Fishing Articles

SUMMER RIVER WALLEYES

by In-Fisherman 

As spring evolves into summer, river walleyes typically disperse downstream and break up into small groups, setting up temporary residences near current-breaking objects or structures. Once water levels drop low enough, flooded shoreline cover becomes too shallow to attract fish. Now walleyes have no choice but to move toward the center of the river or to holes formed at bends. Current becomes moderate, but it remains a primary moving force in the lives of gamefish and baitfish—something to be dealt with every moment of every day. As water levels drop, then, current-deflecting structures projecting into the river become prime summer walleye locations.

In adult or mature rivers, long shallow runs typically become devoid of walleyes because fish concentrate near deeper holes. Thus even small rivers with weak walleye populations may offer fair summer concentrations of fish.

Aggressive walleyes tend to lie near distinctive current breaks like rock points or along the lips of holes, rather than in basins, which appear to be used chiefly as resting or cold front locations. Look for visual current seams, eddies, or other distinctive interruptions in flows. Without the threat of freezing, currrent-breaking structures that drop into as little as 4-5 feet of water may hold plenty of walleyes in summer.

On larger middle-aged rivers, even straight stretches may be deep enough to hold walleyes in summer, provided that distinctive current breaks are present. The basins of deep holes near river bends may not attract many fish until fall. Natural rock points and wing dams become primary summer walleye locations almost everywhere they occur.

Fishing a big river like the Mississippi during summer is a pleasure. The hordes of fishermen who descend on the river for the spring walleye run are long gone; like walleyes, spring also concentrates fishermen. During summer, fishing pressure becomes lighter and more spread out. You'll catch plenty of walleyes and still have time to pull off the river at noon for a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and you'll be able to find a cozy restaurant to enjoy a traditional riverside fish fry in the evening, too.

During 1982 and 1983, Iowa Department of Natural Resources biologist John Pitlo and co-workers radio tagged and followed walleyes in Pool 13 of the Mississippi River. Their conclusions, coupled with our fishing experience on many large rivers during summer (and fall), provide a clear picture of where walleyes are, based on available habitat and water conditions.

Most larger river pools contain a tailwater area, a main channel, main channel border areas, side channels, river lakes, and ponds. Pitlo compared the time that radio-tagged walleyes spent in specific habitats to the amount of each habitat type in Pool 13. Seventy-five percent of Pitlo's walleye observations occurred in about 25% of the available habitat.

"To be more specific," Pitlo said, "wing dam habitat makes up only about 5% of the habitat available in Pool 13, but it accounted for 32% of our observations. Flowing side channels make up about 15% of the habitat and accounted for 23% of our observations, and main channel border areas make up about 5% of the habitat and accounted for 20% of our observations."

In essence, wing and closing dam structures are the principal walleye areas under normal pool (water level) conditions during summer and fall. Main channel border habitat is most important when the water level is low in winter.

As the amount of water discharged from Lock and Dam 12 increased, walleyes' use of wing dams decreased. Under high water conditions, in other words, walleyes vacate wing dams for side channel habitat, in which they are protected from heavy current. When the water drops, they move back to wing dams.

The Best Wing And Closing Dams

Wing Dams

Some habitat areas, in this case certain wing and closing dams, are better fish attractors. The two most important physical characteristics affecting walleyes' use of wing and closing dams are the depth over each structure and the location of the structure in relation to the river's meandering channel.

Water depth is greater around structures located on outside river bends and less on inside bends; so is the current velocity over the top of those structures. Some of the volume is directed toward the main channel, while the remaining volume increases in velocity in order to pass through the restriction. Current velocity almost doubles over the top of the structure compared to velocities upstream and downstream. Higher current velocity increases scouring action and results in deeper scour holes below wing and closing dams, especially near structures located on outside river bends.

The quality and diversity of habitat appear to be enhanced by dams with shallow water depth over the top and deep scour holes below them. Many bait- and gamefish species gather around structures that possess those characteristics. Current velocity decreases with increase in depth, so deeper scour holes make better resting spots. This, plus the diversity of fish life, probably makes wing dams with these traits better areas for walleyes.

Feeding Versus Resting Walleyes

The deep scour holes behind wing and closing dams make good resting spots for walleyes, but fish don't usually feed there. During summer and fall, feeding walleyes almost always position themselves at the base, just up the face, or on top of wing or closing dams.

