The last few years I have learned much more about walleye fishing then I previously knew. However, the more I know sometimes the less I feel like I know as I feel I "outsmart" myself sometimes trying to figure out too hard where they will be. This being said I know there are some great and proven strategies but sometimes fish are just in weird spots.

So, my question is what is the weirdest/ strangest place, time of day, presentation in which you have caught a walleye? and what is your justification (doesn't have to be right but just your thoughts) as to why it was there. because supposedly there is always a reason for the fish to be in that place...I appreciate your stories and thoughts!!! :)

I'll start it off with a few of mine...

one time my brother and I were fishing in the BWCA in August trying to find sunken reefs or drop offs and weren't catching anything. My sister wants to fish so we give here a pole and she starts casting shoreline and catches two walleyes on her first couple casts in probably like 5 or 6 fow. and this day was like 80+ and sunny. As for this scenario I'm perplexed to why a walleye would be in that place I can't think of any reason.

another place that I catch walleyes that is surprising is on a wide sweeping corner of a river by my home. It is as very small river like 10 to 20 yards wide at most parts with some deep corners at around 9 or 10 feet. but we always catch a few on this corner that is wider and only like 5 feet deep but we always catch them there.There is not much shade or anything like that either. my only thoughts are that it is just past a couple of very sharp bends and before a little series of rapids.

A spinner bait, about 1-2' under the surface middle of the day. There was no reason that fish should have hit it.

I have caught walleye on a zara spook on the river. Only one or two over a fifteen yr period of fishing the same stretch every weekend. We would catch them on jigs and cranks all the time but i was surprised when they hit my topwater. We have also brought in 2 smallies on a zara spook before. One on each treble.

quote BWfishingfanatic12: "I'll start it off with a few of mine...


one time my brother and I were fishing in the BWCA in August trying to find sunken reefs or drop offs and weren't catching anything. My sister wants to fish so we give here a pole and she starts casting shoreline and catches two walleyes on her first couple casts in probably like 5 or 6 fow. and this day was like 80+ and sunny. As for this scenario I'm perplexed to why a walleye would be in that place I can't think of any reason.


another place that I catch walleyes that is surprising is on a wide sweeping corner of a river by my home. It is as very small river like 10 to 20 yards wide at most parts with some deep corners at around 9 or 10 feet. but we always catch a few on this corner that is wider and only like 5 feet deep but we always catch them there.There is not much shade or anything like that either. my only thoughts are that it is just past a couple of very sharp bends and before a little series of rapids. "

That sounds exactly like something I read out of Rob Furtman's book where he was canvassing a lake, switching out tackle & lures and hits upon in very shallow water with a plastic worm! (last out of sheer desperation/exasperation)

Not totally weird but trolling for lake trout a few times in 80 feet of water midday in August about 30 feet down I have caught some nice chunky 25 inch walleyes. Must be free Ranging on ciscoes just like trout, but more used to them relating to structure.

T

Lake trout fishing a couple weeks ago, double treble hook quick strike rig, 6" dead ciscoe hanging 20 feet down over 60' of water. 1:00 in the afternoon-27" walleye???? Not always the finicky fish we give them credit for.

At least once or twice a trip to our old haunts south of Leech Lake MN we'd get a walleye on a spinnerbait in <8 FOW over weeds in the middle of the day.

It was always the largest walleye caught for the week too...hmm

Slurping mayflies off the surface in Boulder bay LLC. They would hit about anything that was on or near the surface and moving slow.This was over fairly deep water.

not real uncommon, but texas rigged worm in the weeds.

I've got a couple of weird ones....

I grew up on a little river with clay banks and very murky water. I somehow figured out that I could catch walleyes in the summer by anchoring in a riffle, and fishing vertically off of the side of the canoe in something like a foot of water. Could never figure out another way to present the bait in that situation.

In the same river, I also caught walleyes in the entrance of a tiny creek. Extreme stealth was the watchword there.

Also have caught them very shallow in bog stained lakes...middle of the day in less than two feet of water.

Middle of the day in the pencil reeds. Several caught.

wow lots of crazy examples... that's the thing I love about fishing though everyday the fish can be doing different and bizarre things. just when you think you have them figured out you are blown away... I have to say the vertical jigging in a foot of water is the most bizarre one though I just can't believe that, its so crazy!

I've caught walleye in a relatively shallow weedy lake that the MN DNR said held only pike. The even crazier thing is I caught these walleye in 3-6ft of water on mepps #5 spinners with steel leaders.

quote gutmon: "Middle of the day in the pencil reeds. Several caught."

Which lake were you on :)

Stained water lake, middle of the day, vertical jigging in 6 feet of water. Same lake the next year in August. Really hot and dry. The walleye were in the big rocks in 2 feet of water.

The best was in a crystal clear lake in Canada, calm winds, bouncing my anchor (no fish finder) going around in a big circle for about a 1/2 hour trying to find this drop-off. Never found the drop-off, but for the next three nights we sat in that spot and caught SM and Walleye one after another. This is what I figure was going on. bounding the anchor all around stirred up the bottom like a wind blown shoreline, which brought in the minnows, which brought in the predator fish.

quote HighnDry: "

quote gutmon: "Middle of the day in the pencil reeds. Several caught."

