Walleye On A Rat-L-Trap?

[joshholmes]

the strangest thing happened at my lake. i had my favorite crankin rod with a silver and blue rattle trap on 20 lb. test mono. i was fishing shallow in light weeds when i hooked into what i thought was a small pike. when i brought it in i was surprised to find a 6lb. walleye. ive fished rattle traps for years and have never caught a walleye on one before. since walleye are very line wary i didn't know how i could get it on 20lb test. plus the location was completely wrong for a walleye. in my lake at this time of year they're usually down deep in rocky areas. something didn't seem right about catching it like this. i know i didn't snag it. has this ever happened and do you know why it was so shallow?

[JacobK]

yeah i just caught one yesterday on a swimbait around 6fow around some weedbeds.

[clayton86]

Last year same sorta thing happend to my nephew. I was throwing a orange craw colored trap slaming smallies and large on a point formed by the inlet of a d**n then right across from the point was a shallow spawning flat and this was april 11th unusually warm it was around 85 I remember we were in shorts and his gf was tanning well we fished. I gave him a spare trap same color he threw it into that spawning area and got hit on like the 2nd crank of the handle. I ended up jumping down a 15ft wall into the water to land this thing for him it was about 6 maybe 7lbs if my memory serves me cuz after that all I could remember was how my 210lb arse was getting back up that wall with a toothy walleye in my other hand some how I did though.

[joshholmes]

nice story clayton.us new york anglers are lucky to have so many big game fish around. Also, the strange thing about my lake is that walleye can't spawn in my lake. they are stocked every year because their isn't ideal spawning habit for them(according to the DEC). the strange thing was that this walleye was stuffed, AND I MEAN STUFFED. it didn't feel like fat or muscle but i always practice C.P.R. (catch, photograph, release) so i wasn't gonna blindly cut this fish open to prove the DEC wrong. but the eyes on them take up nearly half of their head so how i caught it on colored 20 lb. monofilament is still a mystery.

[slonezp]

Why not? I've caught them on jignpigs, flukes, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, why not a rattletrap?

[Marty]

All my walleyes but a few have been caught from the Erie Canal. Probably more than 90% of them came on on crankbaits. None were on a lipless since I don't use them there, but since they've hit so many different cranks it doesn't surprise me at all to hear about a lipless.

I've caught a few from Honeoye Lake in shallow water in the spring. I think it's safe to say that during the spring they and other species can be found in places you wouldn't normally expect them at other times of year.

[piscicidal]

I fished Walleye alot growing up in Minnesota.

I think it is fairly common to find walleye in the weeds, especially in that period right after post spawn. The females move up from the deeper water adjacent to the spawning flats and start to feed heavily. Some of my best Walleye fishing trips ever were on/around Memorial weekend, fishing shallow (7-12ft) emergent cabbage weed flats.

Rig up a lindy rig (3/8oz slip sinker/swivel/3' leader/#6 hook) and a nightcrawler with a little shot of air in the tail (to float above the weeds) and troll around thru those flats. I'll bet you get a few more of those tasty fish!

[Hyrule Bass]

nice story clayton.us new york anglers are lucky to have so many big game fish around. Also, the strange thing about my lake is that walleye can't spawn in my lake. they are stocked every year because their isn't ideal spawning habit for them(according to the DEC). the strange thing was that this walleye was stuffed, AND I MEAN STUFFED. it didn't feel like fat or muscle but i always practice C.P.R. (catch, photograph, release) so i wasn't gonna blindly cut this fish open to prove the DEC wrong. but the eyes on them take up nearly half of their head so how i caught it on colored 20 lb. monofilament is still a mystery.

goes to show you fish dont care about line type or size as much as the angler does...

[fishingkidPA]

never caught a walleye on a rat l trap, but i can cast it a mile lol

[clayton86]

Iv only ever caught 4 walleye in my life all well targeting bass with smithwicks. I fish the eria canal often for catfish and will take some cranks for bass and try for walleye sense I hear stories of people catching them there but never have caught any the erie canal is the worst place to fish I think I have better luck in a mud puddle.

[Hamby]

I caught a walleye in june, in 3 FOW, in thick weeds, on a buzzbait. Top that one. The fish didn't hit it as the bait landed in the water either. It was nearly to the dock and he hit it like a bass.

It's actually quite common to catch walleye up shallow this time of the year.