Wing and closing dams are best located by (1) consulting a map of a river pool, (2) looking for marker cans that occasionally mark main channel ends of dams, or (3) watching for telltale signs of surface disturbance caused by water being forced over the top of dams.

Wind blowing against current sets up distinct wave lines that mark the tops of dams. Position your boat from 50 to 100 feet upcurrent from such wave lines, stay there, and you're in proper position.

If wind is blowing with current, you need to create your own wave line by motoring along the backside of the dam with your boat. It's amazing, but one run usually sets up a distinct line that can last for 10 minutes.

How and Where to Catch a Limit of Crappies

Here's how to catch spawning crappies this month.

Article by Mark Modoski

 

For the ­panfish angler, spring might as well be Christmas. Every year, hordes of crappies flock to the shallows to spawn. In the Northern states, this can occur a month or so after ice-​out or even during the last of the hard-water season, and in the South the migration can start as early as February. Regardless of when it begins, anglers have a big window in which to target this huge concentration of fish and the ensuing prespawn feeding frenzy. Here's what you need to know.

Mercury Rising 
No tool is more essential for success in spring than the temperature gauge on your electronics. Crappies begin migrating to the shallows once water temps rise above 50 degrees, and spawn when it's well into the 60s. If you're reading anything between 50 and 65, it's a good time to hit the water.

Lighten Up 
There's no room in this game for anything except light or ultralight tackle to present tiny lures properly and detect subtle hits. Small 500- to 1000-size reels with 4-pound-test line matched with a 6-foot ultralight rod will do the trick.

 

 

Be Presentable
Presentation is critical, as prespawn crappies are often at specific depths and keyed into a particular forage. Small tubes and jigs can be fished as is or beneath a small fixed Comal Tackle cigar float to keep them eye-level with the fish. Try vertical-jigging these lures when crappies are holding deeper, and switch to the float as they move into the shallows.

 

Shallow Minded 
As the water continues to warm, crappies keep pushing into shallower spots. When your gauge reads in the low to mid 50s, fish the flats that are between 5 and 10 feet deep. Once it hits the 60s, any part of the lake that has 18 inches to 3 feet of water will hold fish.

Baiting Game 
Structure such as brushpiles and contour changes are key when you're searching for prespawn crappies, which will use these areas as cover. But nothing is more important to them right now than finding food. Locate bait schools with your electronics. Shallow flats that hold bait in spring will likely have prespawn crappies not far behind. Look for flats adjacent to the main lake, particularly on the northern side, which will warm up quicker.

 

Stay in the Zone 
Along with small tubes and jigs, small, suspending minnow baits also work great on early-season crappies. They can be worked slowly and kept in the strike zone; crappies may still be sensitive to cold water and not willing to move too far or fast to chase a lure. 

 

Illustrations by Mike Sudal 

Simple Spring Panfish!

The author with a "simple" spring panfish!

Spring is an awesome time of the year for those of us who love to fish for panfish. The first open water of the season offers dynamite shallow water action for bluegill and crappie. An added bonus is that this fishing is pretty simple, both in terms of finding fish and the methods used to land them.

Spring panfish make shallow water migrations to feed and later to spawn. One good thing about this fishing is that some of the shallow areas they migrate to are easily accessible by shore anglers. Marinas, canals, and shallow bays warm quickly in the spring drawing 'gills and crappie.

As stated, many of these areas are accessible by shore anglers. Anglers choosing to fish from a boat, however, have the added advantage of being able to hit several shallow spots on the same lake. This can be advantageous as those areas warming the quickest will usually draw the first waves of fish, so checking various locations will up an angler's odds for finding active fish.

Easy access to fishing spots is one advantage of spring panfish angling. Another is that the peak bite in some of these spots is often right before dark, meaning a quick end-of-the day trip can often be very productive.

Not only is locating spring panfish usually a pretty simple affair, but so is the presentation that catches these fish. A small jig fished below a slip-bobber tipped with a crappie minnow is a favorite when crappie are the target. A pink/white or glow green 1/32-ounce Gypsi Jig tipped with a small, but very lively crappie minnow is my favorite crappie set-up. Gypsi Jigs have tinsel tails that give off a fish scale flash that really attracts fish. A small split shot added about a foot above the jig completes the system. I like the pink/white color jig combination for daytime fishing, switching to the glow green color during low light conditions.

