2023 walleye season has begun

[wiperhunter2]

Ira and I got out to Willard today, launching from the South marina around 7:30 am. Water temp at launched was below 50 degrees but once we got out into the lake it climbed to 50 degrees. We were marking fish right off the bat, so we started trolling deep diving cranks, heading toward the Island. We went East of the Island and it never was less than 19 FOW. Once we got North of the island, we started marking more eye looking marks and the farther North we went the deeper it got, until we hit 23 FOW but still no fish in the boat until we started retracing our tracks to an area were we marked out biggest groups of fish, like the pic below:



By the time we got back to this area the water temps were rising, then the big one hit. After a long battle, it turned out to be a big carp.  We kept at it then I lost a good fish that I'm sure was an eye, by the way it fought. We stayed in that area for the rest of the day but switched over to bottom bouncers and finally got an eye right up to the boat before it too got off but at least we knew what we seeing were likely eyes. Finally a hour later or so we got our first eye in the boat, a nice fat 19 incher. As the water continued to rise up to 54 degrees, we decided to try trolling cranks again and within minutes we caught our second and final eye for the day. 



We called it quits at 2:30 pm. After getting home and filleting the eyes I found this in the biggest eyes stomach:



I think the catching will continue to improve as the water temps rise above 55 and with the coming warm up that will likely happen next week and maybe as soon as this weekend.

[oldguy]

Thanks Curt we were there thursday and the bite was slow for us we did get a couple wiper and 1 walleye but they where all on deep diving cranks in the so.west area. The water temp seemed to change 3 to 4 degrees in different areas of the lake even in the same depth. Hopefully it will get better with the weather this week.

[2knots]

Well done guys, glad to see the action switch over to some other species

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks Curt we were there thursday and the bite was slow for us we did get a couple wiper and 1 walleye but they where all on deep diving cranks in the so.west area. The water temp seemed to change 3 to 4 degrees in different areas of the lake even in the same depth. Hopefully it will get better with the weather this week.

Yes the temps changing from one part of the lake to another is normal. This time of the year finding groups of fish seems to help improve your odds but the fact that you were catching them in the SW corner and we caught them North of the Island means they are getting active in many parts of the lake and that is a good thing. Even though we marked most of our fish on or just off the bottom, we did see a few up higher, so that's really good news. What color cranks were you using for the wipers and how long were the wipers you caught?

[wiperhunter2]

Well done guys, glad to see the action switch over to some other species

Thanks Alan, yes it's great to see the other fish finally turning on.

[doitall5000]

Ira and I got out to Willard today, launching from the South marina around 7:30 am. Water temp at launched was below 50 degrees but once we got out into the lake it climbed to 50 degrees. We were marking fish right off the bat, so we started trolling deep diving cranks, heading toward the Island. We went East of the Island and it never was less than 19 FOW. Once we got North of the island, we started marking more eye looking marks and the farther North we went the deeper it got, until we hit 23 FOW but still no fish in the boat until we started retracing our tracks to an area were we marked out biggest groups of fish, like the pic below:



By the time we got back to this area the water temps were rising, then the big one hit. After a long battle, it turned out to be a big carp.  We kept at it then I lost a good fish that I'm sure was an eye, by the way it fought. We stayed in that area for the rest of the day but switched over to bottom bouncers and finally got an eye right up to the boat before it too got off but at least we knew what we seeing were likely eyes. Finally a hour later or so we got our first eye in the boat, a nice fat 19 incher. As the water continued to rise up to 54 degrees, we decided to try trolling cranks again and within minutes we caught our second and final eye for the day. 



We called it quits at 2:30 pm. After getting home and filleting the eyes I found this in the biggest eyes stomach:



I think the catching will continue to improve as the water temps rise above 55 and with the coming warm up that will likely happen next week and maybe as soon as this weekend.

Does someone want to guess what was in his stomach, 
Thanks for the report

[TubeDude]

[quote pid="1144601" dateline="1682729362"]

We called it quits at 2:30 pm. After getting home and filleting the eyes I found this in the biggest eyes stomach:



I think the catching will continue to improve as the water temps rise above 55 and with the coming warm up that will likely happen next week and maybe as soon as this weekend.

Does someone want to guess what was in his stomach, 
Thanks for the report
[/quote]
I'm guessing baby catfish.  Walleyes are efficient scroungers and when there are no shad, baby carp or other small species available they will munch on the fry of other species...like catfish...like the one in the pic below.  They even eat crawdads if the cats and wipers leave any for them.

[Bduck]

Hey Curt, did you try the lure that was hot last year that I gave you?

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curt, did you try the lure that was hot last year that I gave you?

Funny you should mention that Roger because the two I caught were both caught on that exact same lure and I found out something new, it works going slow too. By slow I mean at bottom bouncing speed of less than 1 mph. I'm trying to produce another one but can you tell me where you got that green reflective tape, you used on it?

