I have a dirty secret. In all my years of fishing I have never in my life caught a walleye. Not for lack of trying. I've caught a wide range of freshwater fish, some of which I still am not sure what they are, but the walleye has eluded me.

I've studied the magazines about where they are, how to find them, googled what the rigs mentioned looked like ect but still nothing. Either I get skunked or take in some largmouths.

So i'm here pleading for help. Obviously i'm doing somthing wrong. Everything I know about walleye fishing is wrong. Please, somone, tell me what I need to do to catch these fish!

The rig I hear of most often is the Lindy Rig. To me this looks like a carolina rig with a walking sinker instead of a bullet. Am I screwing this up too?

Spesific rigs, lures, setups...anything would be appreciated. I don't want to let another fishing season go by without catching one of these fish.

A lot of people feel that walleye are very finicky fish. That couldn't be further from the truth. Since they are preditorial fish, they will chase anything. If you know of a lake or body of water that is known for having walleye, this should help. Try to find a nice big lake that has a good stock of walleye first and foremost. If you have a small boat... even better. Trolling, I feel, is the best way to land a walleye. My grandfather taught me how to do all of this when I was about 8 years old and hasn't failed me yet. Take a spinner lure with either a colorado #3, or an indiana blade. You know, the one with the treble hook and rooster tail on it (Wal-mart sells em cheap). Take your lure and add a size 0/2 or 0/3 trailer hook to the treble hook. Next add one of 3 live baits to the trailer. A small minnow, a fat ol' nightcrawler, or my personal favorite... A juicy leech. Troll your rig at about 1.5-2.0 mph across the lake. If you dont feel the rig is sinking far enough, add a small bullet weight and wedge in a toothpick to keep it from sliding. I would say about 3-4 feet from the bottom. Color of the blade shouldn't make much of a differance. Judge by water clarity. I hope this works for you because it always has for me. Good luck and happy fishing!

S. Thompson 

Frederick, MD

I'm heading out to a resavoir I know has walleye again somtime this next week. I'll definatly try your suggestions. Do you know if berkely gulp is an acceptable substatute for the live bait? (I have trouble keeping little critters alive)

Also, how do you determine depth when trolling? The lake i'm on rents john boats with trolling motors and I picked up a nice 3 pounder on my first attempt at trolling but I have no idea how to judge depth.

You'll need a sonar unit Hitman. It will not only tell you depth, but also more importantly, structure.

Try drift fishing with a Lindy rig tipped with a leech. Leeches are hard to kill.

Keep your finger on the line. The tap tap can be very subtle. I use braided line. There's no stretch so you can feel the tap a lot easier. After awhile you learn to feel the difference between the rocks, weeds and the walleyes.

I'll give the leaches a go.

I realize I worded my question wrong though. How do you know what deapth you're fishing at when trolling. the way the line trails back from the boat I know 40 feet of line out isn't 40 feet under the water. is there a way to know?

Judging how deep your lure is is going to come from experience. I fish here in central MN where the lakes are mostly what is reffered to as dishpan in discription, no real drop offs but some good weed lines to follow. Using the lindy rig with 8# braided line and 1/4 oz. wieght moving somewhere near 3/4 mile per hour (most, nearly all of my fishing is no blade with an attracter bead for color) I follow the weed line letting out line until I feel the bottom with the weight and then reel up two turns which at a best guess is somewhere near a foot off the bottom and hold the line on the tip of my finger. If you start to hit bottom again reel up more or let more out if you go deeper. The more you do this you will learn what you feel wether it is bottom or truly a fish. I use the braided line because of the small diameter and no stretch, as mentioned before you feel everything immediately. the small diameter allows you to go deeper faster as larger diameter mono will try to plane up to the surface as it moves through the water lifting your lure and in turn making you add more wieght to keep the lure down.You will catch everything doing this, sunfish to your ellusive walleye.
Life Member since March 1998, LIfe Member NAHC always looking for an excuse to go hunting or fishing

I fish walleye almost every night and get them right off shore just using a 3 way with a rapala about 2 foot weight line with about 3-5 foot lead line with a rapala my other setup is a slider set up with barrel swivels 1 barrel swivel with 2 feet of line tied to another barrel swivel with another barrel swivel that can float freely up and down the 2 foot range and off that swivel tie the same 3-5 food lead with a plain hook and either a leech big crawler minnow or I also use smelt then off the bottom swivel tie about a 2 foot line to that with a weight I use 3-4 oz. because I fish the St.Mary's river and the current is roughly 2-1/2 mph. the slider set up has been working excellent for me and my buddies I hope you brake the ice and catch some walleye they are alot of fun good luck!!!! 

P.S. I've attached alittle picture of the barrel swivel setup just incase my instructions are confusing lol again good luck!!!

What type of waters are you fishing? I fish the great lakes, rivers and bays. In the Saginaw Bay trolling with hot n tots aproximately 60-80 ft out with planer boards moving at 2.3 - 2.7 mph has worked well for me. Usually limit out. River fishing with crawler harnesses, vertical jiging using leaches, minnows, and even twisters work most of the tim. The rivers I fish are fast moving and I typically vertical jig with a 3/4 ounce jig head while drifting. Just keep fishing for them. I have found color is a big deal weather you go home and eat walleye of stop at the golden arches for a carp sandwich. Once you find what works for you will love it. They dont hit real hard so you need to really pay attention, be patient and they will come. Good luck...