As stated earlier, a key to this simple set-up is the use of lively bait. An easy way to keep a bunch of crappie minnows fresh and lively is to put them in a good bait container. I use a small Min-O-Life Personal Baitstation for keeping my spring crappie minnows. This is a compact, insulated container with an aerator that does a great job of keeping minnows fresh.

Spring crappie are often suckers for small jigs tipped with lively minnows. Though bluegills will also hit these rigs, I prefer a small Fire-Fly Jig tipped with a waxworm when targeting these fish. Parakeet and pink/white patterned jigs have been good spring 'gill producers.

Regardless which jig and particular panfish species is chosen, an important factor in making this simple system the most effective is the use of the right bobber. The Super-Pro Lite-Bite Slip Bobbers are awesome tools. They have hi-vis stems that can be seen easily in low light. Not only that, but the bobber stems have Slip-N-Slide grommets allowing line to slide through with minimal resistance helping anglers catch light biters. Their sleek pear shape also helps anglers in bite detection.

The final component of this presentation involves the use of light line that allows small baits to fish naturally. Bionic Panfish Line in 3-pound test is my choice as it handles well and is available in a blue camo color pattern that blends into the blue sky background which can be important for upward feeding crappie and bluegills holding in clear water.

Spring is here and heading to a likely crappie/bluegill holding spot on some of the year's first nice days is something I look forward to every year. Using the simple tips above often leads to panfish success for me and can probably make your panfishing successful as well. As always, good luck on the water!

[1. Pitching jigs]

How to tackle trophies anywhere, any time, with the most versatile walleye lure of all

Illustrations by Greg Hargraves

You can cast it, troll it or let it drift. You can fish it from an anchored boat or from shore. You can retrieve it horizontally or fish it straight up and down. It works wonders in lakes, rivers, reservoirs, pits and ponds. You can hop, pop, shake, swim or lay it motionless on the bottom. Tip it with live bait, feathers, fur or plastic and it's usually the best lure you can use to catch numbers of walleye. Increase the size of your offering and it's lights out for the biggest 'eyes you can find.

No wonder the simple jig is the most versatile lure in your walleye tacklebox.

Jigs excel in the spring, they're unbeatable in the summer and they may well be at their best in the fall. They're even lethal under the ice. Jigs attract and trigger walleye at dawn's early light, high noon and twilight's last gleaming—-not to mention when it's raining, snowing, hailing or windy. Indeed, if faced with the prospect of fishing for walleye for the rest of your life with just one type of lure, you had better pick jigs.

So what's the downside to fishing with jigs? Ironically, it's the name. For many anglers, the word "jig" conjures up the image of a boring, repetitive up-and-down motion, with no variations. But nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to fishing for walleye with jigs, as these five outstanding patterns reveal.

1. Pitching jigs

More frequently than most anglers realize, the bulk of a waterbody's walleye population is in shallow water. It's certainly true in the spring. After walleye spawn, they remain oriented to the shoreline for weeks, basking in the warm water around structure. You'll also find them shallow in the summer, flooding the flats under the cover of darkness.

And let's not forget about walleye that live in skinny, featureless, weedy lakes year-round. Some of these waters, such as Ontario's Kawartha Lakes, are among the most productive in the country. But stillwaters aren't the only places you'll find shallow 'eyes. Some rivers have more curves than Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera combined, and the long, sloping shallow bends are walleye magnets.

The key to catching fish in these locations is to use a lighter-than-normal jig, and to pitch it rather than cast or troll it. Use a six- to 6 1/2-foot rod and a spinning reel loaded with six- or eight-pound-test mono. Attach a 1/16- to 1/8-ounce jig to the end of the line. To pitch the jig, pinch it between your thumb and index finger and gently pull back as you point the rod tip toward your target, such as shoreline rocks, fallen tree limbs or weed clumps. Then carefully release the jig and pitch it underhand. You'll know you're pitching perfectly when your jig sails just above the surface and lands quietly, which is important when the water is clear and the walleye are spooky.

