It’s the last two hours of a Walleye Tournament, you’re sitting in the money or just out of it, a good day fishing and you cash a cheque, or perhaps it is just the afternoon of the weekly family fishing day. As it happens all too often, your bite has just gone south and you’re a couple of fish short of a limit or need that large kicker fish. This is the time when experience and knowledge separates the talented angler from the wanna-bee’s.

Sound all too familiar? As a professional angler on the In-Fisherman - Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) and North American Walleye Anglers (NAWA) circuits this happens so frequently that I get nervous when it doesn’t.

The core of this article is how to react to a fading bite and some of the clues I use to work my way back into fish. Believe me when I say that if you’ve done your homework and have consistently caught fish on a solid technique at a specific structure or system, the fish are normally still there. Fish relating to structure or cover usually don’t move that far. If you have been getting fish earlier that day on your technique, and the action slows, don’t panic and leave. Chances are the fish are still there they just want a different fishing presentation or have changed depths. This is an important point to remember and is essential to becoming a successful tournament fisherman. The exception being that suspended fish and reservoir fish are apt to move normally due to wind, water temperature and food!

I’d better mention speed here before I forget. Very often as a bite slows I will look to change the speed of my presentation or change to a technique that allows a speed change. The first thing I do is speed up. I know this flies in the face of the common belief that the tougher the bite the slower you should go. Speed has worked for me so many times that I’ve come to the realization that walleye don’t read magazine articles and if they do then only believe half of what they read. Fast presentations create instinctive/reactive strikes often from the same ‘eye you couldn’t seduce with a lively leech hooked to a live bait rig. Remember the saying "Speed kills", well it works for walleye and now it’ll work for you!

Fishing Pressure - How to Handle it!

PWT and NAWA tournaments are three day events with the last day falling on a Saturday. So on day 3, the most crucial day, weekend fishermen create one of the most challenging variables for consistency - fishing pressure!

May 25, 1996, Lake of the Woods. While anchored in 9'-11' of water at the Morris Gap, a jig and live minnow bite had held consistent for the first two days of the tournament. Saturday morning the gap was crowded with dozens of local fishermen. Walleye started coming to boats right away but the action was spread out a lot more with fewer boats taking fewer numbers of fish. By the time an hour had passed the bite died. Weather, wind and sunlight conditions, water temperature and clarity hadn’t changed from the first two days of fishing. The only new variable was the boat traffic and increased fishing pressure. The fish had either shut down (bad news) or changed depths. Boats in shallow were doing nothing and there really were no boats in the deeper water. This observation and what to do about it is one factor tournament fishermen are quick to home in on! Moving out beyond the last boats the gently tapering bottom dropped sharply from 17' to 20'. I changed to a bottom bouncer and crawler harness while having my amateur partner stick with the jig and minnow. If you are going to change, try two systems until the fish tell you what they want. Using my bow mount to drift and position, action immediately picked up, however all the walleye were under the 15" minimum. Since I wasn’t marking high fish on the graph I increased my harness length from 4' to 6' and banged a four pounder in minutes. Having my amateur change over to a harness we continued to catch walleye including a 6.97 pounder that we took just minutes before quitting and running for weigh in.

One quick tip. When you set up a live bait or crawler harness/bouncer rig make it adjustable by adding an adjustable string bobber stop and bead above your swivel and below the weight. Bouncers such as Northland Quick Change have a single arm that attach to a plastic slip in which the line runs through. These are perhaps the best bouncers for adjustable rigs and the plastic clip also works with walking sinkers. Sliding the bobber stop up or down your line changes the leader length in seconds, no retying . . . can be a ‘God Sent’ in cold weather!

An additional variable to look for in the deeper water is how walleye feed on certain structure. In this case walleye had herded alewives up against the break and when I marked the bait fish our action went down, we simply couldn’t compete with all the available food. Moving to areas of the break where the bait wasn’t showing up on the graph allowed us to catch fish. A fellow pro whom I work with on the tours, read the signs and big motor trolled crank baits at 2-3 mph through the alewives and took a 7.43 pounder. .

During tournaments I have seen angling pressure move walleye from the structure you had them on to adjacent similar structure that was unused by walleye in previous days of fishing. So don’t panic! Check deeper and shallower and adjacent structure before leaving an area that has produced.

