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Introduction to Walleye (Pickerel)
An article by our good friend John Vance
Please check out his great outdoors site at
~http://www.execulink.com/~environm/index.html#top
Some basic stuff to help you 'know' walleye,and hopefully how to catch fish!
Walleye are one of the most aggressively sought after gamefish in North America. The white flesh is pristine, savoury, and incredibly mild. The walleye isn't a 'pushover' either, offering both, anglers with lots of earned savvy, and novices alike, excellent fishing opportunity.
The walleye is a creature of habit, like most of us here on earth; but it, like human folk, can and does live in very diverse locations. The diversity of watershed situations that the walleye inhabits, and consequently, many 'local' habits of the fish, will go a long way to ensure the survival of its specie. But catching walleye isn't rocket science - 'walleye do walleye things' - wherever they are. In any given location/area of its existence though, there may be variations of its behaviour somewhat.
Some walleye live primarily in rivers, and may never leave this watershed during the whole of its life. Too, there are lake living walleye, which may never enter into a river-shed in its' life. So what's the difference?
Nothing, it's just that some walleye are river living fish, and some lake living walleye. I could go into a great lengthy oration about each potentially being a sub-species of walleye, but for our essay here, this isn't really important, and would only be splitting hair(s). We'll let the scientific community get all 'hung-up' into this tangle. We're more interested in the walleye from fisher- folk's point of view.
Walleye are predators, and top predators at that, being very efficient at their life's entity within the eco-system of their home-water, no matter where they are. This can be easily illustrated; they of course, must eat, and they do this with enough success and frequency, allowing themselves to grow to quite good sizes, and in relatively short time.
Walleye, when they are just hatched, like most fish, eat plankton/zooplankton, then as young 'puppies' graduate to small aquatic insect life, then usually graduate to larger fish fodder - namely; minnows. Once walleye have reached about six to ten inches in length, they will gradually wean off of insect life, and primarily eat minnows. This will be their food of choice for the rest of their life. True, any walleye will hit a large succulent insect, but for the most part, once walleye start to get larger, they need more and larger food-stuffs, which minnows provide. Usually, walleye at his stage will eat ravenously, growing quickly, and need to eat much food to sustain this rapid growth period. As well, once a walleye is mature, and large, they must continue to eat a lot of food, just to maintain themselves. Walleye continue to grow throughout their whole lifetime.
Of course this all leads to the fact that walleye are primarily minnow eaters as adults, and these are the fish that we are wishing to catch. This is why most walleye baits will depict minnows in some fashion. It is also true that minnows are one of the best walleye baits going. Even lead head jigs are designed to 'dupe' a walleye, and primarily 'supposedly' act like a minnow darting to the safety of the bottom of the lake/river bed.
But damn! Not so easy - worm harnesses work well too! But so do many 'attractor' baits, which may not resemble minnows at all. That's fishin' folks!
Fishing is an inexact science at best - and as soon as one comes up with any sort of 'Rule of thumb', it's bound to be blasted out of the water sooner or later, most often sooner. So we have to deal with what will work most of the time, and offer the closest thing to 'consistency' as possible. This leads us right back to minnows as the number one walleye bait choice.
RIVER FISHIN' FOR WALLEYE
Just the basics, if you please!
Some river-sheds hold walleye all year long, especially large rivers. It's paramount to fishing success to determine if though, there are actually walleye in the river at the time you intend to fish. Just as the opening statement is true, it is also true that walleye may not stay in any 'given' river. Some walleye prefer to live in a lake/impoundment, and only enter the river to spawn, or to seek their preferred water temperature.
Likely the best/quickest source of this information will be from local bait/tackle shops, or your nearest Natural Resources office, or Conservation Officer. It would be equally as prudent to check to make sure the walleye fishing season is open, and if there are any size (often called 'slot' restrictions) requirements pertaining 'legal sizes' of walleye that may/may-not be kept in this watershed.
Most of the time, walleye will be caught in water 25 feet deep and under, in most rivers. Most rivers aren't usually too deep, and I've taken a lot of walleye in ten feet of water.