Now, don't rush to close the bail on your reel. You want your jig to fall vertically alongside the target and not swing back toward the boat. As you tighten up on the line after your jig touches bottom, always assume that a walleye has eaten it on the fall. Feel for weight, and if you sense any resistance, set the hook immediately. If you don't have a fish, continue lifting your rod tip until the jig is floating up off the bottom and gliding back toward the boat.

When the walleye are fussy, slowly drop your rod tip and let the jig fall back to the bottom and rest for a second or two. To catch these picky fish, I like to tip my jig with live bait, usually a minnow when the water is cold (less than 10ºC), a leech when it's tepid (11 to 20ºC) and half a crawler when it's hot (warmer than 20ºC). But that rule is meant to be broken-bring all three baits and let the fish decide what they want to eat.

When the shallow 'eyes are active, on the other hand, I prefer to pitch a soft-plastic dressing, such as a three-inch Berkley Power Minnow or Gulp Minnow, a four-inch Exude, Power or Old Bayside Grub or a three-inch Mister Twister Sassy Shad. I'll swim this combo all the way back to the boat, dispensing with the pause. The key is to keep the lure undulating slowly, no more than a foot off the bottom.

Tip: A soft-plastic grub is normally attached to the jig so that the tail flap hangs down and won't catch on the hook point. Instead, take the risk and rig it with the tail up. Now when you swim the jig back to the boat, it will quiver in an irresistible side-to-side manner.

 

When actively feeding walleye in shallow water are relating to the edges of structure, such as a weedbed, the best option is to pitch a 1.2- to 1/4-ounce jig tipped with a soft-plastic minnow or grub.

2. Snap jigging

While pitching jigs is a wonderful technique for skinny-water walleye hanging close to cover, snap jigging is my preferred method when the fish are scattered over large flats, especially in the spring after they've spawned and drifted into warm bays to feed.

The best coves have sand grass (charra) or scattered clumps of cabbage weeds growing on the bottom. Isolated rocks, sunken logs and boulders are a bonus. These bays continue to be productive all summer long, provided they don't get totally choked with vegetation. Main-lake shoreline flats are also prime spots, though often completely overlooked by the majority of anglers at this time of year.

The reason I like snap jigging for walleye is that the technique appeals to inactive fish as much as it does to aggressive strikers. Few methods cover such a dramatic range of walleye moods. But here's the trick. You have to match the right jig weight (1/4 to 1/2 ounce) to the depth of water you're fishing (usually three to 15 feet) and the speed you're trolling, which should be at least three times faster than the usually slow walleye shuffle. I mean, why waltz when you can rock and roll?

Bucktail and marabou jigs work well when snap jigging, as do jigs festooned with soft-plastic minnows, swim baits (Berkley Power Minnows, Power Pogys and Mister Twister Sassy Shads) and grubs (Power, Exude and Old Bayside Munchies). Just remember to superglue the dressing onto the shank of your hook to anchor it in place.

Cast the jig behind the boat, close the bail and hold your rod tip so that it's pointing back about three-quarters of the way toward the lure. Using a sidearm approach, quickly snap the jig forward, drop your rod tip back to the starting position and throw slack into your line. Pause for a couple of seconds and repeat the procedure.

The walleye will try to rip the rod out of your hands as long as you pay attention to two key details: follow a specific depth as you troll and make sure your jig is occasionally touching bottom. If you feel it making contact too often, speed up or switch to a slightly lighter jig. If you rarely feel it bumping bottom, tie on a heavier lure. Whatever you do, don't slow down your trolling speed. The secret to snap jigging is trolling quickly.

Long, 6 1/2- to 7 1/2-foot, medium-heavy-action spinning rods are perfect for this technique. With flimsy sticks, you can't throw enough slack into your line when you drop back the rod tip and you can't set the hook when a walleye strikes. It's also important to use premium, abrasion-resistant eight- to 10-pound monofilament (Maxima Evergreen, Berkley Extra Tough or Rapala Tough) or a thin-diameter, no-stretch braid (FireLine or SpiderWire) because your jig will fall faster, make contact with the bottom more easily and appear much livelier.

Tip: When snap jigging, you can also tip your jig with a minnow-although I rarely do-provided you slide the point of the hook into the minnow's mouth, out one of its gills and back through its body.

