Walleye fishing?

[Tackett1980]

I’ve generally never fished for walleye.  Apparently a place close to me here in WV which is a waterfall around a small river has some monster walleye.  I’ve seen people recently posting pictures of walleyes the size of my leg...

 

Ive been fishing here tons of times and have caught multiple large smallies but I’ve never once caught a walleye.  
 

Any suggestions on how to target these?  I bought some very large plastic swimbaits I plan to use this weekend but would love some more advise as I tend to get into a tackle rut using the same bait every time. 
 

The pic of the location is attached.

[TnRiver46]

We catch them on worms and creature baits, or trolled cranks . They always seem to be on the bottom during daylight 

[gim]

Bottom or near bottom is important.  Also, they are a fish that prefers darker water so targeting periods of low light (sunrise, sunset, cloudy days, or at night, etc) would increase your odds.

[snake95]

Agree with the above about low-light conditions, although like all fish, surprises occur.

 

I have some experience catching them, though there are some guys on here that are experts.

 

I used a lot of live bait for them, mostly shiners or other minnows, and sometimes crawlers.

 

I know leeches are also popular but did not use them.  

 

We typically fished close to the bottom for them.

 

If I were you I would search for walleye rigs.

 

You will find lots of rigs with spinner blades and beads for crawlers, and bottom bouncer or dipsey sinkers.

 

Also look for walleye jigs - another popular live or dead bait presentation, and you can also use curl tail grubs.

 

Yes you will get snagged and break off.

 

I have caught them on various rapala cranks, particularly the original when they are shallow in very low light in the spring or fall.  Also caught them on ballhead jigs with grubs.

 

Another common thread for walleye lures is bright unnatural colors, pinks, chartreuse.

 

 

 

 

[Tackett1980]

Thanks for the responses and apologies for posting in the incorrect section.

 

This area is pretty deep, closest to the falls themselves where the bottom has been carved out it’s 20-30 feet deep.  I’m formulating a plan here now thanks to all of you.  The plan so far is as follows:

 

Go out before sun up Saturday:

 

I have some large white paddle tail swimmers about 5” with some jig heads.  I was going to throw, sink to the bottom and retrieve.

 

i also have one of those big storm jointed swimbaits I was going to try.

https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Kickin-Fishing-Yellow-Perch/dp/B0058N1FWG/ref=mp_s_a_1_13?dchild=1&keywords=storm+swimbaits&qid=1597889927&sprefix=storm+swim&sr=8-13

 

worm wise I have some 4” bubble gum senkos but I fish those all the time there and have never gotten a walleye bite.  Though I am fishing them wacky rigged.  Should I try drop shot or a different kind of rig?

 

also, I have a bottom dropper rig with a 1 oz egg sinker and a hook.  I was going to go out looking for some bluegill and hook one onto this rig.

 

my other plan is to maybe vertical jig some spoons though the spoons I have are tiny.  
 

is there anything specific I should be looking for on the fish finder?  If someone says “fish”...I’ll find you.  Lol

 

Thanks, kind people.

[Fallser]

That's some nice looking water.  My only experience fishing for walleyes is on a lake in Northern Ontario.  There are a couple of areas where streams/river run into the lake that are similar.  Since we only fished them during the day I don't remember catching any decent size walleyes over the years.  

  We seldom had any luck going out before breakfast or sun up.  Prime walleye time was about two hours before sunset and maybe a 1/2 hour to 45 minutes after sunset.  Mostly we fished 1/4 oz jigs tipped with night crawlers, leeches or minnows and curly tail grubs 2 to 4 inches, chartreuse, white, yellow and black worked well.  We either drifted bouncing the jigs off the bottom, or if we were feeling lazy we'd just anchor up on a good spot at wait for the walleye to come to us.  Not sure a sunfish/bluegill would be the best choice for bait.  I know they use them around here for flatheads, but I don't think they would be the prime forage fish for walleye.  We did catch a few trolling, with deep diving lures running down 15 to 25 feet.  Forage in the lake was mainly perch and whitefish.  Fire Tiger, Perch and blue over silver always caught fish. Lure length 3-6 inches. Never fished any senkos for walleye.  Used them for smallmouth.  You'll need to keep them close to the bottom.  Drop shot set up, you'd want the senko 6 to 12 inches off the bottom.  I wouldn't be surprised if a Ned Rig worked.

