Walleye
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Mike Kennedy
Mike Kennedy |
PRESPAWN WALLEYE: February can be a great month for walleye. Work main lake points, humps and drop-offs. Look for walleye in 30-65 feet of water. (Don’t fish over about 45 feet because you will kill the fish bringing them up from deeper water.) Northland Buckshot’s (rattle baits), slab spoons (like Kastmaster), and blade baits (like Heddon's Sonar), are very effective this time of year. Double Tail Yamamoto Grubs or tubes, tipped with a minnow, shiner, or piece of worm are also good. Try cinnamon with green flake, brown, smoke, clear, sparkle, chartreuse, black and pumpkin/pepper. This time of year the big females go on the bite looking to add weight before the spawn. Look for humps and main lake points near the river channel. Blade baits, worm harnesses, jerk baits, jigs, stickbaits and plugs are what’s needed for pre-spawn walleye. Cold winter water dictates fishing deep. Slight warming in February/March spurs them to prespawn. Fish will be on the move during this period. Males school up first and move in first. The big females hang out in deeper water until later when they join the males. Jig slow, use a round or bullet head jig, orange or chartreuse, with half a nightcrawler. Prespawn usually occurs when the water hits about 40-45 degrees. Spawning begins at 47 degrees. They are heading toward rock, or sand bottom areas on wind blown shores. For pre-spawn or spawn walleye troll shallow-running crankbaits in 5 feet of water. After the spawn females will head for deeper water to rest and are very hard to catch at that time. Jigs work better during the post spawn. I plan to use the electronics I rigged up for ice fishing this winter to help me catch walleye and bass this spring and summer. I mounted a new Lowrance X97 320X320 pixel, 3000watt unit on an ammo box with a 12 volt battery and excess cord inside. I mounted the transducer on a "T" made out of 1/2 inch PVC pipe to sit the unit over an ice hole. This unit has both a flasher and LCD screen, and I can actually see flasher, entire water column, and close up on a section of the water column all at the same time. For ice fishing I was using a 1/16th inth barrel swievel up about four feet on the line to cause the bait to spirial on the fall, then two very small ice jigs at the terminal end of the line and I could clearly see swievel and both lures on the depth finder. I could see the fish and see the fish closing in on my bait. I could see the fish take my bait then I set the hook. Too cool or what. I'm anxious to try that technique vertical jigging on the open water. I'll either mount my transducer onto the trolling motor, or rig up something to put it in the water off the side of the front part of the boat. Hope to test it out soon. I caught a 29 inch, 8.3 pound, walleye on Pueblo Reservoir on Friday November 10, 2001. (pictured here and on the home page) I now have added another element to my S-L-O-W technique: (1) Slow down winterizing that boat, some of the best fishing is late October through November, and maybe even December; Slow down that trolling motor, don't go so fast that the bank is zipping along in a blur (in the hopes of catching the next fish just around the bend you're missing the fish right where you are); slow down your retrieve, fish are cold blooded and move slower in cold water, the colder the water gets the slower you need to move your bait; and, the one I just added, slow down leaving the lake early. The best walleye fishing in fall and winter is just as the sun is going down. I caught the 29 inch walleye at 4:30 pm, we usually leave the lake by 3pm., but not anymore. I caught this walleye on a 5 inch Yamamoto cinamon and green double tail jig with a little Smelly Jelly Crawfish scent on it. This time of year especially, or anytime when you're fishing slow the right scent can really make a difference. Louise Maddox of Country Valley Bait and Tackle recommended this scent. Walleye is better eating than bass but a lot less exciting catch. Besides the 29 inch walleye above, I've caught several in the teens and twentys. A 15 inch small mouth will put up a better fight everytime. A couple of good walleyes I caught earlier in the year, 18 and 21 inch, were caught on worm rigs slow trolling. The key is "slow" and "structure". The larger walleye was caught slow trolling near the trees at the west end of the lake. The 18" fish was caught slow trolling along a sloped rocky bank with lots of broken rock. I was fishing in about 15-20 feet of water. By slow trolling, I mean slow 1/2 to 1 mph. You can get away with 2 mph if the fish are active but otherwise slow down. I can't troll slow enough with my new 50 hp Mercury (about 3 mph is as slow as I can go) so I troll using my electric trolling motor. This year I've also started using drift socks to slow down the drift and control the boat. On a real windy day I'll use 2 drift socks. |
