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Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Fishing Forum :: Walleye Counseling
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| Author | Message Text | ||
| CBD8080 |
We chose the June timeframe thinking it would be in a good time period for post spawn walleye action. On the very first morning we shoved off from camp (camped in a great campsite at the far west end of the lake), and began trolling two crankbaits, one a rapala, and the other a purple taildancer. Within 15 minutes we had a walleye hit the purple taildancer, and I thought we were in for an interesting week! Unfortunately that was the first and last walleye of the week, and no lake trout either. Let me give you my general strategy for the week: - I had never fished on Knife Lake before, so realizing it was a very large lake, my general strategy was to troll two crankbaits until we hit a walleye, and then to hunker down and soak leaches over the spot where it hit. I changed around the lures a few times for trolling, and used various rapalas and other deep diving crankbaits to no avail. Generally, we were trolling through 15 to 30 feet of water. - Because we couldn’t troll all day without getting totally worn out, we would stop periodically and throw leeches on jigs in breaks between islands, rock piles, the occasional sunken island, etc. My general style of “jigging” for walleye is to just use an 1/8 ounce jig tied right to the line, with a leech. I generally like to cast 10 to 15 yards from the boat, and jig back to the boat and then recast; didn’t really try any other techniques (which could have been the problem?). - We generally started fishing around 8 or 9AM, and ended around 7 or 8PM before dark, never did any night fishing because my wife was getting too worn out. Thankfully, we had some moderate success with smallmouth bass (thanks to some suggested spots on this messageboard!), which was a lot of fun, and caught a few northern trolling as well. What saved the trip (and likely future trips) was that my wife caught a few absolute trophy smallmouth bass. I am always interested in what other folks are doing to catch walleye and have read up on some good posts here. I realize that I am a creature of habit, who is likely to return to the same techniques. While we were a bit let down on the fishing side, we had a great time and enjoyed an incredibly beautiful area. What would you have done in my situation? Or what tips would you give before heading up there next time? |
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| sirlips |
You really need to work three main changes when you are not on the fish. Depth, lure and location. Often we get stuck changing just location but sticking to a technique that's not working, or on the other hand we sit on one side if the lake and throw the tackle box at them. A good rule, unless you have them patterned and KNOW they are coming soon, is the 5-10-15 minute rule we use. We will fish each spot with a certain lure for five minutes, a certain depth in the area for 10 and a specific location for 15 minutes. This way we are hitting each area for a minimum of 15 minutes in at least two depths and with 3 lures changes. If no fish bite...we move on. When we do find a fish, we start the clock over and do it again. On "fishing trips" to the BWCA we don't go looking for 1-2-10 fish. Our goal is to hit the mouthed load and have 100 fish days. It doesn't work out like that all the time but when it does we know we "earned it" and when it doesn't we don't second guess ourselves as we know we tried everything we could. If you think you may be sitting to long in one spot... You for sure are! Glad to here you got into some bass. Just remember they call it "fishing" not "catching" for a reason. It makes the catching days that much more memorable. |
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| Basspro69 |
quote nofish: "When I start my search I always start shallow and work my way into deeper water. " Totally agree, the only question is it shoreline shallow or basin structure like mid lake islands shallow. |
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| Basspro69 |
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| sirlips |
How far away cool water is, will help decide this. This could mean a fast shore break may be the best spot, or a mid lake shallow near deep water. Also keep in mind that how warm the lake is will change the situation. Normally people think "mid lake structure" during the warm season because most of our home lakes are gradual drops at the shore and the midlake structure is near/closer to the deeper cool water. But in the BWCA, that is not always the case. you can have a 60 foot hole 20 yards off the shore. This may be the coolest water in the lake...therefore starting shallow on the SHORE would make more sense than midlake structure that gradually fades away and is a long way from the very cool water. Remember these toothy critters want shallow, cool, low light water with FOOD in it. If its bright out...they will go deeper to get away from the light. (wind will bring them shallower as the light doesnt penerate the surface very easy when its windy) They want it cool. This means keeping deeper water close if they need to retreat to a cool spot. this means something that will attract bait fish. That could be structure or it could be water temps or it could be shore. (or all three) Many times we have found this "combination" right next to shore. I remember a trip several years ago on XYZ lake in the BWCA. We tied the front of the canoe to a tree growing out from the face of the rocks on the shoreline. the back of the canoe was in 30+ feet of water. The lake channel ran from shallow on one side to deep right against this "wall". it had shade, cool water and a wall to hold the bait fish. We stopped fishing after i think we finally caught all the fish it was holding. For several hours we caught a fish every 5-10 minutes. The time of day didnt matter and the light didnt matter. To this day i can not paddle past a cliff face with deep water under it without wetting a line to check it. Often we dont find the same result as we do on that one spot. I believe this is because THIS is the deep spot, even though its right at the shore. All of the water close by is shallow/warm water and not protected by the sun during the day. The underwater wall has several spots that jut out making small ledges, perfect to hold bait fish and also a great comfort bottom for the walleye, even though they are not really all the way on the true bottom. The more of these eliments you add together, the better chance your going to find walleye. 2 foot deep water, that is cool and has minnows hiding at night will have as many or more fish than a early morning 15 foot hump that gradually retreats to moderate/deep depths. (typical walleye location) |
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| shock |
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| CBD8080 |
BP to answer your question, we did have a fish finder, however I can't remember any specific temperature readings. I will say though that the top water was COLD. Like really cold. We went swimming on one of the warmer days and it was almost unbearably cold, we could only last a few minutes to rinse off. So perhaps the water temp was somewhere in the 50s. |
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| lundojam |
Clear water like Knife gives me a hard time too. As for specific advice that applies to the situation you were in, I would have started shallower, trolling on a long line and/or casting. Like 2 feet. |
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| nofish |
The other thing to think about is I see a lot of people trolling crankbaits searching for fish. When they catch one they change what they are doing and start jigging or bobber fishing over the spot they caught the fish. Why switch tactics when you just found something that worked? Stick with the crankbaits and make several more passes over the same area trying to pick off more aggressive fish. The more you can catch the better you'll be able to pinpoint the spot within the spot that is holding the fish and also the hot color for that day. Thats all good info you'll need to finding more fish. Also pay attention to where you caught that first fish. What depth was it at? What sort of structure may it be relating to? Try to determine why the fish is in that particular location and then apply it to the rest of the lake. Start looking for spots that match many of the characteristics of the first spot and you are likely to find more fish. |
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| Basspro69 |
quote CBD8080: "These are all some great thoughts, thanks to all who contributed! Im willing to bet that the water temps which were probably very different from the norm had everything to do with the slow fishing. |
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| sirlips |
quote CBD8080: "These are all some great thoughts, thanks to all who contributed! Thats really interesting. I just heard that 2 harbors water temp was 33 degrees 3 weeks ago! Thats amazing. Duluth was at mid 60's...yet the surface temp in TH was that low still! To be honest, one of the reasons we like to do the annual fishing trip in mid August, like we are this year, is because we know the situation will always (except this year) be the same. I know its not the "prime walleye time", but knowing one variable will always be constant on every trip helps really save on the treasure hunting. Even on an early or late spring, bu August the temps have usually balanced out to what ever they are each year. Knowing the water temp from year to year is the same in August helps a TON. i think it makes up for fishing in a time of year that can be harder to find them. I think this years trip could be something special. I am thinking this explains alot of the reports saying fishing was amazing or very poor, with not alot in between. I would guess the fish are not as spread out as they normally could be this time of year. That means feast or famine, depending on if you find these groups of fish. Me likey likey! |
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| chrisinomaha |
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| BearRaid |
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