  What to look for on the depth finder besides fish.  The ones the lodge had in the boats were basic nothing fancy.  We did learn not to use the fish symbol to show us what was down there.  Everything from weeds to timber would show up as fish.   Walleye seldom showed up on the depth finder for us.  The definition wasn't good enough to distinguish between rocks on the bottom and a fish 6 to 12 inches off the bottom.  What we did look for were schools of bait fish.  The walleye usually followed the schools

   If you're going to keep a couple the best eating ones are from 14 to 20 inches.  You get a decent fillet from them

[soflabasser]

Looks like a good place to fish with jigs.

[gim]

Definitely keep your presentation near the bottom. Walleyes generally feed near the bottom. I used to fish them a lot growing up and we caught them on a variety of presentations including slip bobbers, jigging, lead core, spinners, and crank baits. It was easy to find them on the sonar in deeper water. The issue was getting them to bite. They always bit most often when the sun was going down too.

[VolFan]

Im going slightly against the grain here - fish at night in the shallower flat or tail out from the deep hole the waterfall creates - you should be either downstream of the falls or just to the side of the main current.  You can either go down and try to dig them off the bottom with a jig, or fish a big swimbait like a MS Slammer (i have a favorite 7" one in a gold shiner pattern). I start by swimming the slammer and as the night gets later going shallower and waking.  Its not a numbers game but it will pull giants. You can wake it almost right against the bank and they'll still come get it.

[Tackett1980]

Oh I’m sorry everyone.  I appreciate these responses I actually forgot I posted the thread in the first place.

 

I did go out a few weekends ago and I caught nothing.  Not even a bite, might as well have been throwing my gear in the back yard.

 

You know, I’ve fished a lot of places.  Nearly every state at this point at all times of the year.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that fishing here in WV is frustrating and more difficult than any place I’ve even been to.  You would think you would know how to catch fish at your home town but man...I dare any non local to show up at a waterway here and just catch the amount and quality of fish that your used to.  Anyways I’m digressing.

 

I was out on the water at 545am and I fished until about an hour after sundown, here are the methods I tried and when I tried them.

 

Until the sun came up I ran the following:

1:  whopper plopper in the shallows (really looking for smallies with this)

 

2:  a 4” chartreuse search bait 360 with a swim jig head.

 

3:  5” power bait paddle tail swim bait

 

4:  storm flat stick in green tiger color

 

5:  z man chatter bait with double tail trailer

 

6:  strike king square bill in bright orange and black.

 

after the sun came up and nearly all day until evening I threw the following:

 

1:  drop rig with some creek chubs.

 

2:  jig head sitting on the bottom with creek chubs

 

3:  curly tail jigs of the following colors.

pink, orange, red, white

 

5:  drop shot with some storm fringe tailed shiners, hooked in the nose.

 

evening time and night I did the same thing as early morning except I bobbered some craw fish.  
 

I lost some tackle due to bottom snags from the sheer amount of crap on the bottom of the river, but no dice on any walleye.  I did see some large schools of fish on the bottom with the sonar hanging around not quite at the bottom but mostly on the drop off areas around 12-15 feet.  I saw nothing but sticks and garbage at the deepest points, which is strange considering that the water is probably so oxygenated there that they could probably sit at 100’ down...

 

so critiques?  Anything you guys would do different this weekend?

 

[Tackett1980]

Ok, this is my third time out at this location with not even a strike...

 

what gives?

[Rico’s Roughnecks]

Are you on a boat or on the shore?  If you’re on a boat, have you tried bottom bouncers with a spinner rig and minnow/worm/leach?  Or vertical jigging a spoon, jigging rap, or a ball head jig w/a curly tail grub?  I found 1-2 feet off the bottom was pretty good for live bait presentations.  

My experience is mostly from my buddies’ boats, but these are what have always been recommended to me: If on the bank, walleye like eddies, seams, and rocks breaking the water flow.  People tend to have luck with ball head jigs and curlytail grubs or paddletails, and spoons.  I’ve been lucky with a smaller underspin swimjig.

 

Regardless, cloudy days are best as walleye have sensitive eyes.  They are also active in the morning and dusk.

 

I prefer to troll a 1-2 oz bottom bouncer with a spinner rig and half or whole nightcrawler, but I’ve seen leaches and minnows work as well. My spinner colors are typically some bright highlighter color or some variation of fire tiger. I use a medium fast spinning rod 6’ to 7’.  The last time I went out I was catching them on the bottom bouncer and my buddy with a jigging rap. Came back home with 5 keepers and some little guys we threw back.

[Jig Man]

Have you considered hiring a walleye guide?

[Tackett1980]

13 minutes ago, Jig Man said:

Have you considered hiring a walleye guide?

Not a bad idea.  Actually that’s a great idea I’ll have to do some research and see who goes up there.

 

thanks!