[UWBass]

I catch plenty of walleyes here in WI on lipless crankbaits. Tons of walleyes are caught in the weeds as well. I don't think it's strange to see them there - fish will go where the food is!

And Josh, even if the walleye is fat and full of spawn, it doesn't mean it will be successful in spawning in the lake. You need a myriad of the right conditions for a walleye to spawn successfully. They will still go through the spawning act but it will often be fruitless, and the eggs won't hatch or develop right.

[TerryR]

Never caught one on a rattle trap, but I have caught them on Rapala's in shallow weeds. Also, I don't think they notice the line so much in the weeds, I guess it gets broken up.

[Nice_Bass]

We fish for them a lot of times here with traps....

[Bass Dude]

I used to catch them all the time on rattlebaits when I fished Oneida Lake in Syracuse. Up there it seemed there were weed walleyes and deep, rock walleyes. People up there also long line troll with them and wack 'em good too.

I've also caught walleyes on spinnerbaits in the shallow grass.

[Slipknot6]

Having done 8-10 walleye tournaments a year for the last 13 years, i can say i'm glad this is a bass site and not a walleye site!!! You guys are flirting with some little known tricks that have cashed multiple checks for me. In every lake the most overlooked population of walleye are the fish in less than 5ft of water, and those fish are almost always willing to bite something. Now for the rattle trap part, those things can be just dynamite burned for shallow water walleye. I've been crossing over to bass for the last 7 years, and can't believe how much my shallow water walleye experience has helped targeting overlooked offshore bass. Oh, and squarebills.....walleye can't get enough of those either, matter of fact the last tourney i won, all walleye came in less than 2 ft of water and all on squarebills (this was 2006 mind you

[joshholmes]

wow i guess i was a bit closed minded before about walleye. i thought they were only caught on brightly colored grubs, deep divers, vertical jigs and spinner rigs. there is many walleye in my lake going up to over 12 lbs, so i guess when the next cold front hits and the bass aren't biting ill try targeting walleye

[Bluebasser86]

Big walleyes love traps. I haven't caught many on them but it seems like the ones that eat them are big. A friend caught an 8.5lb walleye on a trap this spring but he was fishing for them. Another friend caught an 8 pounder last year on an eakins jig and last week caught another 8pounder on a power lizard. I've caught them on bass jigs, all kinds of cranks, spinnerbaits, and most of them I catch are on jerkbaits fishing for bass. My dad caught one a couple years ago on 15lb mono with a bluegill head under a bobber fishing for catfish! It was a 21" fish and in a clear heavily pressured little lake too. I've caught them bottom fishing nightcrawlers for catfish with heavy braid. They can be pretty tight lipped but when they decide they're going to eat something they can be really easy to catch!

[Dwight Hottle]

the strangest thing happened at my lake. i had my favorite crankin rod with a silver and blue rattle trap on 20 lb. test mono. i was fishing shallow in light weeds when i hooked into what i thought was a small pike. when i brought it in i was surprised to find a 6lb. walleye. ive fished rattle traps for years and have never caught a walleye on one before. since walleye are very line wary i didn't know how i could get it on 20lb test. plus the location was completely wrong for a walleye. in my lake at this time of year they're usually down deep in rocky areas. something didn't seem right about catching it like this. i know i didn't snag it. has this ever happened and do you know why it was so shallow?

Josh

Walleye will hit almost any bait that you can find to throw. Many walleye relate to weed beds just like bass, pike & muskies. We catch walleye in lake erie while fishing for bass in shallow water, Overcast days, low light conditions & wind/waves will bring walleye shallow during the day.

[piscicidal]

wow i guess i was a bit closed minded before about walleye. i thought they were only caught on brightly colored grubs, deep divers, vertical jigs and spinner rigs. there is many walleye in my lake going up to over 12 lbs, so i guess when the next cold front hits and the bass aren't biting ill try targeting walleye

Josh, I think you will find that cold front walleyes are harder to catch than cold front bass. Go out on an overcast day with a nice 5-10 mph wind creating 1-2 foot waves (we used to call "walleye chop") and target these fish. They are a great game fish...

[ww2farmer]

My biggest walleye, 8lbs, came shallow on a Red Eye Shad. As have most of the bigger walleyes I have caught. I have also caught them flipping weed holes in 8-10 FOW, drop shotting the weed edge, and............yes.............on a senko LOL