 

If the fish are scattered over relatively shallow, warm bays, which feature scattered clumps of weeds and isolated rocks and logs, troll quickly and snap jig a 1/4- to -1/2-ounch bucktail jig.

 

3. Go with extreme currents

One of the toughest challenges walleye anglers face is dealing with extreme current conditions, especially on big, brawling rivers such as the Ottawa, St. Lawrence, Niagara, Detroit, Rainy, Winnipeg, Red or Saskatchewan. Often times the flow is so strong in these rivers it runs from bank to bank with no visible eddies or current breaks in sight. When that's the case, the best slack water fish-holding areas are on the bottom.

But how do you get a lure down there and keep it in the narrow—often only inches high—fish-holding zones without getting snagged? You use a heavy, highly visible jig with a long shank and a wide gap, such as Lindy Little Joe's Aspirin-shaped Maxi-Gap, tipped with a visible firetiger-, perch-, pearl- or chartreuse/pink-coloured soft-plastic minnow, boot tail or grub, and a unique method of boat control. The hefty, aerodynamic design of the jig allows you to fish it vertically, and zap it into and out of every current-buffeting crack and crevice that might hold fish. And because you're quickly slipping downstream with the current, the walleye have no time to mull over your offering. They crush anything that flashes into view. But you must execute perfect boat control while maintaining close-to-the-bottom contact to be successful.

If you're fishing with a tiller-handled outboard, swing the back of the boat into the flow and constantly pop the motor into and out of gear so you float with the current while your line hangs perfectly straight over the side of the boat. If you're using a powerful bow-mounted electric, on the other hand, point the nose of the boat into the flow and use the trolling motor to fine-tune your position. Just be ready on a moment's notice to swing the boat around and run after your jig so that the line never sways from the mandatory vertical position.

This is rock 'em, sock 'em jigging. Choose a six- to seven-foot-long, medium-heavy-action spinning or baitcasting rod and reel spooled with thin-diameter, ultra-sensitive, no-stretch 12- to 17-pound superline, such as FireLine or SpiderWire, to handle the tough conditions.

Tip: The weight of your jig depends on the speed of the current and the depth of the water. For example, you would need a much heavier jig for a fast current in 25 feet of water than you would for a moderate current in 14 feet of water. The key is to have your line hanging straight down.

Catch 'eyes in big rivers by keeping your line perfectly vertical as you drift with the current. A heavy jig with a long shank tipped with a brightly coloured soft-plastic is the best dressing.

4. Work the waves

Remember the last time you laid out an anchor and jigged for walleye? I bet you can't. Anchoring is a lost art, yet in many situations it's the best approach for presenting a jig and catching enormous 'eyes. That's what walleye ace Ted Stewner did in October 2004 at the Walleye Championship in Pine Falls, Manitoba. The waves were gigantic out on massive Lake Winnipeg, but they were only half the problem—the other half was the wall of water rushing into the lake from the Winnipeg River. Stewner took care of that, though. He had welded so much additional iron onto his already substantial anchor that it took both him and his partner to drop it overboard. And it worked. He won the title.

Not that you need such nightmarish conditions for this technique to be successful. All you need is moving water in the form of wind, waves or current. And the technique works just as well in the spring and summer as it does in the fall. Simply anchor upstream from the spot where the walleye are concentrated and cast out a properly weighted jig—one that will quickly fall to the bottom and just barely lie there without being swept away—tipped with a minnow or soft-plastic. Indeed, when you've picked the properly weighted jig, every time you slightly lift it off the bottom, the current will cause it to flutter, tremble and tumble downstream.

In currents like this, walleye are normally glued to the bottom. They also lounge around any current-buffeting structure and cover they can find, such as the rim of a depression, an isolated rock or a submerged tree. And they almost always position themselves so they're facing into the current. Now, imagine what must go through a walleye's mind when it spots a jig tipped with a minnow or soft-plastic slowly quivering and tumbling toward it. The fish can't believe its good fortune. It simply opens its mouth wide and clamps down hard.

A standard six- to 6 1/2-foot, medium- or medium-heavy-action spinning rod rigged with eight-pound mono is ideal for this presentation. If the current is particularly heavy, though, use FireLine or SpiderWire because the smaller diameter line cuts through the water better, and gets the jig to the bottom easier.