Which lake were you on :)"

Less than 2 miles from home- that narrows it down to less than 50 spots or so if that helps you :)

A large irregular bay with several different bottom composition's that change back and forth over the course of the bay. One year we were fishing a large flat with a mud/silt bottom in about 4-7 feet and catching walleye and walleye of different sizes. I'm wondering why so many walleye and them my son snags a small perch of about 2 inches. The more I stared into the water I noticed lot of young perch in the area.

another year in a smaller bay with a muddy bottom we had great success with big walleyes. Lots of mayfly larvae covering the surface of the lake that year. Been back to that bay every year since and never duplicated that action or saw that kind of hatch again.

Too many to count sunny, calm, high noon suns, in relatively shallow water....a majority of them early in the year with still relatively cold water temps. Theory...warm sun attracting baitfish etc...drawing walleyes.

On a bwca trip, my 2 friends and I caught 20+ walleye in less than a half an hour of fishing a shallow inlet to a small stained lake. 2-3 fow, sunny, light wind, July. I had an ice fishing rod with a float, plain hook and a leech and was literally catching fish under my canoe. The fish had mouthfuls of bugs that they were eating. I think we kept 5 fish and moved along to our next campsite. Was crazy awesome.

Also caught one once that literally struck the bait boat side as I was lifting my bait out of the water. Thought a pike had crashed my bait but it was a walleye.

quote timatkn: "Not totally weird but trolling for lake trout a few times in 80 feet of water midday in August about 30 feet down I have caught some nice chunky 25 inch walleyes. Must be free Ranging on ciscoes just like trout, but more used to them relating to structure.

T"

Most of the walleyes I caught in Quetico last summer were caught the same way...

At the other extreme, years ago, we were catching walleyes on on the surface using floating Rapalas in a back back of a small lake.

LLC: Caught several walleye in 2-5 fow early June during a patch of hot, sunny weather on floating raps.

LLC: Caught several walleye in 2-5 fow early June during a patch of hot, sunny weather on floating raps.

I caught an 18" in about 5" of water in a flooded river. If you think about it, not really that weird given he had cover, oxygen, and food. Also, no competition.

I used to fish the Kishwaukee near Rockford Il. I know, not BWCA, but in the summer I would catch walleye mixed in with smallies along steep mud banks. This was hot weather fishing and I never thought about walleye being there. I would drift shiners along the banks in bright sunshine. Always caught a couple of good eyes and sauger on most trips.

Sorry, forgot to log in. I posted the above. I'm new guy Jaymon.

Last summer I caught a 26 incher on a 10" Giant Flatstick. That's not that weird. But it hit boatside, in the figure-8 while musky fishing. Middle of a bright sunny July day, very clear water. That's kind of weird.

One evening in June I caught four or five from less than 1 ft of water. The water was so skinny that when they'd rush the bait (I was pitching a jig & minnow into the shallows), they'd push a big wake of water. Like when a big largemouth charges your skitterpop. It was weird to me at the time. That experience and many others have changed the way I think about walleyes, so it's not weird to me anymore.

4 lb Walleye caught from camp on a Firetiger spoon in the middle of the day. The area out from camp was muddy with no structure whatsoever.

Found a little pod of walleyes a few years ago on Gabro (by accident really) literally off the end of a rock on shore in about a foot and a half of water... I just don't expect to find them so shallow.

quote arctic: "

quote timatkn: "Not totally weird but trolling for lake trout a few times in 80 feet of water midday in August about 30 feet down I have caught some nice chunky 25 inch walleyes. Must be free Ranging on ciscoes just like trout, but more used to them relating to structure.


T"

Most of the walleyes I caught in Quetico last summer were caught the same way...

At the other extreme, years ago, we were catching walleyes on on the surface using floating Rapalas in a back back of a small lake."

Thanks, that reminds me I have caught walleyes over deep water with what I assume are ciscoes busting the surface in the evening on top waters or shallow cranks midsummer thinking they were smallies.

T

Not in the BWCA but I've caught a fair number of Walleyes musky fishing. Some on topwaters at night over shallow weed flats, one 27.5" at high noon on a 9" Suick, in a shallow bay about 4 FOW right up in some thick weeds.

Most of my Walleye fishing is in rivers, we catch most of our big ones on 3'-4' deep sand flats - which might seem weird to lake anglers. When the water is high I do best fishing parking lots - especially boat ramp lots.

quote Goby: "A spinner bait, about 1-2' under the surface middle of the day. There was no reason that fish should have hit it."

Same here! Loon Lake by Beatty Portage back in 1991.

Another time that really surprised me was when my buddy, who lives in Madison S.D., took me to a local lake called Herman Lake...basically a large stock pond, thick green algae-like pea soup, high hot sun, middle of the day, 4-5' of dead stagnant water in the 80's, mid-July and right in front of a public campground. We were slow trolling small Rapalas and absolutely hammering the nice walleyes...every single one was over 20"! Blew my mind because everybody knows you can't catch walleyes on days like that or that shallow..

