I knew this subject line would catch a lot of hits, but this is no joke. I have never fished for walleye before. I have spent the most important times of my life fishing and the rest I just wasted but I have never fished for walleye. The Chesapeake Bay doesn't have a large population of them, what is the trick for walleyes in the middle of June

Wow, you're gonna get a lot of hits on this!!! First, make sure you have a topo. map of the area you are going. Ask your outfitter for locATIONS before going out. We troll humps, saddles between islands, and mud bottom bays(8-20ft.) cranks. light conditions usually dictate depth(low light shallow, bright go deeper). They are chasing minnows on humps and saddles, and emerging insects in the mud. When we contact fish, we throw out a buoy and cast a jig and grub. It'snot rocket surgery, but it is location!

I am no expert either to catching walleye, somebody with more experience can explain this better but walleye do not "hit" the lure like other fish. It's alot more subtle. It's not like a smallmouth bass that pretty much hooks himself. Maybe somebody can explain it to him?

quote bassnut: "Wow, you're gonna get a lot of hits on this!!! First, make sure you have a topo. map of the area you are going. Ask your outfitter for locATIONS before going out. We troll humps, saddles between islands, and mud bottom bays(8-20ft.) cranks. light conditions usually dictate depth(low light shallow, bright go deeper). They are chasing minnows on humps and saddles, and emerging insects in the mud. When we contact fish, we throw out a buoy and cast a jig and grub. It'snot rocket surgery, but it is location!"

hmmmm, Rocket Surgery huh, not sure about that. I guess Rocket Surgery would be pretty tought to, working on a rocket, taking it apart and fixing what ever is malfunctioning, that does sound hard. Guess i will let it go.

As for catching walleye, i to am working on it, works best for me to use a leech and just go where i hear, from outfitters, they are catching them and see what happens. I just use a weighted hook, drop it down to the bottom, bring it up 2 feet and start bouncing it. You can also go to an area mentioned above and just troll cranks slowly.

really, until you have spent time doing something, anything new does sorta seem like Rocket SCIENCE until you figure it out! :)

Look in the fishing tips post for good ideas for bait and techniques. Walleyes will at times hit a bait and just take off, but not real often with a jig or plain hook presentation. Use a sensitive rod with 6-8# line and decent reel. Rod and line give you a sensitive touch and reel must have a nice even drag to help manage the runs of bigger walleyes or when a northern eats your smaller eye.

Walleye bites generally light, you may feel a light tap or more on the rod/line. If jigging or reeling in you may think you have snagged on a rock, give it a second, hold rod steady and watch to see if rod tip slowly moves or you feel more tension on the line. Give a little slack, count to 5 slowly and set the hook. Some people set it right away, sometimes you have to count to 15 or more in cooler weather. Learn to use a slip bobber for fishing off a campsite or near drop-offs on islands or over sunken reefs. Bobber will actually work as a jigging motion.

Use different color jigs and types, weighted jigs bounce on bottom, floating jigs to keep the bait off the bottom and single hook both used with a split shot.

and like real estate Location Location Location
they maybe much shallower than expected, start around 10-15' on rocky points, reefs and drop offs. Don't be afraid to try weedy bays or narrow river stretches even 3-5' deep. I have rarely ended up fishing deeper than 20-25' for eyes even in August. catch little ones move around a little ways. A balloon blown up and tied to a small rock with string and 20 feet of line makes a good reef marker. Gives you a reference point for moving.

@ BoxofRain

Set the hook if anything feels odd. Can't hurt, might catch.

quote missmolly: "@ BoxofRain


Set the hook if anything feels odd. Can't hurt, might catch. "

That advice reminds of my younger fishing days. When fishing with an experienced old timer, overexcited I missed several monster hooksets and severely rocked our small boat. Each time I apologized to the old timer who responded, "Its OK kid, it don't cost nothin' to set the hook."

BoxofRain: GSP's advice is "Right On." Especially the wait before setting the hook. Sometimes Walleye will hit a bait hard enough to hook themselves, and sometimes they are finicky and just "mouth" the bait before eating it.

Once when fishing for walleye using a slip bobber and minnow, my bobber went under several times and the hookset yielded nothing but a minnow with a few scales knocked off. After trying several shorter intervals, a 30 second count after the bobber disappeared started producing some nice eater walleye.

@ Andy

I don't fish walleyes much, but when I do, I can't even recall the hit on a jig. I just set the hook and I don't know why. There was something there, but nothing physical enough to recall.

@ Missmolly

I know what you're saying. I too have limited experience with Walleye. But down here there are times when jigging for LM Bass, the bait just feels a little heavier than it should, or seems to be moving when it shouldn't. It's hard to explain the feeling, but I too set the hook and am often rewarded with a catch.