There are what I consider 3 different types of Walleye.1st would be general lake or most common edge oriented fish.2nd would be suspended or open water type fish which roam & follow schools of open water baitfish.These are common on the great lakes & some of the clearer deep water lakes.3rd would be current oriented or river fish.Water clarity, water temp,time of day& time of year will dictate type of lure, speed & manner of presentation.

Lets start with 1st. a general lake or edge oriented fish.Walleyes ars predator fish & can be caught under some of the same circumstances as bass.They will hide under trees along shore (a edge),along outside weed edges ,on the edge of a dropoff which might be a drop from 12'-15' or 10'-20'.The better edges have transition areas.Which are areas that have a change in bottom composition.Which could be from weed to muck,weed to sand, weed to rock,rock to sand,rock to mud ect...you get the idea.I tend to target Walleye usually in 25' of water & less in these type lakes.These lakes tend to have stained water or secci disc reading of usually 10' or less water clarity.This also is where time of year,time of day & water temps dictate lures & speed to be presented.Early season water temps in the 35-50 deg.range start with a slower presentation such as a jig or lindy rig style setup.Moving these slowly in the lower temp ranges & getting more aggressive speeding up movement as water temps move towards 50 deg.Might want to keep this in mind that shallow water warms faster & any downed trees or piers & docks help warm water around them.Once temps hit 50 deg the trolling rods & crankbait & spinner harness selection come out.These usually start getting pulled at 1.5 -2.0 mph early & will increase speed with bursts upwards of 3+ mph when water temps get close to 75 deg.Up to this point I am usually fishing in 20' or less of water.Once water temps break 75 deg.I will ply the water a bit deeper into 25' & may slow presentations down a bit in the 2 mph range.When water temps drop back to near 70 deg.everything seems to work in reverse slowing as fall progresses.

2nd type would be suspended or open water fish.These fish can be harder to find, but if you do find them you can catch numbers of very large fish.These fish tend to be bulkier because they usually hang around large schools of oily baitfish,which really fatten them up.Electronics play a huge part in finding & staying on these fish.You might be in 80' of water & see a cloud of bait topping out in 35' during the day.I try to run lures just above the cloud of baitfish.This is where dipseys,leadcore,snap weights,planer boards & some of your real deep running cranks come into play.As sun begins to set these baitfish tend to raise in the water column & keeping lures above them can be a challenge in itself.Sometimes bringing the water to a boil.The Great Lakes & real clear deep cooler waters,with secci disc readings generally over 10' hold this type of Walleye.They alot of times will be better known as holding Trout.There are a few books out which tell more about getting to these fish. Precision Trolling would give a good start as it tells about most lures & how deep they run with X amount of line out.Another is Big Water trolling,both invaluable tools for this style fishing.

3rd would be the current oriented or river fish.These fish tend to position themselves behind boulders,rockpiles,wingdams or anything that would slow current down & bring the food chain to them.These fish can be stacked in certain areas having the right amount of flow & food source.Jigs, livebait rigs & 3-way rigs usually take top honors on most fishermans lists.Look for a eddy or an area where the water might swirl back upstream due to a land point,wingdam,tree hanging into anything being in the water & you will generally find fish here.

Walleye tend to feed more actively under low light conditions.This is where water clarity, time of day & depth can make a big difference.Well hope this helps you some & gives a bit of insight on Walleye 101.Best of luck fishing all! WHITETIP

find the bait fish walleye wont be far.

    Where exactly do you fish for Walleye? Maybe you could meet up with one of us to give you some tips if you like.

I live in eastern maryland at the moment so anywhere around here. I was hitting up Conowingo dam in the fall where people were bringing in walleyes and stripers right next to me. All I managed was a couple pound flat head on a jig (I didn't even know they'd hit jigs. I've never been annoyed with catching ANY fish before but i'd just brought my jig up a ledge the guy next to me caught an eye off about 20 min before. I thought I finaly had one.)

If anyone is intrested in showing me how they do it I would be thrilled to meet up with them.

If you are fishing next to people that are catching Walleye, why are you not talking to them?  Most fishermen will clue you in if you approach them properly!

Maybe it is time to leave the tackle at home, go down to the lake and strike up a conversation with someone who is catching fish. Just a thought.

Tom

t

Oh don't think I didn't. They've got a special way of fishing down there. Most of them are trying everything they can to get their lure out to the white water coming out of the damn wich is pretty far out.

They use 12 foot or better surf rods with 3 ounce sinkers and super light jigs or flys. Walleyes and stripers seem to bite the same things, with a higher number of Stripers caught. And my Flat head. That got some laughs.

I got myself a rig for that area but I have trouble getting my line out as far as they do (my rod is the 12 foot min. I shoul have probably gotten a 13 or 14) and it just takes practice to throw that far. I can hit the very edge of the white water but the walleyes are usualy hooked a little closer to shore than the stripers anyway.

Thats a very specialized technique addapted to that particular spot though. While I am more than happy to take a walleye that way (or any legal way) I doubt that would be the preferd way of doing it a mile down the river or up on the resavoir side of the dam.