Tip: When anchoring, most anglers typically opt for minnows as the bait of choice. However, soft-plastics are often a better option in faster-moving water; they impart more action in quicker current, while live bait is often overpowered.

In windy and wavy conditions, anchor upwind of walleye-holding structure and drop a jig tipped with minnow or soft plastic and let it drift and tumble downstream toward the waiting fish.

 

5. Keep it simple

Right now, the hottest walleye presentation—bar none—is swimming a 3/8- to 1/2-ounce jig dressed with a four- or five-inch saltwater, soft-plastic swim bait, such as the Berkley Inshore Swim Bait, Power Pogy or large Mister Twister Sassy Shad. While it works well on hard-bottomed, main-lake walleye structure, the jig-and-swim-bait combination works even better-indeed, excels-in and around weeds, especially in midsummer when everyone is lamenting the scarcity of walleye.

Find a deep weedline, the edge of a grassy point or scattered weed clumps with open lanes between the clusters, then back off so that when you cast your jig it lands just inside the ragged edge of vegetation or down one of the corridors. A five-inch boot tail teams up nicely with a 1/2-ounce darter head, while a four-inch swim bait perfectly complements a 3/8-ounce, ball-shaped jig.

The way to retrieve such combinations is simple. After you feel the jig touch bottom, keep your rod tip pointed up and reel in line at a moderate clip so that your jig is swimming a foot or so off the bottom. Just be sure to pause momentarily every once in a while so the lure hesitates and tumbles slightly. That's usually the trigger for a following walleye to hammer it.

You need a stiff rod and the right line to properly perform this manoeuvre. The ideal combination is a seven-foot-long, medium-heavy-action spinning rod and reel spooled with 15-pound FireLine and a three- to nine-foot-long, 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. The small-diameter, low-stretch, highly sensitive line is important because it not only aids in getting a good hookset, but it also slices, dices and cuts through the weeds.

Tip: Don't worry if you snag a weed while retrieving a swim bait. Just keep your rod tip pointed skyward as you tighten up on the line and snap the lure smartly. And as a bonus, a walleye will often pounce on the lure when it pops free.

In and around weedbeds, especially in summer, cast a 3/8- to 1/2-ounce jig tipped with a soft-plastic boot tail and retrieve it a foot off bottom with momentary pauses every once and a while.

 

Where the walleye are

Spring: Mouths of inflowing creeks, streams and rivers; at the base of waterfalls and dams; areas adjacent to rapids; shallow, bouldery shorelines exposed to wind; back bays and coves; necked-down channels with current

Summer: Deep weedlines, especially in shallow lakes that lack structure; boulder-lined shoreline flats next to deep water; classic structure, such as long, underwater points, sunken humps, reefs, bars and saddles; the edges of deep pools and holes in rivers

Fall: Deep structure in lakes and rivers; necked-down channel areas with current, especially after sunset; mouths of large rivers where they merge with big lakes; rock piles, saddles and bars in large rivers; below dams, waterfalls and major river obstructions

Winter: The same deep, main-lake structures (points, bars, shoals) where you left the fish in the fall; the base of structure, where the point or shoal merges with the lake basin; deep holes or pockets in otherwise flat, featureless, shallow lakes; the closest structure adjacent to the main-lake spawning areas, particularly in late winter; mouths of inflowing creeks, streams and rivers

'Eye candy

Many walleye anglers have difficulty deciding whether they should dress a jig with a soft-plastic minnow, grub or worm, or use the real thing. As a general rule, when walleye are demanding a tediously slow presentation and/or when the water is cold, clear and moving slowly or there's no current at all, live bait is generally the ticket. But when the fish are actively feeding, the water is warm, slightly stained, weedy and/or there's plenty of current, soft-plastic dressings often work better. Soft-plastics also give you a much greater range and variety of dressing sizes, profiles and colours. And while some anglers still find it hard to believe, fish find that the new scent-impregnated plastics smell and taste better than the real thing. Still undecided? Then mix and match. For example, there's nothing stopping you from lip-hooking a lively minnow on a jig dressed with a colourful twister tail. In fact, many days when I can't find a bait shop selling large minnows, I'll do this to give my jig the size, shape, profile and colour I want.