10-02-2002, 11:49 AM
As I have posted before, I am spending this winter in Phoenix, taking care of my parents, but plan to be back in Utah by next summer. I can only imagine how Willard looks right now, and how the fishing has been affected.
WH2 posed a question the other day on Willard walleyes this time of year. I dug out some old fishing trip logs and jogged my aging memory a little. Here are a few of the things from the past that may have application in the present...once you can find the right flats, shelfs, humps or structure that hold the fish in these conditions.
I was gonna caption this LOW, SLOW & GLOW. Too corny. But, that has always been the key to success for me on fall transition 'eyes.
LOW: Post spawn (May & June) walleyes become active throughout the water column and will hit lures at almost any depth when they are feeding. When the temps are higher than they like...or cooling quickly (like now)...they move to the bottom, and sometimes to the deepest holes. Although they do make feeding forays into shallower water, they are still on or near the bottom.
SLOW: Throughout the warmer months, more walleye are caught by wiper trollers than by folks fishing just for walleyes. When conditions are right to get walleye moving and feeding, they will chase down a fast-moving lure. In the fall, the incidental catch of walleyes, while trolling fast for wipers, seems to drop off dramatically. If you want to troll for walleye at this time of year, you have to creep along, with a worm harness or a lure that wobbles at slow speed...like a flatfish behind a bottom bouncer rig.
GLOW: Cold and/or murky water slows the metabolism of most fish. It sometimes takes a bright chartreuse, hot pink or radiant white lure to get their interest. During the bright daylight, white with a red line down the back (added with a permanent marker) has produced well for me. 2" or 3" shad or twisters, in white or pearl, on 1/8 oz or 1/16 ounce heads work well. As it gets darker, switch to chartreuse with silver sparkle, or hot pink. Use a hot red head in the same sizes. Black with a chartreuse tail is sometimes a good bet too.
I used to fish mostly from a float tube, without the sonar I now have. An effective "prospecting" technique was to slow troll a tandem minijig (small tubes) setup for crappies. As the water cooled down, I would begin catching some surprisingly large walleyes on the small tidbits. I found several areas, like the lip of the channel at the north marina (when there was water there), that my first few casts at daybreak...with a blue w/clear sparkle tail mini tube ...would hook big walleyes. Then, when they moved out deeper, that color would outproduce anything else for both walleye and crappies.
On many successful jig-dragging tubing trips, I caught far more fish with the low and slow presentation than boats trolling slowly, but not slowly enough. On one memorable evening, I had not touched a fish all afternoon. I switched to the chartreuse with red head setup as I was kicking my tube back toward the ramp, to get out of the rapidly dropping temperatures. As I went over a hump out in front of the parking area, I had a thump, and brought in the first of about twenty big walleyes in as many casts.
My point? First find the fish. Then fish them near the bottom, with smaller baits than you use in summer. And, fish them slowly enough for the fish to first make up their minds and then to bite. Unlike warmer times, walleye won't leave a resting spot to follow a lure a long ways. That cuts down the odds, but if you work an area thoroughly, you have a shot at triggering a bite or two.
One last thing. Use light tackle. Even though walleye have teeth, you will get more hits if you go to a good abrasion resistant 4# or 6# line. I have been using Silver Thread Excalibur for several years and I've landed some mighty big toothy critters with it. Just an observation...not a commercial.
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WH2 posed a question the other day on Willard walleyes this time of year. I dug out some old fishing trip logs and jogged my aging memory a little. Here are a few of the things from the past that may have application in the present...once you can find the right flats, shelfs, humps or structure that hold the fish in these conditions.
I was gonna caption this LOW, SLOW & GLOW. Too corny. But, that has always been the key to success for me on fall transition 'eyes.
LOW: Post spawn (May & June) walleyes become active throughout the water column and will hit lures at almost any depth when they are feeding. When the temps are higher than they like...or cooling quickly (like now)...they move to the bottom, and sometimes to the deepest holes. Although they do make feeding forays into shallower water, they are still on or near the bottom.
SLOW: Throughout the warmer months, more walleye are caught by wiper trollers than by folks fishing just for walleyes. When conditions are right to get walleye moving and feeding, they will chase down a fast-moving lure. In the fall, the incidental catch of walleyes, while trolling fast for wipers, seems to drop off dramatically. If you want to troll for walleye at this time of year, you have to creep along, with a worm harness or a lure that wobbles at slow speed...like a flatfish behind a bottom bouncer rig.
GLOW: Cold and/or murky water slows the metabolism of most fish. It sometimes takes a bright chartreuse, hot pink or radiant white lure to get their interest. During the bright daylight, white with a red line down the back (added with a permanent marker) has produced well for me. 2" or 3" shad or twisters, in white or pearl, on 1/8 oz or 1/16 ounce heads work well. As it gets darker, switch to chartreuse with silver sparkle, or hot pink. Use a hot red head in the same sizes. Black with a chartreuse tail is sometimes a good bet too.
I used to fish mostly from a float tube, without the sonar I now have. An effective "prospecting" technique was to slow troll a tandem minijig (small tubes) setup for crappies. As the water cooled down, I would begin catching some surprisingly large walleyes on the small tidbits. I found several areas, like the lip of the channel at the north marina (when there was water there), that my first few casts at daybreak...with a blue w/clear sparkle tail mini tube ...would hook big walleyes. Then, when they moved out deeper, that color would outproduce anything else for both walleye and crappies.
On many successful jig-dragging tubing trips, I caught far more fish with the low and slow presentation than boats trolling slowly, but not slowly enough. On one memorable evening, I had not touched a fish all afternoon. I switched to the chartreuse with red head setup as I was kicking my tube back toward the ramp, to get out of the rapidly dropping temperatures. As I went over a hump out in front of the parking area, I had a thump, and brought in the first of about twenty big walleyes in as many casts.
My point? First find the fish. Then fish them near the bottom, with smaller baits than you use in summer. And, fish them slowly enough for the fish to first make up their minds and then to bite. Unlike warmer times, walleye won't leave a resting spot to follow a lure a long ways. That cuts down the odds, but if you work an area thoroughly, you have a shot at triggering a bite or two.
One last thing. Use light tackle. Even though walleye have teeth, you will get more hits if you go to a good abrasion resistant 4# or 6# line. I have been using Silver Thread Excalibur for several years and I've landed some mighty big toothy critters with it. Just an observation...not a commercial.
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