Snakehead Whisperer

Do you know if they tested biodegradable baits like "Gulp"? I read the article and realize that the ban would include biodegradable baits, but I was curious about the research. On a side note I fish soft plastics a lot, and it is very seldom that a fish tears a piece off and might swallow it. Usually this happens with pan fish who can't engulf the entire bait.

To my understanding this is not necessarily true. I've heard (and always assumed it's true that) they can see the sides and top reflected when it splashes in the water.

If it were me I'd also add motor oil, red, and blue fleck/junebug to the arsenal.

Looking good.

I throw them pre/post spawn and in the later part of fall. I primarily fish for river smallies if that makes a difference. I am partial to the 1/8oz. Rat-L-Traps.

I'm assuming it's a screen shot. Not sure about the lake.

I now have the song "Rapper's Delight" stuck in my head.

That's a great looking rig A-Jay.

Looks like it might be good on a walleye worm harness (which will take smallies too.)

I am the guy who wrote about using size 6/8 hooks for dropshotting. I have to agree with J Francho, it's all relative to the size of the bait you're throwing on the rig. I occasionally use size 2/1 hooks, but typically when I dropshot I am throwing small baits and fishing sloooow. Like really slow. Typically when I dropshot a 4" Senko is the largest thing I'll throw, and if I think to size up my baits above that then I also usually opt some other presentation. This is all a matter of what I feel comfortable with, however. There is no 1 way to fish a dropshot.

Thanks Darren. Been reading a lot of your posts lately too. Nice fish in your avatar.

Re-read this thread, and I realized that I misread your post. I know that river bend well. It's nearly impossible to hit that area from a boat unless you have a kayak or are willing to carry a canoe/jon boat from the parking lot at Angler's. I've shore fished that area a lot, but never caught anything but rock bass and smallies.

Dropshot a 2.5" tube. Also killer is a Slider head with a 4" Senko. Float and fly, or a crappie type rig will also take fish in current.

Dropshotting is also a technique that works well for Summertime river smallies in fast current. This tried and true technique will take all kinds of fish in all kinds of conditions. It should be in every anglers bag of tricks.

It was like that back in California too. I am a California native and lived in Oregon for 7 years, and I never understood that attitude when I lived back West either. It's that old Southern hospitality... there's nothing like it. Folks are friendly like that in the Midwest too. I feel at home here. Welcome Oregon Native.

X2. The chartreuse trailer with little flecks always looks good when I open the package, but then I put something else on the chatterbait. They work well for making a large beetlespin though.

At first glance I thought you were holding a banjo in this thumbnail.

It goes both ways though. I know some amateur anglers that would no doubt place in the money at these Bassmaster and FLW tournaments.

Just surprises me that there aren't more serious walleye anglers around, with striped bass season closed and the shad run still a way off. I read the reports every week. Charlie Taylor's report in particular mentions walleye in this stretch of river pretty often. Using tactics in those reports has never led me to success with walleye. I had assumed that you meant Great Falls, not Little Falls.

OK, here are real photos of me.

This is me... kind of.

I have checked water as shallow as that, but it was up near Shepherdstown, WV that it paid off. We did OK, and my friend Blake caught a 7 pounder in about 6' of water. As for the stretch of river I've been fishing here in DC, I have marked fish in the shallower areas but always assumed they were not walleye (though they look to be the right size.) There is a lot going on in this spot as far as various rock farms, eddies, a sand flat, and a large gorge. I don't get out there often enough because it is miles up from the launch and the recent rains had the river level up pretty high until this last week. I will be focusing more attention on this stretch, as the fishing action around here is pretty slow elsewhere. I'd also like to catch a large female if I can. I know they're in there.

Yeah, it's a trip. This is probably the one reason why I was having such a hard time finding them. After dark they will move onto a nearby flat that is 8-30', but during daylight I've never seen them shallower than 30'. In the upper stretches of the river I always find them in 5-20'. I can make a 1 mile run or so where I'm fishing, so I will try to see what I can come up with. If it pays off I will post the results. Thanks.

The description you gave is dead on (deep spot, outside bend.) However, the fish I am catching are all in 30-75' of water. Usually on the deeper end of that. So far I have been vertical jigging spoons and grubs. I will break out the planer boards next time and try doing some trolling. At 60+ feet how would I troll a crankbait? Best I can come up with is to use a bottom bouncer rig and a shallow diving crank on a 3-way swivel. Does that sound right?

I've heard this before too. I'm wondering if maybe the location and technique is a secret though. I spent the better part of a year researching this stretch of river and never got any closer to these fish until I started doing some real research on my own (articles written by Midwest and Canadian anglers.) I admit I am a rookie walleye fisherman, so it's more than likely that I was overlooking key habitat. But if it's true that the walleye are well known in these parts, then why don't I ever see other anglers targeting them? They've provided me and a few friends with an awesome winter fishery. It's really hard to make a call on this as walleye aren't really a very popular game fish in this area. On a side note, when I first started going for snakeheads in this area most of the advice I got was useless. Once I discovered a good pattern I started to notice more subtle approaches at tempting these fish. It's probably the most common of all fishing paradox's... Are the people giving me advice trying to help, or are they trying to steer me in the wrong direction? Or better yet, do they have any idea what they're talking about? When you were fishing below the falls was it in the Mather Gorge area, or further down by Anglers Inn? Just curious, as I've tried that area from Fisherman's Eddie all the way to Little Falls without any walleye (some nice SMB and Rock Bass though.) I'd really like to step my walleye game up. Thanks for the insight.