It might seem just a little early (maybe a lot), but it's
the time of the year when you can make some plans and start
plotting against the walleyes. It takes a good well though out
plan to be successful, and you might as well get started right
now.
"Where to go?" is first on the list, and there
are some terrific options including something north, south,
east and west. As a full time professional walleye angler
I've had the opportunity to travel across the country and
spend quality time in a tournament mode on the nation's top
walleye fisheries. Tournament time is intense and can give
you a real feel for just how good a fishery can be. Not only
do you have your own success to look at it, but everybody
else's as well. At the end of tournament there's a lot of
information that comes to light, including how many and just
how big the walleyes really are.
Great early season action means rivers and tailrace areas
and the West has some of the best including the upper reaches
of Lake Sharpe and Fort Frances in South Dakota. The action
on these two hot spots can heat up in February and stay that
way right through March and April. The earliest action is
really dependent on the weather with the best being a nice
long warming trend. Walleyes load up in the stretches beneath
the dams and where they are relatively easy to find and not
that hard to catch. Basically it's the areas of reduced current
that hold most of the fish and you can look for little breaks
like points along the bluffs that can change the flow and
slow it down. You can even find walleyes in the main channel
if the current is slow enough. In either case about all you
need to do to start putting fish in the boat is drag a jig
and minnow. Vertical jigging while using a controlled drift
is the technique most often used and accounts for most of
the early tailrace walleyes that are caught. Jigs in the 1/8
to 3/8oz range are the ticket, with key being the use of the
lightest jig possible while still being able to stay in contact
with the bottom.
Erie still ranks high on the list and every serious walleye
angler should experience what this Great Lake has to offer
at least once in their lifetime. April and early May is prime
time for finding huge schools of walleyes stacked up in the
western basin. Much of the action takes place around the reefs
just north and west of Port Clinton and is a good place to
start looking. The reefs themselves load up with males while
the bigger females tend to hold just off, out over deeper
water. A Down Deep Husky Jerk trolled over and through the
suspended schools is a top producer especially early on when
the water temps are still fairly cold. The reefs themselves
can be trolled but you can also work them vertically with
a jig and minnow. Although we haven't been catching as many
monsters as we did just a few years ago there's plenty of
nice average size fish, and there's always a chance for nailing
a real hawg.
Rick Olson says you should make your plans now for
walleyes like this!
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Mille Lacs in Minnesota made the hit list and is a good
bet for finding solid numbers of mid May and early June
walleyes. It's one of my favorite natural lakes because
it's so diverse and is loaded with fish. You can catch
walleyes here just about anyway you want including rigging,
jigging, pulling spinners, and trolling cranks. Early
on most of the action takes place in shallow water and
you can rig sand breaks and weed beds, use slip bobbers
and leeches over rocky reefs and bars, or troll the same
with a #7 Shad Rap if the wind is blowing hard enough.
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As the season progresses and things start to warm up a little,
walleyes will move deeper and deeper and will show up in masse
on the mid lake mud flats where they fall hard for a live
bait rig and a leech or crawler.
Bull Shoals is a southern reservoir that is loaded with
walleyes but really doesn't turn on until later in the season,
like June and July. In fact according to the locals the action
in August and September is exceptional. The problem with the
early season is an abundant population of shad which move
shallow and make things extremely tough. By June the walleyes
start showing up in classic areas like deeper points and there
are thousands of them and most hold fish. Bottom bouncers
with a spinner harness, or a plain snell and a hook, is about
all you need to pick them off. You can look for fish with
your electronics, drop a bouncer and a rig, and probably catch
them.
There's more that deserve honorable mention including Devil's
Lake in North Dakota which is the best natural lake in the
country right now, Oahe in South Dakota which has really turned
around after several years of super tough conditions, Green
Bay in Wisconsin, and Saginaw Bay in Michigan. With so many
great opportunities there's plenty of good reason for the
making plans, the reservations, and the road trip.
Rick Olson
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