Water level - and current

In river and reservoir systems water level and current will effect walleye fishing, particularly walleye locations. Walleye, like all predators, have a fine balance between the energy expense of chasing bait and the value of the captured bait. It’s like your cheque book - more going out than coming in and you’re broke. For walleye it is their very life that is in the balance. In rivers and reservoirs walleye prefer areas of slack current that will allow for low energy expenditure while waiting for food to come to them. Bridge abutments and pillars, wing dams, sand bars and inside corners all produce current breaks and some slack water. Case in point is the North Saskatchewan River at the Town of Nipawin. The water flow here is based on power demand. The water current and level increases greatly as power is made. Rising water generally increases feeding activity. How it works is the increased current stirs up more feed for bait from the river bottom and the shallower areas are now affected. It also creates deeper water over the flats. On the river at Nipawin (Tobin Lake) the hottest bite happens as the water level and current rise. Moving to the inside of the wide river turns puts you up on 9' to 13' flats on which the walleye feed actively. Tobin Lake is considered the premier big walleye hole in North America - even better than Lake Erie. The reverse happens as the water recedes, the fish get pulled down into the deeper holes and feed less actively. A curious observation here, I noticed that the big fish were affected the most. The 15" to 22" slot fish stayed in the deeper 19' to 23' holes and were not influenced as much by the fluctuating water.

During the 1996 PWT Championship at Bismark, North Dakota on the Missouri River a different situation happened. On the third day strong South East winds piled the water back up the river against the current seriously weakening the current. The winning solution here was to run to the slower moving waters of Lake Oahe where the fish were not relating to current but to the bottom structure. The wind stopping the current totally shut off the river bite.

Water Clarity

There are many factors affecting water clarity. The most obvious is mud, such as a river rising after a rain. While many fishermen moan about dirty water, I’ve learned to look for it. Dirty water in a river usually drives walleye shallow or up in the water column. Look for them in the current break areas below downed logs, sand bars, bridges and islands. Probe these areas with rattling jigs tipped with a piece of night crawler or a rattling crank bait.

In reservoirs, a phenomena called mud lines (the edge where the suspended dirt particles meet the cleaner waters) is caused by wind/wave action on the shore. Pulling spinners or crank baits behind in-line planer boards in the mud line next to shore is a big producer. I find the best mud lines are the narrow ones in the early stage of development. If you can find a point where the wind is moving the mud line down the point and out into the lake you have a prime piece of fishing real estate. When I say close to shore I mean close. Last year on a reservoir when erosion caused a bank to collapse I lost an Off-Shore planer board to the falling dirt. Also hot in mud lines is casting cranks at shore. I like to land the bait close to shore - even on it and usually in the first few turns of the reel handle a good walleye will pound the lure. I make no bones about it, you’ll cast that crankbait hundreds of times some days for a fish, but I almost guarantee shallow water fish will be your largest walleye for the day, if not the tournament.

On lakes such as Lesser Slave in Alberta, hot summer weather brings on an algae bloom. Areas such as Big Grassy and Andrews that were hot blading on the 25 to 30 foot breaks go dead. What has happened is the algae creates a thick mud-like cover and the walleye will now be high in the water column. Target these high riders with shallow cranks such as Baby Thunder Sticks with a split shot 4' in front of the crankbait and 25' to 60' of line behind an in-line trolling board. Vary your trolling speeds: troll at 1.5 to 3.0 mph

June 1996 PWT at Lake Winnebago: my tour travelling partner, John Gross and I found this very situation in Lake Poygan. Here we ran #6 spinner rigs with a large split shot 4' in front of the spinner rig/crawler with 25' of line behind the board, as the fish we marked were 6' to 10' down. Remember, a walleye will come up for a bait five times further than it will go down for one. We trolled these big cupped #6 colorado blades at 1.5 mph, with John finishing 4th and me placing 18th.

The Wind Factor

Wind is a huge factor anytime anywhere. On any lake even crystal clear lakes under bright sunshine good wave action (2' and up) will draw walleye up off the bottom and on to rock reefs and rocky shorelines. When the wind blows, pick a good rock hump or reef that is getting pounded and anchor up wind of it. Drift leeches or crawlers hooked to a small jig across the top under slip bobbers. Or troll crank baits across rock points and along rocky shoreline. When doing a shallow troll along shoreline I prefer to troll with my Mercury 175 XRi V6 into the waves. The big motor gives me quick response when turning out in 3' to 5' of water to follow submerged finger points. By turning hard and increasing the speed I can plane my outside baits to avoid snags. The radical change in speeds often triggers vicious strikes. Points that have been non-productive will often turn on when the wind blows on to them. More than once I’ve had to run to the other side of a lake when the wind turned . . . Always fish the wind. The results will speak for themselves.

