Hello mikepet. Most of my fishing has been from shore. Whenever I was asked what I was after my reply would be, "fish". I really didn't care about what I caught as long as I had a nice time and if I caught some fish it was a bonus.
Now I am a little more experienced, not much more, and I have learned that game wardens can look at your gear and they will tell you if the fish you are after are in season! I digress.
The first walleye I caught was in a shallow park lake, more like a pond. Anyway I had a fly popper on a spinning rod and reel combo. I caught a few dinky bass and was about to leave when suddenly I saw a silver flash and my rod tip started bouncing up and down. It wasn't pretty, drag wasn't set properly. I finally landed the fish and it was a walleye, my first walleye! It was one of many firsts in South Dakota. I caught my first walleye, trout, jumbo perch and sturgeon in South Dakota! I had only read about them and had seen pictures of them in National Geographic. When I saw that thing coming to the surface I thought it was a shark. A shark in a fresh water reservoir. I knew that sturgeon were on federally protected list so I unhooked it and released it back into the water.
I was fishing in the Delaware River in New Jersey using a Blakemore Road Runner, a very small one. I wasn't there 5 minutes when I caught a walleye. My cousin was upset cause he had been fishing there for years and had not caught one.
In Canada I have caught wallyeyes on Rapala Shallow Shad Raps #5 n #7. I have also caught them on Rapala Resto Raps. I guess once you find out if there are walleyes in your waters is to keep your bait in the water also. Good luck.