In mid- summer, and the dead-of-winter though, I've taken them in water deeper than 25 feet, in rivers, but most rivers don't often have water much deeper than this anyway, with only 'occasional holes' deeper than 25 feet. The exceptions to this of course, would be in very large rivers systems.
The number one choice of fishing strategy for river fishing is with lead head jigs. I prefer a 3/8 oz jig, which offers me great casting distance, often needed to cover a good expanse of water per cast/retrieve. I like a chartreuse or yellow coloured jig, followed by either jet-black or pure white.
If there is an active/viable/discernable current, cast upstream, allowing the jig to bounce along the bottom, retrieving slowly. Sometimes I will jig/jerk the jig fairly lightly, adding zip/zing top the lure presentation. I keep this subtle though, preferring a slower retrieve. Yes - you'll loose lots of jig heads because of snags - this will go with the territory for walleye river fishin'!
The number two choice for river fishing set-ups, is with live minnows. I like my minnows to be about 3 inches long. I hook them through the lips, using just enough split-shot to get the bait down near bottom. I like to allow the minnow to drift along with the current, covering territory, and hopefully into the path of a 'major' walleye! If the walleye are hitting short ( hitting- but just not getting hooked) I'll try baiting up with the minnow hooked just behind and underneath the minnow's dorsal fin. This often allows for more positive hooking of a 'hitting' walleye, but isn't used much if the current is fast/stiff.
LAKE FISHING FOR WALLEYE
More basics, no rocket science here!
Many anglers will be fishing for walleye in lakes, or very large impoundment type person made lakes. I'll give you a few basics here, enabling you to hopefully catch fish. Of course, I'd recommend purchasing my PRO REPORT, or minimally, a few PRO FACTSHEETS from my product section, but we'll discuss a few of the 'need to know' things here in this write-up.
It will to a great extent, depend on the time of year where one should fish for the best success. Since most anglers will be fishing while on summer holidays, I'll keep our focus here on summer style fishing, hoping to cover the most consistency for the most fisherfolk.
In the summer, walleye will be seeking out the water closest to their preferred water temperature of 73 F; but they must also eat, and stay safe from other predators, and keep out of glaring sunlight! That say's it all!
Find out any local 'hot spots' from bait/tackle shops, Co's or Ministry personnel before going out into strange water - it'll save you a lot of time!Â
Basically, if it is early morning, just at dawn, one should be able to find walleye between a weed-bed, where they've been feeding all night; at this time they'll be heading for structure in deeper water - which is likely cooler - and close to the 73 F range. By shortly after sun-up they'll likely already be in this preferred water temperature, and will (usually - but not necessarily) be around structure - and in the shade. If there is little/no structure, they may be right on the bottom. If the lake is quite deep, they'll be suspended in their preferred water temp, which will likely be between 20 feet and fifty feet of water.Â
If there is a rock-pile or other structure in 25 feet of water - fish near it - right until nearly dark.
Troll or drift fish, using a live minnow if possible, covering water all around the structure. If you hit a fish, take your time,. Allowing the water to settle back down, and go right through the same area again - walleye are a schooling fish - others may be there too.
Suspended fish can be taken using one of the many lures that are on the market today. These are made for trolling at various depths, which is 'just the ticket' for those after suspended walleye. Consult the package, or a depth trolling guide to tell how deep these lures will run. Planer board fishing is an excellent way to catch suspended walleye, but takes a bit of practice to accomplish.
Most suspended fish, in average waterbodies will be taken using such lures as Luhr Jensen's Power Dives, or Hot Lips lures, purple/black is a walleye standard colour.
Dipsey divers can also be used to good effect, as can Jet Planers, especially when running with crawler harnesses. Jet Dives and Dipsey Divers are all methods of controlling trolling depth.
If you are evening fishing, don't 'pack-it-in' too soon. Fish walleye on the edge of large weedbeds, where they will be coming to feed at dark. Fish right until absolute dark if you can. I like sonic lures such as Panther Martin's (with fly), Vibrax Spinners and the like. Live minnows, about 3 to 4 inches long, hooked just under the dorsal fin are also effective baits for this type of productive fishing. If you 'hit fish' you'll be amazed at just how short the time is between when they start hitting, and absolute dark. Most anglers will be leaving for home - just as the best fishing of the day/evening is going to start.
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