High water, good for the fish?

[Champ188]

On 6/23/2025 at 3:43 PM, Bill Babler said:

Without going into it I will say myself and 2 buddies from Minnesota had the best walleye day today I have ever had on Table Rock. 

That’s saying something after 35 years. 
 

Saying a lot indeed. So good to see this walleye fishery just keep improving.
I wish Beaver would keep pace but seems there just aren't as many there or the stripers have the same appreciation for their culinary value as humans. Not starting a hate attack on stripers --- I've actually changed my beliefs on how/whether they impact LM, SM and KY bass populations in highland reservoirs.
But I do know that stripers, walleye and crappie all tend to hang out in open water (as pelagics do) a good portion of the year. Aside from spots, which also have pelagic tendencies when the shad move offshore, LM and SM tend to hang shallower and around cover more than stripers. All saltwater fish are voracious and opportune feeders. Put food in front of them and they will usually wolf it down. Doesn't take a neurosurgeon to figure out who wins when a school of stripers and a school of walleye or crappie collide. 

Saw on FB where Oliverson is catching a bunch of Walters, too, and some big ones. 

[Bill Babler]

Went again yesterday with a Lake O. Buddy. Had close to 30 walleye and that many bass. 

I’m going to post a picture of my LS, it’s a terrible picture as I just couldn’t get the glare and self shadow out but it shows the walleye just perfect.

It’s showing 3 walleye and a bluegill. When they’re lined up like this they will bite most of the time. 

At times they will pull up in the line 5’ or so off the bottom and they get pretty stingy. They will also stack, very seldom, but they do it. You think they might be bass and get fooled. 
Almost every flat gravel point on the entire White River from Long Creek to Holiday Island has them.  You pull up and don’t see candles on the bottom, go to the next point. 
 

[Bill Babler]

Don’t know how long this will last, but the amount of short walleye in multiple age groups is simply unreal.  8”, 10”, 12”, 14” 17” 

We are in a walleye boom. I know there have been concerns about harvesting sow walleye up the White and Kings River prior to the spawn. 

It looks like some of those concerns are unfounded as the lake seems to be replenishing through quality spawns for at least the past 7-8 years. 

I’m averaging about 2/3 keepers per every ten I  catch. About the same with the 3 bass species. 

In June  and now into July me and my guests have put close to 200 walleye in the boat and only kept 11.   I’m pretty sure I’ve been out 15 or 16 times. 

On another note we have been catching plate size bluegill. Have kept a few that got it deep but there is a ton of them out there. 

Good Luck. 

 

[dan hufferd]

On 7/10/2025 at 6:40 AM, Bill Babler said:

200 walleye

That's great, and a spread of multiple sizes as well ! I felt like the walleye population was going to get good.  I wonder if a slot limit like they have up north would help the size now that there appears to be a decent population.

Several mile north of the area you mentioned I spooned up 30 walleye all 1/4 of an inch short, in an area the size of a large dinner table. That was 2 or 3 years ago now. 

I too have caught a ton of those big bluegill. Once in October we found some large ones with the walleye. That was 8 or 9 yrs ago already (there is a video somewhere)...I need to get my priorities straight

Thanks for the report 

[Bill Babler]

Walleye and gills here have a symbiotic relationship. At times  as Dan said They will be mixed in with huge gills, really to big for their consumption  At other times they will be on smaller gills and will be hunting them. 

I have not cleaned or seen a walleye here with shad either in its throat or stomach. It is however not uncommon to see either small gills or crayfish while cleaning them or just seeing them in their gullets when releasing them. 

I’ve cleaned 2 walleye over the years that had small walleye in their stomach so they do eat their own. 

I don’t believe walleye are in the business of preying on shad. As any predator they are opportunistic and if one falls or flutters by I’m sure it’s consumed. 

I have never caught a walleye chasing shad. I’ve caught everything else including catfish but no walleye. I have caught them near or hovering under shad but have never seen them enter a shad school

Now you ask, why do they eat a spoon so well if they’re not consuming shad?  I have no idea. 

I’m guessing they are like a vulture just waiting for one to die and drift down. Don’t think they are thinking, why wait, let’s just go kill something. 

Crayfish, small gills and juvenile walleye are in their strike zone all the time makes for less expended energy and much easier prey than shad that is usually higher in the water column. 




 

[dan hufferd]

1 hour ago, Bill Babler said:

I’m guessing they are like a vulture

You are right, I think, try getting a spoon through a suspended pack of feeding k bass, the walleye are almost always under them, I think picking up the wounded.