I have fished Lake Shelbyville in Central Illinois a few times for walleys. That lake has limited structure, but boat traffic creates mudlines that act as structure. You may catch fish from one foot to ten.

quote timatkn: "Not totally weird but trolling for lake trout a few times in 80 feet of water midday in August about 30 feet down I have caught some nice chunky 25 inch walleyes. Must be free Ranging on ciscoes just like trout, but more used to them relating to structure.


T"

I had this happen on LLC last September in 90 feet of water with a shad rap diving about 12 feet down. I wasn't trying to catch anything, just didn't want to reel up on a crosswind crossing west of Fishstake Narrows.

Fishing on a lake with "no walleye". Noon, sunny,windless,in 5fow. Throwing a red and white Heddon Basser I pulled in a 28" walleye.
Never seen another walleye on this lake

En route to the portage to Canoe on Alder. Broad daylight, 65 degrees, right around noon, no wind or clouds and I pulled in a 22-24 incher in about 2 feet of water about 8 feet off the shore not near any structure or dropoffs etc. Caught him on a shallow crankbait of some sort that I was trolling for shits and giggles. Totally took me surprise.

I've caught walleye in 2-3 feet of water in the middle of the day with bright blue skies.

I've also caught walleye in less than a foot of water tucked along shore of a flooded creek. The fish came into the creek from a connecting river during high water periods. The walleye were holding tight to the flooded bushes and grass along the shore line. Caught them by throwing jigs into and alongside the shoreline.

80 feet drift fishing for Lakers. No structure 2 very large fish.

Purple and Red Buzz Baits being improperly fished 2-3 feet below the surface on a shallow hump at high noon on a Sunny day.

Seemed strange to us, but we kept it up and got dinner.

Caught walleyes in lots of strange places. Most of the time when I was musky fishing shallow bays or flats in 3" or less. I have also caught several on top waters in Canada. Here are two photo's from Island Lake near Duluth we got on musky baits (you can see them in their mouth - one was a mini bulldog and the other was a big crank bait)

Walleyes are often said to be finicky and picky, but under the right conditions (as you can see here) they can be real aggressive and hammer big baits. I have also caught a 28" walleye on a 10" Suick in Canada as well.

quote nofish:


I've also caught walleye in less than a foot of water tucked along shore of a flooded creek. The fish came into the creek from a connecting river during high water periods. The walleye were holding tight to the flooded bushes and grass along the shore line. Caught them by throwing jigs into and alongside the shoreline.


"

Very similar experience. I went to Kabetogama and Namekon (spl?)in voyageurs one year. It rained about 10 inches the two days before we arrive. Couldn't find a bite anywhere. We tried deep, shallow, rocks, weeds. Nothing.

We eventually tried to find runoff coming into the lake, between kab and nam. There was this one little crick off the north side, and we ran our boat up in there about as far as we could get. Caught one or two, and were about to leave, and my brother threw his line up the crick where I thought he was silly for even trying. Like a foot of water, maybe 3 or 4 feet wide. We're not talking May when they are trying to spawn, we're talking mid July, mid day, bright and sunny. One walleye right after another. Nothing huge, all 17-19 inch variety, but stacked in there like cut wood.

There have been numerous times in the bwca when I've caught walleyes in a foot of water when I was casting for smallmouth.

On the st.croix one hot summer day, we were trying to find the walleyes all morning and afternoon. We fished from 12-30 feet of water, and couldn't find em. Some guide at the launch when we were leaving, had his clients on their limit of 15 inchers, and they let go 3 dozen more, they said many were in the low 20's. I asked them where they were getting them. They were trolling 3 and 4 f.o.w with planer boards and blue shallow running rapala type baits, although they weren't rapalas. I'm talking about bath water warm river water, in shallow water, and that's where they were hitting. Again, bright, sunny, hot, and shallow. Go figure.

It was a saturday, and on the weekends there is no shortage of boat traffic. The only thing I can think of, is all those waves bashing the shore, were bringing microscopic food into the water for the baitfish, and the walleyes were in there dining.

But I've tried it a few times since without a whisker of success.

We once caught two limits of walleyes, using beetle spins, in a county ditch in southern mn - 2 feet of water full of bait balls of young bullheads.

quote snakecharmer: "We once caught two limits of walleyes, using beetle spins, in a county ditch in southern mn - 2 feet of water full of bait balls of young bullheads."

Now this is especially interesting since I'm a southern mn boy myself....My friends and I used to get carp in one of the county ditches in my area...but...walleye?!? What was the nearest city snakecharmer (not that I'll go there, just curious)?

quote kayakrookie1: "

quote snakecharmer: "We once caught two limits of walleyes, using beetle spins, in a county ditch in southern mn - 2 feet of water full of bait balls of young bullheads."

Now this is especially interesting since I'm a southern mn boy myself....My friends and I used to get carp in one of the county ditches in my area...but...walleye?!? What was the nearest city snakecharmer (not that I'll go there, just curious)?"

This was outside of Hanska - a suburb of New Ulm :) The ditch runs from Lake Hanska (near the boat landing) to the Watonwan River.