay.  He managed not one, but TWO that night.

I watched a kid catch a 22"-er at Willard, inches from the bank, a scraggly worm scarcely 10" under an obscenely large bobber, on the hottest day in August at midday.  Right where I was catching green sunfish moments before.

Catching walleye is simply something luck lets you do, or doesn't, like those ugly guys all the women want, or the meanspirited, uncouth  moron who makes money without trying hard.  Don't let 'em fool you.  Don't get your hopes up, young man.  There is nothing to "learn".

The most important part of "walleye" is "lie".

LOL.

LOL! It seems that walleye are a tough fish to master! Im going to fish a lot this spring and realy target them and see!? But if all else fails I can go catch 500 white bass!

[Freakyfisherman]

LOL! It seems that walleye are a tough fish to master! Im going to fish a lot this spring and realy target them and see!? But if all else fails I can go catch 500 white bass!

There is no such thing as a walleye master in Utah. I have caught them jigging, on live worms, dragging a worm on a jighead, on crankbaits, trolling in a boat with a friend with blades and slow death hooks and worms, jerkbaits, ice fishing with rattle spoons and tikka minnows and even on the fly rod on full sink line with streamers. I am not a walleye master by any means. I cant catch them whenever I want. When everything lines up just right I can catch them. They will leave you scratching your head more times than not. The MOST humbling fish you will ever pursue. 
Gabe

[Backyard Boy T.V.]

LOL! It seems that walleye are a tough fish to master! Im going to fish a lot this spring and realy target them and see!? But if all else fails I can go catch 500 white bass!

There is no such thing as a walleye master in Utah. I have caught them jigging, on live worms, dragging a worm on a jighead, on crankbaits, trolling in a boat with a friend with blades and slow death hooks and worms, jerkbaits, ice fishing with rattle spoons and tikka minnows and even on the fly rod on full sink line with streamers. I am not a walleye master by any means. I cant catch them whenever I want. When everything lines up just right I can catch them. They will leave you scratching your head more times than not. The MOST humbling fish you will ever pursue. 
Gabe

So it seems!

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HOLY SNOT! This is a TON of info! Thank you guys so much!

[Springbuck1]

LOL! It seems that walleye are a tough fish to master! Im going to fish a lot this spring and realy target them and see!? But if all else fails I can go catch 500 white bass!

  This is the correct approach, in my book, especially since I can't troll for them.   Always plenty of WB, catfish, smallmouth, and a few wipers around where the walleye live.

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OK, for serious, here is one thing I have seen work, post spawn at Willard, at night. Years ago, some guys invited me out, and I didn't catch anything, but they caught several.

They made hand-tied worm "harnesses" that used two panfish hooks, so we could string nightcrawlers full length like you do for trolling. Ahead of the crawler were a couple of glow-in-the-dark colored plastic beads, or those small, hard foam beads.

A big clear casting bubble about 5 feet from the crawler, next, filled up full with water (not floating), and some TINY split shots pinched on above and below that. They were making long casts as parallel to the dike as they could, counting down a full minute, and then retrieving at a painfully slow crawl. Like minutes per cast. They were trying to keep the bait right at the base of the rocks and moving, but barely.

I've always meant to try that again, but dragging the bait along as I drift near the rocks in my tube. One of only two walleye I have caught came out of Holmes Creek using that same basic method. (Not counting the 6"ers I catch in the Jordan River sometimes.)

[PAC12_AfterDark]

Interesting, I only have that problem when I run green. Switches to silver / gold and never looked back.

[Backyard Boy T.V.]

LOL! It seems that walleye are a tough fish to master! Im going to fish a lot this spring and realy target them and see!? But if all else fails I can go catch 500 white bass!

  This is the correct approach, in my book, especially since I can't troll for them.   Always plenty of WB, catfish, smallmouth, and a few wipers around where the walleye live.

---

OK, for serious, here is one thing I have seen work, post spawn at Willard, at night. Years ago, some guys invited me out, and I didn't catch anything, but they caught several. 

They made hand-tied worm "harnesses" that used two panfish hooks, so we could string nightcrawlers full length like you do for trolling.  Ahead of the crawler were a couple of glow-in-the-dark colored plastic beads, or those small, hard foam beads. 

A big clear casting bubble about 5 feet from the crawler, next, filled up full with water (not floating), and some TINY split shots pinched on above and below that.  They were making long casts as parallel to the dike as they could, counting down a full minute, and then retrieving at a painfully slow crawl.  Like minutes per cast.  They were trying to keep the bait right at the base of the rocks and moving, but barely.

I've always meant to try that again, but dragging the bait along as I drift near the rocks in my tube. One of only two walleye I have caught came out of Holmes Creek using that same basic method.  (Not counting the 6"ers I catch in the Jordan River sometimes.)

Awesome man thanks!