What You Need To Know About Walleye

Walleye is a freshwater fish that can be found
in all the lakes around our remote Outpost Cabins.

There are two types: the yellow Walleye, and a subspecies called the blue Walleye that is native to the southern Great Lakes, and can be caught on Mosher Lake.

These large, olive/gold colored game fish are called “Walleye” because their large eyes reflect light like the eyes of a cat. Growing up to 20 pounds, these tasty fish are popular with anglers and their hungry friends and family members on shore!

Walleye Fishing Tips For Spring

If you go fishing for Walleye in the springtime, you’ll find them gathered near the shore, around sand bars and wild rice beds, in weedy areas and rocky areas, as long as there‘s a sandy bottom. You’re more likely to find small males in shallow areas where there’s more spawning.

Big females are usually found in deep water in the daytime. They spawn on sand and in river current in the springtime, and they’re really aggressive at this time of year. It’s easy to catch Walleye in the spring because they’ll go for almost any lure you use.

At night, you’ll have better luck trolling for really big (10+ pounds) female Walleye in shallow water. You can find them at the spawning beds or chasing minnows near the shore. You’ll want to troll along slowly right along the weeds or near the shore with your Junior Thundersticks or Original Floating Rapalas in Fire-Tiger, Blue or Silver. You’ll need to use a lot of line, and you’ll have good luck if you can stop in an area that has weeds and a sandy bottom or a sand bar.

Walleye Fishing Tips For Summer

If you’re fishing for Walleye on a warm summer day, you’re more likely to find them in very deep water and shady places (like in weeds). In any part of the country, you’ll want to use your white twister-tails this time of year, and you’ll need to have a good supply. If you’re fishing in the north, you should use unscented twister-tails. You could also use salted minnows or salted bait in the north.

On a summer’s evening, you’ll find the big female Walleye eating along the shore, and you can troll along the shore with smaller lures, same as in the springtime. If you want to catch them during the day, you’ll need to jig for them in a good deep spot.

Best Walleye Lures

You can troll along the shore or cast with lures like shallow running shad-raps or crank-baits. Some of the best Walleye lures are Junior Thundersticks and Original Floating Rapalas. The best colors are Fire-Tiger, Blue and Silver.

Jigging For Walleye

When you go jigging for Walleye, you can use a one-eighth or one-quarter ounce jig. It can have a black, green, yellow or white twister-tail. Walleye like white twister-tails best, and they’ll go for them any time of the year. Usually, you’ll get more strikes if you add a little bit of worm or some Walleye gullet, but in the springtime, you don’t have to. If you want to just catch a few big Walleye in the daytime, go on out to the deep water for the females.

When jigging for Walleye in the summertime, you could go out on shoals or rocky points where there’s deep water and steep drop-offs. You could also try jigging in or near thick weeds. In summertime, you’ll find small Walleye in the one-four-pound range up close to shore. Just like in springtime, the big females stay out in the deep water, but in the summertime, they stay very deep. If you’re lucky enough to find a good, deep spot where a lot of big Walleye hang out, you can have a good day’s fishing without moving around too much!

Trolling For Walleye In Open Water

On some occasions you can find really big, trophy-size Walleye in the thermal layer in open water. They like to hang out there and feast on schools of smaller fish, and they aren’t easy to find. In fact, you’ll have to have a depth finder to locate them by locating the schools. In the north, you’ll usually find them at about fifteen to twenty feet depth in open water.

Once you find your Walleye, you can troll for them using deep diving lures like Husky Jerk in brown or silver. You could try blue and Fire-Tiger, but brown and silver seem to do better in the open water. You’ll need to determine how much line you need to use. Look for lures that include a chart showing depth-to-line-ratio to make this easier.

When you’re trolling for Walleye in open water at extreme depths, it’s good to use a three-way-swivel rig with a worm harness. Slow back-trolling is the best way to catch a monster trophy fish. You’ll sometimes find these big Walleye near the shore in very deep holes. The tell-tale sign is an area that has dense weeds and a sharp drop-off. Troll there, and you’re sure to catch a monster Walleye!

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