Last
Chance for Open Water Walleyes
Ron Anlauf
There’s one last chance for scratching an open water itch and
it’s coming soon by way of a river near you. There are plenty of
ways available to most anglers throughout the Midwest and simply
requires a will (and maybe a propane heater). Some of the larger
and more well known ways include the Mississippi, the Fox, and
the Illinois rivers, but there are many more and they might not
receive the acclaim and the pressure.
Large
or small the same factors apply; the key is knowing the how
where and why of early winter walleyes. Of all the
considerations the most important is location, for without a
willing accomplice you’re just treading water. The fact is you
can’t catch them where they’re not and fortunately the where
isn’t all that tough. Although river walleyes make an upstream
migration and tend to bunch up come late fall, that doesn’t
necessarily mean they’ll all be in the same place doing the same
things. To the contrary you may find fish spread out for miles,
depending on the existing conditions. Larger rivers with power
plant discharges offer mid winter walleyes plenty of options and
may require a little more investigative work to find exactly
where the biters are hiding out.
First and foremost if you’re
planning on floating a boat you better have open water. Warm
water discharges below power plants and factories can keep
things fluid just about all winter long. Current below a dam can
also help keep the ice off with the key being a ramp in close
proximity. If you can’t get to it you’re simply out of luck, no
matter how good it might be. An option in that case might be
working from the bank but there may be areas you can’t get to or
presentations you can’t duplicate.
If the right conditions exist
walleyes can be just about anywhere you find open water. With
that being the case, the only way to find walleyes who want to
co-operate is to drop them a line. There really are no short
cuts to the process and locating the biters can take a little
time. On the other hand smaller rivers with factory discharges
are usually much more limited in scope and the available open
water may be restricted to a few hundred yards downstream, or
less. By restricting the amount of fishable water anglers have
fewer things to worry about which allows them to spend more time
fishing and less time looking.
Regardless of whether you’re
fishing a small or large river, the basics remain the same. The
basics include working current breaks with dead slow
presentations, like jigging and rigging. Although current breaks
are an important basic ingredient to walleye location their
location is not always that obvious. Wing dams, points, and
outside river bends can create breaks and are indicated by
current that reverses on itself and are known as an eddies. The
edge of a swirling eddy where it meets the fast current is a
current break. Those are the obvious spots and should always be
checked out but there is more, if you know where to look.
According to Team Crestliner member and professional walleye
angler Scott Fairbairn: “There are horizontal current breaks
that occur where a river bottom drops into a depression and can
only be found by using your electronics. Look for where a flat
drops into a little deeper water, like maybe eight feet dropping
into twelve feet or so, and where it breaks back up again. There
will be current breaks that you can’t see on the front and back
ends of the depression. Those are areas that will concentrate
fish and where you might want to spend some extra angling time.”
Scott relies on his Garmin
2010C color graph to help him uncover depressions, baitfish, and
fish that are holding close to the bottom. The 2010C’s 10 inch
color readout makes fish holding close to the bottom really pop
out at you and will help you find fish that could be easily
overlooked.
One of the most effective
methods for pulling fish from current breaks in cold water is
dragging a jig tipped with a minnow. A cold water option that
Fairbairn has proven to himself to be particularly effective is
a jig like a Northland Tackle Lip-stick Jig Head tipped with a
plastic trailer like a four inch Power Grub or Ringworm if
you’re targeting walleyes, or a smaller less active trailer like
a tube lure if you‘re chasing sauger. The Lip-stick Jig Head has
a Barb-Wire collar that helps pin plastic down and keep it in
place and is particularly helpful when using the softer
varieties. Plastic has long been thought to be a warmer water
bait but Scott has found that it simply isn’t so; “A jig tipped
with nothing but plastic will often out produce the real deal
even during the coldest of the cold water period. Another
advantage is the fact that you don’t have to mess with minnows
and your hands stay nice and dry.”.
Eddies can be fished by holding
the boat right in the edge of the dead water where it meets fast
and working a jig straight up and down. The key is to use as
light a jig as possible while retaining contact with the bottom.
Main channel or “horizontal” current breaks may be more
effectively fished with a controlled drift. River current will
be much faster at the surface than that along the bottom, and
it’s the speed at the bottom that you’ll want to adjust to. The
idea is to slow your drift to the point where a light jig, (
like a 1/4 oz.), can be fished straight up and down.
Instead of the standard lift
and drop technique previously mentioned, Fairbairn will use a
lift and glide presentation and is accomplished by dropping the
jig to the bottom and then picking it up and holding it just a
few inches off when he’s after walleyes, and maybe a foot or so
when working sauger. Scott theorizes that the glide duplicates
the actions of a dying shad which is a common occurrence early
in the winter period.
Timing is another consideration
and fortunately for us the periods of activity become much more
concentrated the further you move into the cold water season.
The advantage is being able to key on shorter periods of high
activity and limit your exposure to what can sometimes be
categorized as extreme conditions. According to Scott: “ Runoff
is typically reduced to a trickle during the winter period and
water clarity greatly increases which helps to concentrate the
action to very early and late in the day.
Walleyes tend to be most active
during the first hour and a half of daylight and again at dark
and even into the night while sauger turn on during the first
and last two and half hours of daylight” Mid winter angling on
open water paints a chilling picture, but looks may be
deceiving. If you’re prepared to deal with a little cold weather
and key on the highest activity periods you just might get in on
some of the hottest action of the entire season. See you on the
river.
Ron Anlauf
