Walleyedmike

Lilly wrote a very good walleye article a few years back as well. I've read both Al and Lilly's articles several times, both are good reads. Very interesting thread, I have enjoyed following it, although I've never had the pleaseure of fishing Bull...yet. Now I know why PD catches so many walleye, the stocked fish genetics hail from his homeland! WM

Sorry to hear of the loss of your mother straw. Sounds as though you and I are fortunate enough to have great parents. A day on the lake always seems to help put things into perspective for me, hope it was therapeutic for you as well. Please report your attempted break in to the local sheriff's office. They will probably know who the guy is that was driving that truck, and the information may be the break they need in similar incidents. Dirt bags like that need to be locked up. WM

I have four of Cabelas linecounter's and have caught many fish trolling with them the last three years. I bought trolling rod/reel combos. The positives with the reels are they do not require a huge investment to get started trolling. Negatives, you have to watch the counter on one of my reels as it doesn't always count when letting out line. I have heard complaints from many about the drag system on these reels, but I have not had any problems. They are currently on sale in the Cabelas bargain cave. The size 15 reels are the smallest if your not wanting to use lead core line, still a pretty big reel, though. They are far from the best line counter reels, but they have worked fine for me. WM

Wow, good job. That would be a blast! WM

Heard you were down kwall. My wife and I trolled cranks for six hours on the 18th. Two keeper walleye and two shorts. Also caught several other species. Beautiful day on the lake. WM

Nice job there H91. I've been to Stockton a couple of times over the last month fishing in the heat. Not much luck bouncing, the few I caught was trolling cranks. Another trip is in my near future, hopefully the cooler weather turns 'em on a bit. WM

That really sucks Justin. Owning a boat can be a major head ache sometimes. Glad you didn't lose your motor, at least you have something of value left. WM

Way to go H91! Pretty impressive day. Nwtf, go to www.thenextbite.com and www.walleyecentral.com there are all kinds of info, articles and videos on those sites about walleye fishing. You could spend hours and hours researching techniques. I think rps and powerdive might have some walleye fishing articles on this site as well that are definitely worth reading, I just don't know how to find the articles. WM

That's awesome! A great walleye fisherman in the making! Enjoy 'em boys they sure do grow up fast. WM

Hope you don't mind me hi-jacking your thread 9lb. You did much better than I over the weekend. Saturday, put in at State Park to try to stay out of the wind a bit. Fished bottom bouncers and caught a mixed bag of fish including a four pound flathead and lost a nice smallie at the boat. Started trolling carnk baits on lead core line in the afternoon and caught a 17" eye in five minutes. He was the only one all weekend. Caught a mess of nice crappie, though. Sunday I threw the tackle box at 'em and just had no luck. Caught a few LM and drum. It was however, a nice couple of days on the lake with my wife. Unfortunately, I have some commitments coming up, and will not be back until the first of July. Please keep me posted on the pattern! WM

That's very kind of you to say fishbait, I am truly humbled. Actually, this marks my 18th year of hanging out at Stockton Lake, but only my third year of targeting (and regularily catching) Walleye there. The early years centered around water sports for my kids...but alas, they have grown up and moved on. I used to aimlessly drift around on flats in the summer dragging a crawler around, no electronics or anything in the ski boat. Unbelieveably, I would catch a walleye or two here and there. Heck, I still remember the first Stockton walleye I ever caught. It was in the spring of 1995 casting a clown colored suspended rouge under the west side of the mile long bridge. Wish I could make the get together, however ya'all would soon find out I can't catch a keeper bass to save my soul, all of my crappie and catfish caught are by pure accident, and there are a heck of a lot better Stockton walleye fishermen down there as well! I usually put in at Harltey, haven't noticed many other Nebraska plated vehicles there. I have a blue/gold/white Ranger Reata 210. If you see me say hi! WM

Sounds like a fun deal guys. Now I'm even more bummed that my whole month of June is out for heading for Stockton. Please post pics of the get together. WM

I was wondering the same thing SBR. I was thinking about stopping at Cabelas in KC on my way down this weekend and seeing if they have any floating or submersible lights in stock. WM

Nice mess of fish there straw hat! Thanks for the report, wish I had one to offer. WM

I use the "L" shaped bouncers, which I attach directly to the line with a snap, or a swivel snap. I tie my own harnesses which are around 3.5 or 4 feet long. The bouncer has a snap swivel on it which you hook the harness to. In snaggy water I'll cut the harness leader down a bit to help avoid snags. For starting out I would recommend just buying some harnesses at your favorite tackle shop, experimenting with blade colors, beads vs floats etc, etc, etc, till you find what puts you in your comfort zone. Be forewarned, walleye fishing can be addictive and make you view bass as a nuisance fish! WM

A crawler harness is generally trolled behind a bottom bouncer at around 1 mph. When choosing the weight of your bouncer, a good rule of thumb is 1 oz per 10 feet of water. I generally run 1.5 or 2 oz bouncers. I never fish up at CC, might be some there. I'd concentrate on points 15-25 feet deep. WM

Nice job fryin'. My wife and I put in at Hawker at around 10:00. Fished main lake points with bouncers and crawlers. Had to work for 'em but ended up with seven keepers 15-17.5". Caught a bunch of shorts as well, and lost a couple of keepers boat side. I dumped around $90.00 for a net, so I don't know why I never use it! But, had a great day on the lake. Wish I could have hit it for a bit this morning, but had to head for home early. Slow death worked better than harnesses and had most luck at 20-25 feet, but another OA guy was catching them at 15 feet on harnesses, so go figure. WM

Good job kwall. Pattern was pretty similar to last weekend. Now, we just have to figure out where the bigger one's are! WM

Nice. Did you limit out? WM

20 feet deep was kinda the pattern Gilly, suspended or on the bottom. Give 'em heck! WM

Had a great time fishing Stockton this weekend with my wife. We had an evening commitment Saturday, so we only fished four hours or so in the afternoon. Trolled crankbaits on lead in open water the entire time. Didn't set the world on fire, but put ten nice keeper crappie and four keeper walleye in the boat. All of the crappie were full of eggs. Caught another five short walleye. Fought the wind for a couple of hours this morning and kept five walleye bottom bouncing harnesses. Lost a couple at the boat, and I believe we would have limited easily if we only had more time, dang it! WM

Found a few earlier in the week...in Nebraska. Going out for probably the last time up here next Tuesday. The good news is, I talked to my Uncle today and they haven't come on for him yet...in South Dakota. Keep after in JD, there's gotta still be a few out down south! WM

Thanks H91. I'll try to put that info to good use very soon! WM

Sounds like a great day H91. Bouncing or jigging? WM

Keep after it Justin! I've had some LONG days on Stockton. You can read posts on a forum all day long, but nothing replaces time on the water. When you figure it out and get your first limit it's gonna feel good. The next trip, the lake may humble you again. That's been my pattern, but I keep coming back for more. Keep after it! WM