BoxofRain look down a few posts to this one BassPro69 on fishing tips that should help you out. Lots of advice for times of the year type of lake water depth clarity and structure. Just remember 90% of all fish are in 10% of the lake trick is to find that 10%. Good Luck!

JB

Missmolly and Andy are correct with something is just not right, thats when patience will pay off, it may take a minute or more but rocks don't start pulling or tapping. Like playing pool, only get really good with the repetition on doing.

BoxofRain-
In mid June on a 'normal' year a lot of walleyes should still be in bays. One pattern to look for is to find a bay that looks something like this that has the wind blowing into it. This is a real bay on a real lake in the Boundary Waters that has produced some real big walleyes for me in June. Similar looking bays on different lakes have also been good for me in June.

The first thing I would try in this bay is to bobber fish the rock pile. Next, cast a jig onto and around the rock pile. After that, go bobber fish the edge of the weeds. If I still wasn't catching many fish I would troll slowly with a lindy rig or a spinner trying different depths expecting to catch walleyes somewhere between 8-15'. If I still wasn't doing much good I would go find a different but similar looking bay.

If you aren't finding walleyes in the bays try mainland points or bottleneck areas leading into good looking bays. Unless it is an early spring like last year I usually don't start fishing mid lake structure; reefs, islands, saddles, etc., until the end of June or beginning of July. I could be missing out on a lot of fish though. Good luck!

@ walleye_hunter

You should do a PMA trip with me! Fish a walleye lake that few, if any people fish.

quote missmolly: "@ walleye_hunter


You should do a PMA trip with me! Fish a walleye lake that few, if any people fish."

missmolly- There are a lot of lakes in Ontario I day dream about fishing. After all, Ontario hogs a large portion of the earth's freshwater all to itself. There are also a few lakes in the BWCA that keep jumping out at me as possible walleye gold mines. I have made a commitment to try one of them for a few days this summer. And then, there are a handful of trout and walleye lakes that continue to faithfully produce for me and these are the places I fish most often.

quote BoxofRain: "I knew this subject line would catch a lot of hits, but this is no joke. I have never fished for walleye before. I have spent the most important times of my life fishing and the rest I just wasted but I have never fished for walleye. The Chesapeake Bay doesn't have a large population of them, what is the trick for walleyes in the middle of June"

Until you learn what lures to use and how to use them, then my suggestion is get a medium light 6 to 7 ft rod, a medium spinning reel, load it with 8 lb Berkley Trilene xl clear line, a split shot, a small Daichi or Gamakatsu light wire hook, and a leech, and drift in 8 to 20 feet of water near the bottom on a good walleye lake, and you will probably catch fish. If you can fish with a guide or someone that knows how to fish walleyes, your learning curve will increase by a thousand percent . Ive been fishing my whole life, and there are still days when the walleyes get the best of me, so dont be dissapointed if you dont catch them right away, they will come.

I treat them like crappie (No, not cutting the first bobber loose to see where they run to. ;) but rather EASE into that shy bite without letting them swallow the hook!

In my experience the bite is not really all that shy. It can be at times, but more often than not they really hit the bait.
I think the reason people think of the bite as shy is because they don't keep a tight line while jigging. Then when you make contact with the bait again, all you feel is the weight of the fish.

I get a higher percentage of walleye hits when jig fishing on that first drop to the bottom, as opposed to the subsequent lifting and dropping. So, I sometimes do the first drop, reel a bit, and then do another longish drop.

quote jakebait: "In my experience the bite is not really all that shy. It can be at times, but more often than not they really hit the bait.
I think the reason people think of the bite as shy is because they don't keep a tight line while jigging. Then when you make contact with the bait again, all you feel is the weight of the fish."

This has been my experience as well. When I'm bobber fishing I can usually tell the difference between a good sized walleye and a smallmouth. With a bass my bobber will often dance around a lot, even with big bass. When a decent walleye takes the bait my bobber is gone. Jigs are the same, walleyes tend to inhale the jig and just be there. They can spit it out quickly though if the angler is not paying attention.

Be on the water before first light.

Live Bait is best.

Slip Bobbers are easy to learn and effective.

All these tactics involve live bait, which can be difficult to keep alive. So here is what I do in the first half of generally we split the first and second week. Slow troll crank baits, deep divers, I don't catch as many as I would like, because of those pesky SM and pike but I do alright. Last year, just as darkness set in leeches came up from the lake to rest in the shallow rock inches from waters edge. Needless to say we scooped em up and used them the next day.

I would like to thank all of the contributors for the information. One thing I have learned about Fishermen is they like to share information about this sneaky, crafty, almost magical art of bringing the beautiful Piscis up and out of their under water oasis. The other thing about Fishermen is they lie, you can't believe a thing they say! But thanks again I hope to have walleye for dinner on a nice lake under a full moon in June

Your Welcome, you will have fish, but walleye are the most elusive on the majority of the lakes in the BWCA.