Walleye...under Dock In Shell Knob

[Chris Musick]

I've been crappie fishing under my aunt's dock in the knob, and last night til about 830pm and this mornin from 9 til 12 I caught a total of 4 walleye. I've been wanting to try walleye fishing but don't have a boat for trolling. I never thought I'd catch them about 6 ft below the surface where the water is 20 ft or more.

They were too small but one was close. I caught them on a purple Bobby garland glow in the dark tadpole looking thing.

The crappie were pretty good several keepers of which I kept the 4 biggest so we could have lunch.

Is it normal to catch walleye like this?

[Champ188]

Late spring, it's pretty common to catch walleye shallow in the White River arm of the lake. Seems they disappear into the deep, dark abyss when the water starts getting hot.

[Ham]

I've hung more than a few walleye on Bull Shoals while crappie fishing docks. Most of them have been too big to handle and they wrap in brish piles or the frame of the dock and break me off. I did get a 22 inch one last year though on a crappie grub off a boat dock.

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[Biglerma]

Yes we catch walleye under our dock every once in awhile. We have quite a bit of brush under our dock but no crappie were caught this weekend. Our dock only sits in about 18-20 ft of water though.

[Champ188]

Just my opinion, but we had them at Lake Ouachita (west-central Arkansas) where I am originally from and they hung out a lot in brush piles and even more in the thick hydrilla and coontail that the lake once had growing down to depths of 20-25 feet. I personally think their eyes are very light-sensitive and that they enjoy dark, shady places ... which would include boat docks.

[Ham]

Their eyes definitely give them a sight advantage in low light conditions.