Water Temperature

Very often water temperature will drop radically and sour a hot bite. This change can be caused by rain or a wind change. In reservoirs with long shallow bays a wind blowing into the bay for 3 to 4 days can really stack up warm water, bait and walleye in these shallows. I’ve caught walleye in 3' of water as hot as 83 degrees F - 30 degrees C. Should this wind change 180 degrees this warm water will now get pushed out of the bay. Work your way out to the mouth of the bay to the main lake point that is getting the most wind and consequently the warmest water. Here I start shallow with the same program (usually in line spinners and dew worms or crank baits) and progressively work deeper. Sometimes the shallow fish shut right off and the deeper fish whose metabolic rate is geared to the colder water remain your best bite.

Saginaw Bay, July 1996 a unique situation developed. Strong NE winds pushed cold ultra clear water into the huge bay from Lake Huron. Visibility went from 3' to over 20 and water temperature dropped from 72 to 61. My response was to chase the warm dirty water. I caught a lot of fish however most were catfish. The best solution was to target areas in the bay where long points or islands diverted the wind produced current and the water remained unaffected. I came up 4 fish short and dropped in the standings so this was one lesson I’ll remember, and so should you.

A word of wisdom from a fisheries biologist friend. Walleye in 65 degrees F water may need to feed twice a day, one in 80 degrees may feed 5 times or more that same day.

Thunder and Lightning

This is probably one of the least understood variables in walleye fishing. Most people believe that a thunderstorm can shut down fishing. I’ve found more often that walleye do one of two things. Either move deeper off the breaks, sometimes to the main basin depth of a lake. Or in the case of larger fish, bury themselves right into the weeds. Make no mistake, fishing the weeds at this time with a 1/32 to 1/16 oz. Jig and small leech is tough work. You have to target points and pockets in cane, cabbage, or coontail and meticulously stalk these fish. Weed beds are like other structures some pieces are better than others. Check first areas that have deeper water nearby or current and/or wave action driving into the points and cups. Walleye in current sometimes hold on the down stream side of a weed bed using it as a current break. However if the lightning persists and is close at hand be sure to react in a safe manner and cease fishing.

Lake Oahe, August, 1996. Prefishing was fantastic trolling cranks in 18-26 feet of water. Tornados and lightning drove these fish out and down to 35 to 50 feet of water. I ended up trolling Bomber 25A’s with 2 oz. snap weights and Shad raps behind 10 colours of 18 lb. leadcore. The fish were in the same location just much deeper.

Light Conditions

You may have noticed a lot of the situations I have described here all affect how much light gets to the walleye level. Generally the less light the better. This is why walleye fishing can be so hot at night, or at last light. But you can also use this factor by fishing areas shaded by weeds or docks and other structures. A crankbait or jig cast in the shade along the weed bed or dock can produce a good fish just idling away the bright hours waiting for the night feed. Walleye are opportunistic feeders and seldom pass up a properly presented bait that they mistake for an easy meal. Spinner baits in 1/4 oz. range also excel in this situation.

I’m sure you’ve noticed through this article is how shallow I fish. I’m not saying to ignore deep fish - in September and October when I guide for big fish on Lesser Slave Lake in Northern Alberta the walleye herd tulibees against a 35' to 50' break and the action is unbelievable. However on a day to day average I always start shallow. Walleye up on the shallow food factory shelves are there for one thing - to eat. These are active aggressive fish that you have a much higher percentage to catch.

Two last experiences to leave you with. During a guide trip two years ago a hot crankbait bite on a 17' flat suddenly went dead after a brisk wind kicked up. I was resetting my cranks when a 3 lb. Walleye hit a bait being free spooled out. I quickly changed to shallow running minnow baits and my clients had a day to remember with fish to 8 lb. smashing crank baits 2' under the surface.

Another time during a tournament pumping jigs and leeches was the ticket. Like flipping a light switch the action died. I frantically tried different colours of jigs to reconnect for my last two fish. During one of my jig changes my second rod was set in the rod holder with jig laying on the lake bottom. As soon as I picked it up I felt a good fish. The rest of the day I sorted through good numbers of big fish to 6 lb. by setting my Northland Lipstick (stand-up) jig on the bottom for 5 to 10 seconds and then carefully lifting the rod to feel for weight. A subtle change but the walleye wanted that leech/jig combination on the bottom wiggling almost motionless in front of their nose.

There is a multitude of other ways a bite can disappear. These situations are an indication of what to expect and how to react and fish your way through the rocky spots. Sometimes the adjustment is subtle like setting the jig on the bottom instead of popping it. Other times drastic changes or even moving is required. Remember that walleye are always talking to you. Listen to what they say.