Bank Fishing Walleyes

[Jeff Olson]

I used to fish muskies quite a bit back in Wi. and I was surprised when I heard that lrg muskies preferred 23 to 28 in walleye! so I bet a 20lb walleye will take a 18 to 25 in walleye , and other good sized fish! only makes sense, only go after what you know is safe. and why waste time and energy on little appetizers when you can get the whole meal all at once!

[bfishn]

I'm kind of curious how fast fish can digest meals in the lower water temps- just to see how long it takes them to empty their bulging bellies.

Good question. Like all cold-blooded critters, body temperature sets the metabolic rate, of which digestion is certainly a function. A meal that could be digested in a day in summer can take three in winter.

You see lots of smatter about "preferred" temperatures, but that's a poor choice of words. Rather, each species has an "optimum" temperature for egg development, another for spawning, and yet another for maximum growth rate. For walleye, maximum growth occurs at 72 degrees (a fact that I intentionally turned a blind eye to in my attempt to raise them in 58 degree trout water).

Northern 'eyes grow slow, but live longer. Walleye in food-abundant reservoirs at this latitude grow fast, live hard, and die young. Those 20lbers didn't get to be 20lbs by spending their lives in the cold depths. Not to say they don't go there at times, they obviously do. They just don't grow bigger there.

I knew a bowfisherman that said he saw lots of big 'eyes in the twilight summer shallows when he was out pokin' holes in carp on Bull. Biologists routinely report monsters in summertime electrofishing surveys, and shocking is a shallow water method too.

It's pretty hard to turn away from a predictable summer bite on ~28' flats on crawler rigs and move to open water to follow the shad, but that's where my money says I'll find that one fish I'm after.

[exiledguide]

I used to have some photo's and cannot find them since I switched computers, but one year Buster and I caught I'm gona say at least a 1/2 dozen Big Walleye up at the pot hole with trout in they gullets and a couple even sticking out their mouth.

Here is a question, How in the frig can they be so picky and so hard to catch and then you catch a 6 pounder with a 1 pound trout sticking out of its mouth and it still tries to eat a stickbait.

You could take everything I know about these fish and maybe half fill a thimble.

They can be the most frustating fish I have ever fished for and I honestly believe I have caught as many or more walleye fishing for Smallmouth Largemouth, trout and crappie both down here and up north. I've kind of .stopped fishing for them I seem to luck into enough of them without wasting my time targeting them. I know that guy from Hot Springs that caught that 16+ lb walleye on Lake Catherine caught it on a fat freeshad crank.

[rps]

They can be the most frustating fish I have ever fished for and I honestly believe I have caught as many or more walleye fishing for Smallmouth Largemouth, trout and crappie both down here and up north. I've kind of .stopped fishing for them I seem to luck into enough of them without wasting my time targeting them. I know that guy from Hot Springs that caught that 16+ lb walleye on Lake Catherine caught it on a fat freeshad crank.

Shhh. They don't work for walleye.

[rps]

One of the absolute joys of living here on the lake is that I can go out whenever the whim strikes me and I can fish any way I want. In the last several years that has meant I fish very early for topwater bass and then switch to walleye until I get too hot. Exceptions happen ... some days I will jig fish bass for quite a while. Other days I simply blow off top water fishing and start with walleye.

Regardless, what exiledguide says is true. The accidental walleye on wigglewarts and jigs are often the best.

[bfishn]

...I fish very early for topwater bass...

Then you've likely encoutered those huuuge topwater swirls in and around the timber patch just down from the HI bend right at dawn this time of year... what the h*** are those?

[powerdive]

Those 20lbers didn't get to be 20lbs by spending their lives in the cold depths. Not to say they don't go there at times, they obviously do. They just don't grow bigger there.

I knew a bowfisherman that said he saw lots of big 'eyes in the twilight summer shallows when he was out pokin' holes in carp on Bull. Biologists routinely report monsters in summertime electrofishing surveys, and shocking is a shallow water method too.

It's pretty hard to turn away from a predictable summer bite on ~28' flats on crawler rigs and move to open water to follow the shad, but that's where my money says I'll find that one fish I'm after.

Interesting stuff. Appreciate seeing a different view. Can't say I would agree that optimum temps are needed to grow a monster. Anyway, right or wrong, Parsons also says to always run a board shallow, no matter the lake, no matter the water depth. I've only done it one day--put a board with stickbait well outside while trolling a 25-30 foot contour on Table Rock. Found it was a great way to catch even more of those annoying little bass.

I do need to give more time to open water, though. Fo sho.

[bfishn]

Interesting stuff. Appreciate seeing a different view. Can't say I would agree that optimum temps are needed to grow a monster...

I didn't mean to sound so absolute, sorry. Monsters can certainly be made at less than optimum temps, it just takes a lot longer.

I do think there's a minimum temp for significant growth in all species. I base this mainly on when I tried to feed out some 10" channel cat in a trout pen once. That was over 20 degrees below optimum. Kept them almost a year and gave them all they'd eat. They were very healthy, but only gained about 10% in weight, with a terrible feed conversion ratio. A couple of fish frys ended that mess. :-)

There's also a minimum food rate for growth, even at optimum temps. I could keep trout healthy and exactly the same size for as long as I wanted on "maintenance" food levels. This was counter to the more profitable growth regime, but I had to keep some 10 inchers year round for restaraunt customers, and I only hatched once a year.

Added

Know what you mean about those annoying little bass. Too bad we can't use them for bait... :-)

[rps]

Then you've likely encoutered those huuuge topwater swirls in and around the timber patch just down from the HI bend right at dawn this time of year... what the h*** are those?

Don't know. I rarely fish cold weather. Cold is less tha 40 degrees to me. That area (between Leatherwood and Haddock creeks) is home to very large gar and a few largemouth. There are two micro structure places that hold walleye, but you have to be exactly on them.

[bfishn]

Don't know. I rarely fish cold weather. Cold is less tha 40 degrees to me. That area (between Leatherwood and Haddock creeks) is home to very large gar and a few largemouth. There are two micro structure places that hold walleye, but you have to be exactly on them.

(Chuckle) Yeah, I'm becoming more warm-blooded with each passing year. At 35, I used to draw the line at an all-nighter at a 25 degree forecast (with a little propane heater at my feet). That number has risen about a degree every year or two since. My nose & toes just don't handle the frost like they used to.

Gar was my suspect. Weird thing was I witnessed it for several years in a row, always in the same area, always just at dawn,(and always just out of casting distance). I know a couple of narrow shallow rubble shelfs (one an old roadbed) that I've found 'em more than once, but I think I've caught more numbers randomly suspended there over the years.

Thank you!