[wiperhunter2]

Does someone want to guess what was in his stomach, 
Thanks for the report

Hard to tell for sure on the longer ones, could by long perch but the little tiny circle on the left of the minnows is for sure a baby cat, it's hard cartilage from a cats pectoral fins. When I first pulled it out I thought it was a crawfish, because it was so hard but after separating it from the minnows I could ID it.

[oldguy]

Thanks Curt we were there thursday and the bite was slow for us we did get a couple wiper and 1 walleye but they where all on deep diving cranks in the so.west area. The water temp seemed to change 3 to 4 degrees in different areas of the lake even in the same depth. Hopefully it will get better with the weather this week.

Yes the temps changing from one part of the lake to another is normal. This time of the year finding groups of fish seems to help improve your odds but the fact that you were catching them in the SW corner and we caught them North of the Island means they are getting active in many parts of the lake and that is a good thing. Even though we marked most of our fish on or just off the bottom, we did see a few up higher, so that's really good news. What color cranks were you using for the wipers and how long were the wipers you caught?

We caught them on mystic deep divers going 2.3 and they were about 16 in .the mystic lure was a pearl and pink hope that helps.

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks Curt we were there thursday and the bite was slow for us we did get a couple wiper and 1 walleye but they where all on deep diving cranks in the so.west area. The water temp seemed to change 3 to 4 degrees in different areas of the lake even in the same depth. Hopefully it will get better with the weather this week.

Yes the temps changing from one part of the lake to another is normal. This time of the year finding groups of fish seems to help improve your odds but the fact that you were catching them in the SW corner and we caught them North of the Island means they are getting active in many parts of the lake and that is a good thing. Even though we marked most of our fish on or just off the bottom, we did see a few up higher, so that's really good news. What color cranks were you using for the wipers and how long were the wipers you caught?

We caught them on mystic deep divers going 2.3 and they were about 16 in .the mystic lure was a pearl and pink hope that helps.

Can't say I've ever heard of a mystic deep diver lure but the pink and pearl is an interesting color pattern.

[oldguy]

Thanks Curt we were there thursday and the bite was slow for us we did get a couple wiper and 1 walleye but they where all on deep diving cranks in the so.west area. The water temp seemed to change 3 to 4 degrees in different areas of the lake even in the same depth. Hopefully it will get better with the weather this week.

Yes the temps changing from one part of the lake to another is normal. This time of the year finding groups of fish seems to help improve your odds but the fact that you were catching them in the SW corner and we caught them North of the Island means they are getting active in many parts of the lake and that is a good thing. Even though we marked most of our fish on or just off the bottom, we did see a few up higher, so that's really good news. What color cranks were you using for the wipers and how long were the wipers you caught?

We caught them on mystic deep divers going 2.3 and they were about 16 in .the mystic lure was a pearl and pink hope that helps.

The other mystic lure is a blue and pearl white  when I find out how to post a picture I will post it.

---

Thanks Curt we were there thursday and the bite was slow for us we did get a couple wiper and 1 walleye but they where all on deep diving cranks in the so.west area. The water temp seemed to change 3 to 4 degrees in different areas of the lake even in the same depth. Hopefully it will get better with the weather this week.

Yes the temps changing from one part of the lake to another is normal. This time of the year finding groups of fish seems to help improve your odds but the fact that you were catching them in the SW corner and we caught them North of the Island means they are getting active in many parts of the lake and that is a good thing. Even though we marked most of our fish on or just off the bottom, we did see a few up higher, so that's really good news. What color cranks were you using for the wipers and how long were the wipers you caught?

We caught them on mystic deep divers going 2.3 and they were about 16 in .the mystic lure was a pearl and pink hope that helps.

The other mystic lure is a blue and pearl white  when I find out how to post a picture I will post it.



Here is what it looks like hope that helps 

[wiperhunter2]

Oh, it's a Wally Diver, Mystic must have bought them out, that's why I hadn't heard of them.

[hook_sets]

Nice looking fish, congrats.

[wiperhunter2]

Nice looking fish, congrats.

Thanks

[Bduck]

Hey Curt, did you try the lure that was hot last year that I gave you?

Funny you should mention that Roger because the two I caught were both caught on that exact same lure and I found out something new, it works going slow too. By slow I mean at bottom bouncing speed of less than 1 mph. I'm trying to produce another one but can you tell me where you got that green reflective tape, you used on it?

I got that color at Anglers Den, but they don't carry that many colors there. Sometimes, I can get lucky for something different at Sportsmans Warehouse. Seems like they don't restock much in reflective tapes with exception to a couple very popular tapes.

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curt, did you try the lure that was hot last year that I gave you?

Funny you should mention that Roger because the two I caught were both caught on that exact same lure and I found out something new, it works going slow too. By slow I mean at bottom bouncing speed of less than 1 mph. I'm trying to produce another one but can you tell me where you got that green reflective tape, you used on it?

I got that color at Anglers Den, but they don't carry that many colors there. Sometimes, I can get lucky for something different at Sportsmans Warehouse. Seems like they don't restock much in reflective tapes with exception to a couple very popular tapes.

Ok, I'll stop by and check out what they have, is that also where you got the green die?