Swimbait eating Walleyes

[PhishLI]

We're targeting bass but the Walleye are all over our swimbaits. Gantia, MS Slammer, Gantarel, Magdraft, Spro Rats etc. I know the walleye guys use a lot of spinning tackle like Eyecon rods. They feel like noodles to me. We're using much heavier swimbait rods and the fight is insane. These fish pull like crazy. It must be wild using light spinning gear.

 

[Finessegenics]

Nice catches! I exclusively target walleye in the early season and I'm surprised to see you comment on how they fight so hard. They're known for not putting up that much of a battle and I would agree with the stereotype. Oh and I use ML or M spinning setups for them?  The big girls give some decent headshakes but rarely ever pull drag. They're fun to catch nonetheless. Anyone else agree?

[PhishLI]

5 hours ago, Finessegenics said:

Nice catches! I exclusively target walleye in the early season and I'm surprised to see you comment on how they fight so hard. They're known for not putting up that much of a battle and I would agree with the stereotype. Oh and I use ML or M spinning setups for them?  The big girls give some decent headshakes but rarely ever pull drag. They're fun to catch nonetheless. Anyone else agree?

We've been catching them in a big shallow flat where they push white perch right up against the shore. I don't know how they behave elsewhere, but here when they eat a swimbait they fight hard for every inch, especially the 25"-30"ers. That fish in the pic made few hard runs and had a 7'11" H rod bent the entire ride in.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, Finessegenics said:

Nice catches! I exclusively target walleye in the early season and I'm surprised to see you comment on how they fight so hard. They're known for not putting up that much of a battle and I would agree with the stereotype. Oh and I use ML or M spinning setups for them?  The big girls give some decent headshakes but rarely ever pull drag. They're fun to catch nonetheless. Anyone else agree?

I’ve caught a few that fought like the devil. I’ve also caught plenty that barely fought. I remember reeling in a sauger once, it barely fought. When it hit the boat deck it went bananas and tore the world apart 

[Teal]

That's good eating 

[roadwarrior]

[gim]

I’ve caught hundreds of them, maybe thousands up here in the land of 10,000 lakes where ol marble eyes is the state fish. They are by far the weakest fighting fish I catch. Rock bass fight harder. Sometimes even a big one comes in like a wet sock which really does kinda take some of the fun out of it. Most people target them with 6 pound test on medium action rods with spinning reels and they rarely break off...or take out drag.

 

And 95% of the walleye anglers target them for one and only one reason: to harvest them.

[Bluebasser86]

I think it depends where they're caught. I rarely catch walleye from water deeper than 6-8 feet, and they fight like crazy. They're not even large ones I'm catching, 15-22 inches typically. They'll straighten a treble hook, pull drag, break your line if you're not careful. They aren't fast swimmers, but a pretty dogged fight overall. The ones I've caught fishing with my dad, who likes to vertical jig in deep water, like hauling a stick up from the bottom.

[soflabasser]

Nice walleye. I caught a walleye in a river that gave a decent fight for its size but I would not consider it a strong fighting fish. Have caught bass of more or less equal size that fought much harder. Most people fish for walleye for food so what matters most is that they taste good.

[PhishLI]

8 hours ago, gimruis said:

I’ve caught hundreds of them, maybe thousands up here in the land of 10,000 lakes where ol marble eyes is the state fish. They are by far the weakest fighting fish I catch. Rock bass fight harder. Sometimes even a big one comes in like a wet sock which really does kinda take some of the fun out of it. Most people target them with 6 pound test on medium action rods with spinning reels and they rarely break off...or take out drag.

 

And 95% of the walleye anglers target them for one and only one reason: to harvest them.

I have no experience catching walleye except for in 2 lakes in my general area as those are the only lakes where they're present. They stock several thousand fingerlings each year that when mature will control the white perch population. The particular lake I'm talking about is generally shallow averaging 6-8 feet for the most part with the perimeter closer to 4-5 feet for several hundred feet from shore in a number of spots. Farther towards the center it averages between 10-15 deep. There are two deep holes, but they don't cover much area. It's understood that dissolved oxygen isn't present here below 15ft, and the walleye cannot reproduce. It's basically a big bowl with particular bottom contours but no moving flow of water in or out.

 

There's a large shallow flat, approximately 2-3 ft deep, covering several acres that's a prime Large and Smallmouth area due to a feeder stream where baitfish are present.The walleye seem to arrive in groups that are organized by size. They're either quite big, 24"-30" or 14-18". There are nights where we've caught 30 and not a single fish was a dud, a wet blanket, etc. I never mistake a LM bass for a SM bass, but it often feels like a big smallmouth's on the line when it's actually a walleye. They don't jump or tail-walk like a smallmouth, but the hard change of direction and pull is similar. It's definitely not the fight of even a big largemouth. Before I caught one here I had zero prep on what it would be like, but I was blown away. I've been trying to get my son in law out late one night so he can experience it himself. I'm never disappointed. It's a total blast.

 

I mentioned your post to my brother tonight. He speculated that maybe walleye pulled up from deep water are starched and have no fight? BlueBasser86's experience mirrors our's, so we're not having a group delusion thankfully! PM me if you're ever out this way and up for a late night walleye grind. If we get on 'em you'll see what I'm talking about. Oh, and bring some big swimbaits. They smash 'em.

[gim]

They definitely need more oxygenated, cooler water to reproduce naturally. They also need shallow rocky or gravel areas to spawn. They sometimes go into tributaries to find moving water as well. If the bottom is all mud, weeds, or sand, they cannot spawn. Most of our lakes up here in Minnesota are actually stocked with them about every other year as opposed to natural reproduction. The big heavily fished lakes here are the factories that produce massive numbers of natural reproduction here. People are borderline obsessed with walleyes here and I don’t really know why, other than the fact that they taste good. I personally would much rather bass or muskie fish.

[Boomstick]

Nice catches! I never specifically target Walleyes because I don't have them without at least a two hour drive so I'm definitely no Walleye expert, but I gather you can target them with anything you'd target smallmouth with. The only one I caught -- just a tiny little one hit a crankbait and I missed a large one when I was in Canada a few years ago on a spinnerbait.

[Ogandrews]

Walleye are awesome predators that get a bad rap as fighting like wet socks but big ones, especially river fish, fight really well. They don’t make crazy runs like other fish but they have a unique way of fighting that is really hard in itself. 
I hooked this 27” in 2’ of water in really fast current while I was fishing for big browns. Was using a g loomis e6x 7’1m xf with 10lbs braid to 10lbs mono so not super light and it took me a good 2 minutes to get it to shore and you can see how small a river it is. I have caught a couple mid 20” walleye while throwing 10”-16” musky plastics like a Poseidon swimbait or a Mag Bulldawg. Walleye have about as big of a mouth for their size as largemouth do so they can eat really big baits. In general you see people using small baits for them because they are going after eaters which are usually 14-18”. Paddletail swimbaits are one of the single best walleye baits in rivers and lakes and will catch them year round. One of my confidence baits when targeting them is a 4.5 regular keitech swing impact not the fat to find them, and then switch to a 4.3 or 4.8 fat to try to get a bigger bite. I have caught them on 5.8 and 6.8’s but I get consistently bit more often on the smaller ones. I live within 30 miles of pool 4 of the Mississippi which puts out some of the biggest walleye in the country every year so I definitely do my share of targeting them.

[ABart61]

A common thing I hear from people who have caught large eyes (10 pounds+) is when they set the hook it feels like they are snagged on something until it moves. 

[Steveo-1969]

I catch river walleyes in winter/spring and I scratch my head when I hear people say walleyes don't fight. I've found any walleye 15"+ in current on a ML spinning rod is going to pull. Hard. If it's over 20" it's going to pull really hard. They know how to use that big wide tail.

 

If you reel them right in with no fight the walleye is too small or your gear is too heavy.

[soflabasser]

On 4/30/2020 at 9:14 AM, Steveo-1969 said:

I catch river walleyes in winter/spring and I scratch my head when I hear people say walleyes don't fight. I've found any walleye 15"+ in current on a ML spinning rod is going to pull. Hard. If it's over 20" it's going to pull really hard. They know how to use that big wide tail.

 

If you reel them right in with no fight the walleye is too small or your gear is too heavy.

I caught a big walleye in a river with lots of current and it gave a decent fight but nothing compared to the hybrid striped bass I have caught in similar conditions. Most fish in running water give a better fight than fish caught in calm water. With that said I enjoyed catching that walleye and I can see why people like fishing for them.

[Black Hawk Basser]

Walleye in river fight like hell, but they still don't compete with smallmouths.  I've never tried hard bodied swimbaits for walleye, but use lots of paddle tail soft swimmers in rivers and lakes with some success.  I catch most of my bigger fish on jerkbaits, crankbaits and flukes.